Protagonists of Change

At present, everyone is lamenting the unethical political practices of political parties and the corrupt practices of the governing class, both individually and collectively, in public. Yet, we do not see any concrete action on the ground to stop it or at least to reduce it. Of all the misdeeds, bribing voters by political parties is considered the most dangerous anti-democratic and anti-national activity from the perspective of public intellectuals. It has now become a menace to our democracy. Everywhere, it is being debated and politically contested, but a solution is not available to curb it.

Against this background, I have witnessed and, at some point in time, been part of a marathon walk of about 400 kilometres undertaken by six youths from Coimbatore to Vedaranyam to create awareness about the menace of bribing voters. Having achieved a small success in a village through their relentless action to stop the acceptance of bribes for votes, they developed a dream of undertaking a marathon walk to make this subject a political discourse in Tamil Nadu.

When I closely interacted with them, I came to know that these students are unusually level-headed, publicity-averse, committed comrades working with people on a sound ethical framework. Somewhere, these youths have been trained and oriented in strong ethical moorings. In the whole process of interaction, I sensed the commitment of these boys and girls to adhere to ethical values and norms in both their personal and public lives. They are all graduates from ordinary colleges, but they possess extraordinary willpower and a vision for transformative change in society.

When I asked, “How did you convince the villagers not to take money for votes?” They explained the whole process of working with people over a long period in the village, during which they became part of the village’s activities. They continuously worked with school-going children, youth, adolescent girls, and women on critical development issues. They remained constantly engaged in development discourse through a series of activities involving the community. By doing this, the consciousness of the people was changed.

During the parliamentary election, they decided to take up the issue of political parties giving money for votes. The youth group met each household ten times during the short period before polling. For every house, a sticker was designed, printed, and pasted on the entrance, carrying the sentence: “Our votes are not for sale.” They obtained a signed document from every household pledging not to take money for votes. They organised a silent procession in the streets with a banner declaring that accepting money for votes insults our self-respect, dishonours our nation, and belittles the sacrifices of our leaders during the freedom struggle.

By involving students from the same village in all these activities, they succeeded in changing the people’s mindset. Initially, people did not feel guilty about accepting bribes. But after witnessing these activities, they developed a sense of guilt. As a result, during the parliamentary election, they refused to take money and voted honestly, which was appreciated by all. While other villages accepted money for votes, the people from this village stopped taking bribes and developed pride in their village’s integrity.

Having achieved this success, this small group of youth was determined to celebrate it and make it a point of discussion in politics; hence, they erected a pillar in the village to demonstrate the economic and political activity of the citizens as a symbol. It was a simple function arranged for which they had invited a popular Tamil writer along with a local member of the Legislative Assembly. Through this function, their activities in the village were brought to the attention of the entire media, more specifically social media.

What they have demonstrated in the village is that if a few youths join together with a sense of commitment and ethical values in the backdrop, and work with people for six months to one year in every village and town, the whole of Tamil Nadu could become a politically honest state, performing the basic responsibility of voting freely and independently. This possibility has been demonstrated in this small exercise in this small village.

They argued that in every village and every town, a small group of youth is enough to bring change in the political consciousness of the voters. To do this exercise, ethical commitment on the part of the youth is necessary. There, I asked how they got this idea, perspective, and motivation for such committed political action. They said they got it through a kind of education which they called “Arakkalvi” — ethical education — from a group of writers and activists headed by a lawyer.

If youth organise themselves for committed political action in rural and urban areas, the source group of mentors will design a programme and offer the same education to all the youth, they explained. Finally, I asked them whether there is any possibility of preparing a module for teaching in schools and colleges. They said yes, it could be done. But they emphasised that, instead of merely lamenting the crisis we see in society, youth must come forward for committed political action — that is the need of the hour.

The writer is a former Professor and Rajiv Gandhi Chair for Panchayati Raj Studies, Gandhigram Rural Institute. Views expressed are personal