The Myth of Political Neutrality in India

You don’t have to be a political scientist to gauge the mood of people around you vis-à-vis politics. You don’t even need to carry out lengthy surveys and dial numbers to reach an informed opinion about what the community’s youth thinks when it comes to the contemporary politics.

A plain and simple one to one conversation on matters pertaining to politics are enough to draw the conclusion that a large chunk of India’s youth - a section of the society that every political revolution counts upon - is today distant from the Indian polity to the extent that the spill over effects are now in the open. What was until now an implicit 'Rule' has - in this generation of increased social media presence and voicing of facts - become explicit – that politicians can get away with anything if the youth chooses to stay silent on the matter. The very same politicians would also run for cover if the bottled up anger/support of India’s young were to spill onto the streets.

What's with the neutrality anyway? 

So why is it, that in the time of increased social media presence and activity, we find hordes of young people bandying about phrases like ‘I stay aloof from politics’ or ‘Politics is not really my thing’ or the worst of all ‘I am politically neutral’. While on the outset ‘political neutrality’ comes across as a rational quality that lets you think with an uncluttered mind, that’s unfortunately not the case. Political neutrality is often confused with an 'unmindful' and ‘not my problem’ attitude that pervades the Indian youth and their thinking.

In spite of having uninterrupted access to opinion voicing platforms which were previously unthinkable, despite the legions of followers we all have on our Instagram and Facebook pages, all of whom would have access to our mind and our views in less than a second’s time, young people choose to stay silent. Not many reasons come to mind.

Thoughts and Counter-thoughts : 

One of them could be the fear of upsetting those with contrary views and an unwillingness to participate in a debate that would arise therefrom. And it is odd, and frankly, deeply saddening that people feel about something strongly and yet not strongly enough to be willing to defend it should someone contest their view.

A counter view put in this regard is that in a world as polarized, as divided as ours, do we really need to voice our opinions, which are almost certainly going to widen that crevice? Shouldn’t we - the young people - just get on with our ‘normal lives’ and let the politicians and bureaucrats do their job -  politicians who by the way are so thick skinned that they won’t even be swayed by our words of support of contention ?

Now before I counter the above mentioned point, I need all readers to ask themselves - What really is the ‘normal life’ we all worry about so much that we are willing to turn a blind eye to all political events so easily? Is it our constant need for approval & validation? Are we scared of losing a few ‘Likes’ just in case we end up upsetting a few of our followers? Or is it the ‘Meme game’ that we want to keep so strong which doesn’t really leave much space for politics? The ever pervasive ignorance among the youth towards politics has to owe its origin to something. 

Politics Matters ! 

Coming to the ‘Not my problem’ point, nothing could be farther than the truth. When Delhi Government brought about its Odd-Even scheme, did it not impact our lives? Or when successive governments in Uttar Pradesh refused to  act against 'gundas' and 'bahubali netas' as they created havoc in the society so as to not upset their vote banks? These decisions and many more, DID have an effect on our lives. This column is not going to judge the above mentioned decisions on the basis of their merit. Its about the deafening silence of India’s youth on the subject matter. Support it. Oppose it. Share facts. Share news. But do something.

As Michelle Obama said about the shocking victory of Donald Trump in 2016 in her book ‘Becoming’ :  “When young people chose to sit out an election, those who vote get to decide who leads the country. The rest, just have to live with the regret of not having their voices heard when it mattered the most.”

In India, an election is always looming. But a democracy is not just about voting. It offers and more importantly, protects our right to speak up on any issue we want, whenever we want.

Its on us, the young people of this country to live up to the liberal education we have been provided. To speak up when it matters. To be ready to debate. To be willing to engage. That’s how we will be able to protect the little space called freedom, that our Constitution guarantees us.

( Instagram - @_ujjawalmishra  )