{"id":406,"date":"2012-11-25T23:58:41","date_gmt":"2012-11-25T18:28:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/saravanan.org\/?p=406"},"modified":"2018-07-29T15:31:42","modified_gmt":"2018-07-29T10:01:42","slug":"detour-democracy-with-elanthirumaran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saravanan.org\/detour-democracy-with-elanthirumaran\/","title":{"rendered":"Detour: Democracy with Elanthirumaran"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Elanthirumaran\"<\/p>\n

I don’t invest much of time thinking about politics and governance. \u00a0I think they would take several years to master them. \u00a0I also think that because they are poorly documented, at least in India where I live, only a person in the middle of all this on a day to day basis can master them.<\/p>\n

But today, I had an interesting insight into improving the quality of democracy in a meeting organized by a FaceBook group called Occum’s Saloon<\/a> (since shut down).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Indian democracy, though robust, is infested with rampant corruption and inefficient governance. \u00a0The options available in an election are so disgusting, most of the educated franchisee in the country doesn’t ‘stoop’ to participate in the election. \u00a0I am one of them. \u00a0I have never voted in a general election. \u00a0The choices available are outright disgusting and the process of voting is pointless.<\/p>\n

\"Save<\/p>\n

One Mr. Elanthirumaran<\/a> (translates to The Victorious Young One) made a presentation about the vicious circle perpetuated by non-participating educated voters. \u00a0He had one powerful answer to ‘What is the Point (of voting)?’<\/p>\n

His response was, “while your candidate will not win in this election, or you might not even find a worth a while candidate in this election, your coming into the the electoral democracy will make the existing political parties to sit up and think. \u00a0Slowly, but surely, they will want to cater to your needs and your issues”.<\/p>\n

That is an argument I can’t refuse!<\/p>\n