The truth is however that everyone wants to fight over this with Karnataka individually. The Opposition looks at this as an opportunity to corner the ruling party while the government thinks they can make the leaders from Centre understand the issue. Amidst all this chaos, the common people are the ones who get frustrated on seeing the behaviour of politicians.
Of course, the political figures definitely possess that power. Whatever has happened so far had all the dramatic twists and turns. The people, taken aback, were either glued to their TV screens or discussing among themselves and stating their views. Two overtly used sentences which come to mind are ‘Customer is the king’ and ‘Voters should teach the politicians a lesson.’ However, do they really seem to be true in this scenario? How many times has a customer really been the king? Rarely, and that too after a lengthy fight with the system. Most of the time the customer expresses his frustration to himself and keeps quiet to avoid further wastage of his time and money. So how often is the common person able to fight the system? In a way, he is always losing. And speaking about the lesson taught by voters, the opportunity to teach that lesson comes only once in five years or very rarely if the elections are decided to be held before the tenure. Regardless of whatever is done by any party leaders during that tenure, the voters are the ones to discuss among themselves and waste their time. The energy, manpower and sanity; everything is spent and for what? All for ambitious politicians. Time meant for building people-oriented projects is wasted and sometimes the projects do not even reach their completion. The public sentiment is that people’s representatives are failing once again to fulfil their expectations. Although it is expected for all the leaders to show unity on the issue of Mhadei, their behaviour indicates otherwise. All the moves are calculative. In the world’s biggest democracy, this is a defeat suffered by common people. The disappointing part is that common people too are not going beyond expressing their opinions over social media. The thought that instead of thinking on their own, people are watching all this as if it’s a daily soap opera. Blaming politicians and the media is easy as it does not involve holding the public responsible and accountable. The people would raise their voices earlier if they felt something was off. It is indeed not expected for everyone to protest but a logical, inclusive thinking by masses is required. Regardless of personal affiliation towards any political party, one should have enough courage to call a spade a spade. Or should it be considered that whatever that is happening is agreeable by all? And if so, are their voices audible? It is high time for people to think about their voice and its strength. The Mhadei issue demands a magnanimous public support. The people cannot sit idle and expect MLAs and ministers to sort out all the questions. And it’s also time for voters to learn a lesson from this. Before blaming any political leaders they should think why did they elect the leader in the first place. In fact, voting consciously is the first big responsibility. The voters should check how reliable the candidate is. One should not think that their responsibility ends with voting. Once a person goes to a councillor or an MLA with a personal demand, that person gets tied to that leader upon the fulfilment of that demand. This is when the voter starts becoming the pawn in the game and currently, the second half of the match is underway. Once elected, if voters feel that the decisions taken by MLAs or MPs are not in the best interest of the people then they should definitely raise their voices. The unions with like-minded people should act as a medium of pressurising the State. The people themselves should question their councillors and MLAs and hold them accountable for the work they intend to do. This may seem impossible but people, in any ways available and possible, should try their best. This is the only way to act as a responsible watchdog of the system otherwise we shall get into the habit of just watching and doing nothing.
