Lessons for India

By M L Satyan

Bengaluru: Now that the election results are almost clear in the US, there is a big talk about Kamala Harris. Indians celebrate her victory saying that she is an Indian.

Can we call Kamala Harris an Indian in a true sense? Is she an Indian or American? Let us not get confused ourselves and confuse others. We shall not ‘hurriedly’ celebrate the outcome of the US election result as a victory of our great Indian culture. Let us not try to steal any credit for Kamala being who she is, just because her mother was from India.

Her family

Kamala is a quintessential progressive American woman of mixed race and ethnicity. She could achieve whatever she has just because her mother went to the US at the tender age of 19 for better prospects and studied there. Her mother married the man of her choice. They got divorced later. Single-handedly she raised her daughters Kamala and Maya with ambition without bothering who and when they will marry.

We, in India, still have problem accepting people from a different caste, religion, language, state with different food habits, clothes etc. as our neighbors. Forget about raising a mixed-race child that too a girl. It is just not about us. We need to stop this hideousness of trying to suck up on her success. Of course, she might be loving her Idlis and Dosas but that is because they are healthy and delicious. She is an American first and American last. Let us make no mistake. India wins no brownie points. We still have a lot of hard work to put in until we can raise and have an INDIAN Kamala.

It is true that her root belongs to India. However, she has reached this stage purely by her strong will power, talents, abilities, political knowledge and hard work. The beauty of America is that anyone born in US can contest elections and reach any level. America has not discriminated anyone on the basis of caste, color, creed and nationality. The recent example is Barack Obama, a black President. The Americans are open to have any duly elected person as their President/Vice-President.

Lesson

In India, the so called “patriots” like Hindu fundamentalist groups still consider Sonia Gandhi, Rahul and Priyanka as “Italians.” During elections, candidate selection is done mostly on the basis of caste, religion and culture. The lesson that Indians must learn is to rise above caste, religion and culture and give equal opportunity to an educated, knowledgeable, talented and mature candidate. If this is done, we will have a better and clean political system in future.

Electoral system

Many countries of the world, including England, France, Germany, Netherlands, and the United States have banned the use of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM). In October 2006, the Netherlands banned the use of EVMs. In 2009, the Republic of Ireland banned its use which was followed by Italy in the same year. In March 2009, the Supreme Court of Germany ruled that voting through EVM was unconstitutional.

One of the main reasons was that they can be tampered and manipulated. Hence, most developed countries use “ballot paper” system. In the recently concluded election in the US, billions of ballot papers were counted and tallied meticulously. The credit goes to the committed and vigilant staff members who toiled day and night for almost a week. Trump and his campaign team tried to make a noise about the “illegal ballots” but could not produce a single evidence to show any illegal procedure in the election.

In India, the EVM was first used in Kerala’s Parur Assembly polls in 1982. After this inception, it was used in the limited constituencies during the 1999 Lok Sabha elections. After the Lok Sabha Election-2004 the EVM is used thoroughly in the Lok Sabha and State Assembly elections. Serious doubts about safety, accuracy, reliability, and verification of elections through electronic machines are being raised throughout the world. Yet, India faithfully follows the EVMs. Why? Probably, the “tampering feature” has become an advantage for some.

The Bihar election is a classic example. In the evening of November 10, the Election officials uploaded in the EC website a list of 119 winning candidates of RJD congratulating them. In spite of this official announcement, the number was reduced to 110 by the same officials. What went wrong? Does it not mean that the winning candidates are “cheated”? If EVMs had been tampered, then, it is a clear signal that similar “tampering technique” will be continued in other states too?

Lesson

Soon after the 2019 election, many social activists raised questions about the ‘non-reliability’ of EVMs. After shouting for some days, they became quiet. Once again, the same and more voices are being raised against the “EVM fraud”. This should become a national mass movement. The Election Commission, Judiciary and Politicians must try to learn from the negative experiences of the developed countries regarding the usage of EVMs and abandon them once for all. It is time for India to return to the “ballot paper” system in which every voter will be 100 percent sure to whom he/she has voted.

Dignity of work

Joe Biden has become the President-elect at the age of 78. He had seen many tragedies in his family life. He suffered from aneurysm but managed to come out of it. As a Senator he seems to have spent 4 years, the total time he spent on travel by train (home-office-home). For the next four years he will take most crucial decisions affecting the US and the entire world. He will keep himself physically and mentally fit to fulfil his huge responsibility.

Lesson

After the age of 60 most senior citizens cease to be active. Biden has proven that age is not a barrier to hold responsible positions. Unemployed youngsters often become depressed. Opportunities are everywhere. Let us have big dreams and work hard to make them come true. We shall uphold the ‘dignity of work.’