Amitabh shows his middle finger to the nation. Dhoni shows his middle finger to Amitabh. And urban India shows its middle finger to participatory democracy by rocking the vote with abysmal attendance. (Bombay does 43%, Bangalore does 46%, Lucknow does 35% [link])
While there are some arguments (a collection of them here)why this number is deflated (the actual proportion of people voting is claimed to be higher), this is still a rather abysmal. As an aside, if we had the figures, you would probably find that the proportion of people with high-school degrees who voted in urban areas would be much much lesser than even the 40%]
The real reason most educated urbanites are reluctant to vote is , I believe, it takes way too much effort to get out of bed and stand in a long line on a hot day. Having spent much of one’s adult life standing in various sorts of queues— electric bill, motor vehicles, LPG—this is one queue where one’s presence is optional. Hence it is avoided.
Continue reading ‘The Middle Finger’
Recent Comments