Politics. The word makes a picture in our minds of those fat, corrupt politicians who are no good at anything except making false promises and tarnishing the name on the country globally, those who are interested in making money for themselves through their practices taking birth from bribery and greed. Those politicians who can’t forgo their lavish lifestyles and luxuries even in the midst of crises, those who are submerged in their images of themselves, in their own minds that they are better than the rest in every possible way, and, not to forget, those who are the biggest hypocrites of the world. These are also those who are the ones seen most by the public. These are the people who make it to the cover pages of the newspapers and our magazines for their ridiculous opinions and silly blame games. These are those who might not actually work, but, don’t wait to get into the matter at the end, to take the credit.
This is the condition of every country, and our India, the country which is considered as the spiritual capital of the world, is no different.
But, this is just one side of the coin. There are also those politicians in the world that, we as youth, look up to. Those who changed the belief of what people can do as a mass by electing responsible representatives and who took up the responsibility of national reconstruction in the right earnest whenever it was necessary, those who don’t work for popularity, but, for progress. And, this isn’t their individual progress, but, the progress of the nation. They don’t mind giving everything they have to the nation.
India attained its freedom sixty-two years ago and since then, the nature of politics and the attitude of politicians have changed considerably. From the great early politicians like Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (the first Prime Minister of the country), Dr. Rajendra Prasad (the first President of free India), Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (the first Home Minister of India, and also the one who brought all the princely states under Indian territory by negotiations), and Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar (the head of the committee which framed the constitution of India). These are those who are the role models of the leaders of today. Or rather who should have been.
It’s not just India where the nature of politicians has changed over time. Let’s take the example of the most developed country in the world, the United States of America. The early politicians were the ones who framed the constitution and gave the world a new way of the existence of states and provinces, democracy. The people involved in this included George Washington (the first President of the U. S. of A.), Benjamin Franklin (who was one of the founding fathers of the U. S. of A.) and Thomas Jefferson (the architect of the famous ‘American Declaration of Independence’ and the third President of the U. S. of A.). But, even though American politics was not always on a high, there were politicians like Abraham Lincoln (the sixteenth President of U. S. of A. and the one who helped in ending one of the bloodiest battles in the history of the U. S. of A., which rose due to apartheid) and John Kennedy (the thirty fifth President of the U. S. of A.), who didn’t let the image of politicians in the minds of their own citizens deteriorate.
Today’s youth has a peculiar take on politics. “Politics is a gutter.” This is the most common quote we hear when adults talk about politics, and probably, even the one which is most true. But, this attitude of adults has led to the creation of a negative image of politicians in the minds of the youth of today, the future of tomorrow. More or less, the adults have an influence in the way the youth thinks and when the adults have such a line of thinking, youth can’t be any better and infer something on their own. They don’t want to check if the ground reality is the same as what it appears to be or is some different. They don’t want to see if their opinion is dominated by the thoughts and beliefs of others or their own ideology.
What the adults fail to understand is the impact their opinions have on the delicate and sensitive opinions of the youth. They fail to make the youth realize that there are great politicians in the world, even today, who wish to work just for the betterment of society. They fail to show that behind this ravaged image of the politicians of today, lies a hope of the protectors of tomorrow, in the youth of today. The politicians in India like Dr. Manmohan Singh (the current Prime Minister of India), Pranab Mukherjee (the current Finance Minister of India), Praful Patel (the current Civil Aviation Minister of India), P. Chidambaram (the current Home Minister of India), Shashi Tharoor (ex-UN Under-Secretary General and the current Minister of State for External Affairs of India), Sachin Pilot (the current Minister of State for Communications and Technology of India) and Rahul Gandhi (General Secretary of All India Congress Committee) are those who can, and will change the image of the politicians. On the global level, there is Barack Obama (the current President of the U. S. of A. and also the first Black President) who with his presidential campaign gave the hope of change to the world, and is materializing his dream of America just as he has portrayed in his book ‘The Audacity Of Hope’. The adults fail to explain to the youth that the politicians like these are giving this task all they possibly can.
The image of the youth about politics may be tarred, and might even worsen in the near future, but, until there are youth who can differentiate between the ‘evil’s and the ‘good’s of politics, even if they are in a minority, the hope to live in a better world stays alive...
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