About Self Respect

The results of the national elections were announced yesterday. The BJP did worse than expected and could only garner 240 seats. People had expected them to sweep, getting anywhere between 330 - 350 seats. The major damage was in Uttar Pradesh. Surprisingly, they lost the constituency of Ayodhya ( Faizabad). This was surprising as the region had seen a lot of investments from airport, railway station and hotels coming up. I couldn’t make much of this defeat, but two interactions with people from the region changed my perspective.

The help in my in-laws’ house comes from Ayodhya. She said that her whole village voted for the opposition. When prompted, she talked about the lack of jobs. She explained that while the government provided rations at subsidized rates, people did not just want to depend on largesse. They wanted to earn their bread. The lack of jobs and development had led to discontentment. She talked about atma Samman (self-respect).

Our driver comes from the Basti district. He can read and understand English. He talked about how the government jobs have dried up. The vacancies are not released, and when they are released, the paper gets leaked. He talked about the frustration of the educated youth in the region. They feel worthless sitting at home and not being productive, and this anger came out in the national elections.

Both of them talked about the improvements they had seen, but the common theme of their anger was self-worth. I had always thought that freebies would win the election. But talking to them, I realized that people do not just want handouts. They want to contribute and feel that their efforts have led them to a better life. They need to feel worthy. They want to contribute.

Every vote eventually comes down to what the voter feels when he/she is about to press the button. This vote was perhaps about self-respect.