The absurd apolitical nature of urban Indians

BENGALURU: India is a country that defies many rules. When we began to function as a nation, nobody gave us a chance to survive as a democracy. And yet, we did.

For decades, they stereotyped us as the land of hermits and snake-charmers. Today, snakes have been replaced by python and java – as every tech company is helmed by an Indian. There are lots of things to be proud of as an Indian – but one fact leaves me flabbergasted.

It is the absurd apolitical nature of urban Indians. Growing up in Odisha, my first brush with politics was during the 2004 General Elections. There was a nation-wide suspense over who would be the next Prime Minister.

Newspapers and news channels used their newly developed Photoshop skills to predict possible scenarios. I was instantly hooked. As soon as I could, I got myself a voter ID card and dived headlong into the Dance of Democracy.

Imagine my surprise when I moved to a city, and found that my urban friends never bothered to vote. Discussing politics was considered ‘uncool’. It was almost as if an unwritten rule had been set in place – that one must rise above politics to be a person of real substance.

It was a shock for someone who always assumed that higher literacy rates automatically translated to higher voting rates. But India is more complicated than simple assumptions and direct correlations. Take Bengaluru for example – the city of gardens, startups, and beer – but Bengalureans fare terribly in voting rates.

So why does Urban India not care to vote? I have asked my city friends this question for more than a decade now. The answers always come with Multiple Choice Answers – ‘How does it matter?’, or the classic ‘All parties are corrupt anyway’. Then you have the intellectual ‘I don’t believe elections are the solution to India’s problems’.

There’s also the classic ‘I can’t stand in a long line’ – unless of course it’s the new iPhone model releasing, or a Taylor Swift concert. These are all, of course, terrible excuses. The truth is, urban Indians consider politics to be below them.

They regard elections and politics to be the refuge of poor people who are still dependent on the people in power. In our sparkling office spaces, we consider being apolitical to be a sign of evolution. But everything around is political.

Art is political, films are political, politics is political. I can understand if Chinese or Saudi Arabians claimed to be apolitical, but for citizens of the largest democracy to say they are apolitical is a little tragic. It is akin to being an ostrich that buries its head in the sand and pretends that Bobby Deol is not the greatest actor who ever existed! So how do we get urban Indians to vote? By using social media, obviously.

Get Jhanvi Kapoor and Ananya Pandey to talk about the voting process. Create an app that delivers voter ID cards to people. Introduce scratch cards in the ballot process.

But most importantly, explain to the masses that the Parliament and Assembly are nothing but large-scale Bigg Boss houses. Explain to them that independent candidates are wild card entries. For if there’s one thing urban Indians love to vote for, it is for Bigg Boss nominations!!.