Firm ‘No’ to empty promises and extravagant expenses during elections

Our Voices-Against Deceptive Development

Our Vote– only for Equitable Development

 

  • Our Voices Against Deceptive Development. Our Vote only for Equitable Development, is the slogan of the campaign. This campaign aims at raising people’s concerns and issues in this Lok Sabha polls.
  • After 67 years of Independence, we still have to raise demands for fundamental issues like drinking water, nutritious food, employment guarantee, fair remuneration, equal educational opportunities and basic health infrastructure.
  • We are challenging the “development models” of Modi and Manmohan Singh. Specific questions with data and information form the ground realities will be raised by the campaign through fact sheets, leaflets, street play, street meetings etc.

The issues of Vadodara Constituency, Gujarat State and National level will be raised in the moth long campaign will raise questions with information based on data to all the Parties and Candidates. Including

  • The false claim about employment in Vadodara and Gujarat and the job killing growth in the country.
  • The claim about women’s safety on the face of increasing violence and absence of implementing machinery to support women survivor

And many other issues raised under the title Results of Deceptive Development in this press release.

  • This deceitful development story has increased the working hours for all, leaving us no time to think, discuss and debate as a family, group or community, and rendering us ineffectual with regard to concerns and policies that affect us daily. Political parties in turns to be in power and the deceptive development policies continue to be in place. We have to put an end to this charade of musical chairs and seriously think to remove the wrong policies.
  • Corruption and dishonesty are important issues, but in addition to individual corruption, systems and policies that support corruptionWe need to change the economic system based on profit and market. 
  • The campaign will raise people’s awareness about  (None of the Above)  is not a negative voting but a positive vote for a step towards equitable development, against the corruption, money and muscle power, casteism, communalism and deceptive development

‘Our Voices Against Deceptive Development; Our Vote only for Equitable Development’, is the slogan of the campaign by the People’s Organisations and aware citizens. This campaign aims at raising people’s concerns and issues in this Lok Sabha polls.

There was a time when candidates would go to homes and neighbourhoods with folded hands to speak face-to-face to voters. Now they are to be seen only in large rallies, road shows and TV programs, engaged in mudslinging at each other instead of talking about concrete programmes and policies.

There is no meeting ground between common people and these self-styled leaders with their empty promises and slogans, who try to evoke a sense of “everything is all right”. These party hopping leaders with no commitment to any ideology claim to decide our futures after ensuring a Parliament berth through the common people’s votes and the illegal money of the rich. This time we need to force such candidates and parties who engage in propaganda and false promises to make their stand clear on real life issues. Let us bring the election exercise out of the grip of empty promises and extravagant expenses.

All parties claim growth and development. But, what kind of development? Whose development and at whose and what cost? Have things really improved for the common people? These are our questions.

After 67 years of Independence, we still continue to raise demands for fundamental issues like drinking water, nutritious food, employment guarantee, fair remuneration, equal educational opportunities and basic health infrastructure. We need to seriously challenge the “development models” of Modi and Manmohan Singh.

The forthcoming Lok Sabha polls are very important, especially when the BJP is aiming to replicate the deceptive development model of Gujarat across the country and Congress is defending its economic policiesIt is the duty of every aware citizen to convey the grim realities of Modi’s “Gujarat model”, and the pitfalls of Congress’ economic policies.

The BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, in the guise of his misleading growth story, is trying to blind the country to his sins during the 2002 Gujarat carnage, while opting for divisive politics to further the cause of fascist ideology. These elections are very important to stem this rise of fascist politics.

One of the common factors between Congress, BJP and other regional parties is that in addition to being corrupt, they favour economic policies that help handful of corporates and are essentially anti-people. The growing gap between the rich and poor is evidence of this fact. Their growth “model” takes away all natural resources, drinking water, land, habitats, forests, mines, etc, that should be considered the common wealth of the people, and are essential to the survival of tribals, small farmers, the urban poor, working class, women. Instead, these resources are gifted to the big corporations thus this is a deceptive development.

People are struggling and striving for their rightful share and livelihood against this saga of a distorted growth plan. In order to enforce their growth model, governments of every hue use brute force in the form of police, paramilitary forces and the army to violate human rights. Governments have even curbed the constitutional right to protest peacefully. These elections therefore are very important for the protection of constitutional and democratic rights.

Corruption and dishonesty are important issues, but in addition to individual corruption, systems and policies that support corruption also need to be discarded completely. Honest and good leaders can perhaps effect small positive changes but cannot usher complete change in systems and policies. For that we need to change the profit and market oriented economic system. 

Results of Deceptive Development

  • Instead of getting adequate drinking water, people are now forced to buy it. Drinking water is irreversibly contaminated and polluted.
  • The prices of milk, food grain, pulses are increasing day by day and vegetable prices are fluctuating like stock markets. People struggle with daily sustenance with difficulty.
  • The state government rolls out red carpet for polluting industries that automatically leads to red polluted waters for farming and animals.
  • Large subsidies for the profiteering, big industries and government withdrawal from providing basic amenities and social security for the common people.
  • Increasing capital investment for industries while decrease in actual wages for a worker, and missing job security. Work hours now have been increased from 8 hours to 10 or 12 or even 16 hours per day. Not only industries and private offices, now government offices and important public projects are also outsourced to contractual workers and ‘sahayaks’, who neither enjoy job security nor are assured minimum wages.
  • Removing street vendors and small time traders in the name of removing encroachments and beautification and instead promoting malls and multiplexes.
  • Private hospitals have increased and health care expenses have increased while both numbers and quality of doctors and nurses in government hospitals are declining. Anaemia, B12 deficiency, kidney ailments, dengue, flu, malaria, heart ailments, cancer, intestinal ailments are on a rise.  More and more people are forced to spend money on health care every day.
  • New schools, universities, and colleges are established but education has become business, with declining quality. And even after spending exorbitant fees in self financed college, jobs with enough salary remain illusive.
  • Tuition classes have become entrenched as necessary evil, forcing children into “educational” labour camps that extend for hours at stretch.
  • Fertile land taken away from farmers, farm land polluted, farming rendered expensive and farmers’ suicides are increasing.
  • Increased violence against women, unnatural death, skewed sex ratio, rapes and sexual abuse.
  • While existing political parties remain sensitive to caste and communal equations, they remain apathetic to the violation of Dalits’ constitutional rights. While the land is re-allotted to Dalits, they are not able to take actual custody and the tiller continues to be someone else. Untouchability does not go away but takes new forms.
  • Governments continue to take away forest land that rightfully belong to  tribals on the pretext of national development but avoid diligently implementing the Forest Rights Act of 2006, secured after a long struggle.
  • Political parties justify attacks on minorities after instigating and fomenting communal strife and end up rendering them just as vote banks.

This deceitful development story has increased the work hours for all, leaving us no time to think, discuss and debate as a family, group or community, and rendering us ineffectual with regard to concerns and policies that affect us daily. Political parties take turns to be in power and the deceitful development policies continue to be in place. We have to put an end to this charade of musical chairs and seriously think to remove the wrong policies.

It will be suicidal to vote for A or B party in these elections without understanding core issues. For equitable development we need to raise those basic demands with every candidate (Pl. see leaflet-2), but before that we need to demand these at least:

1.      Right to Recall if promises are unmet.

2.      A strong limit on the money allowed to be spent on election campaigns. True democracy should have state funding, so that vested interests can not win elections through money power.

3.      Rules and regulations for all elected representatives to be enshrined as law by the Parliament in tandem with work rules for any employee in any sector.

Even if you feel there is no one worth casting your vote for in your constituency, please exercise your right to vote. Press  (None Of The Above) button and exercise your right to vote.

Why is it necessary to vote? Know your right to vote for NOTA(None Of The Above)

To vote means to give right to make laws and rule, policies and programmes and raise our voice in the parliament to our representative.

In the past seven decades we have opted for almost all political parties and their coalitions and all of them have dismayed the voters with people beginning to view elections with cynicism and many opting not to vote.

Some end up voting for one they perceive is a winning candidate, instead of voting for a candidate who will honestly represent their issues. As if betting on a winning horse in a race! If one is to vote with this attitude, some candidate will surely win, but it also surely ensures defeat for the voter.

Others end up voting for the `lesser evil’.  If we were to vote for the lesser evil all the time will that solve our key issues?

The three choices of ‘voting for winning candidate’ or ‘voting for a lesser evil’ or ‘not voting’ are not the right choices as they do not lead us to build a better political alternative in future.

Instead we should opt for the NOTA (none of the above) choice, a right secured after decades of struggle. It signifies that the voters are not happy with any of the candidates and do not want any of them to become their representative. This choice rightfully asserts the voters’ political choices and will soon effect some meaningful political option, where people can demand that if candidates want their votes, they will have to offer effective policies that will improve ordinary people’s lives.

is not a negative voting but a positive vote for a step towards equitable development, against the corruption, money and muscle power, casteism, communalism and deceptive development. It is a message that how many people are looking for political alternative and will support such alternative and will end up making political parties effectively responsive to real issues.

 

Say No to the parties and candidates giving empty promises and indulging in extravagant expenses during elections

Go to Vote and remember:  press  button is a rightful, effective option.

Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti      Radical Socialist     Sahiyar (Stree Sangathan)

Jyoti Karmachari Mandal                         Vadodra Kamadar Union

Vyavasaik Swastya Suraksha Mandal

Contact to Join the Campaign :

Phone : 0265-2413840, 0265-2513482, 0265-2320399

Address: (1) 101, Harivinayak Appartment, Opp. Brahmansabha Hall, Dandia Bazar. Vadodara.

(2) G-3 Shivanjali Flats, Near Navjeevan, Ajawa Road, Vadodara.

 

 

Enhanced by Zemanta