On Monday evening, a debate on the coming general elections was jointly organised by the Knowledge Academy and the Lions Club of Ahmedabad- Metropolitan.
With Gujarat set to go to polls in a month from now – voting is scheduled to take place on April 30 – some elite citizens have started debating their role in the present-day politics, and whether their votes really have any value.
On Monday evening, a debate on the coming general elections was jointly organised by the Knowledge Academy and the Lions Club of Ahmedabad- Metropolitan.
The debate was initiated by a panel of scholars from premier institutes like the Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar (IIT-G) and Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A). Prof Urjit Yajnik, professor of physics and dean of IIT-G, and Prof Sebastian Morris, professor of economics, and Prof Ajay Pandey, professor of finance & accounting, both from IIM-A, were among those who expressed their views at the debate.
Initiating the debate, Prof Yajnik said, “It is our paramount duty to protect Indian democracy. We should work as a pressure group and try to do something more for the society instead of only voting. We should act as watchdogs, it is our responsibility. It is very disappointing that everybody is thinking in terms of what did he or his community get. We should ensure that sectarian politics doesn’t become dominant in politics.”
He further said, “We should look forward to the political parties which use emerging technologies and think in present developmental contexts.”
Prof Ajay Pandey emphasised that though we have a number of political parties, we actually follow a two-party political system in almost all the states, but not at the Centre.
He said, “In the present political system, nobody votes for the candidate, but for the party. After getting elected, the role of an MP is limited to only raising their hand in support of the party’s agenda. There is utter lack of intra-party democracy. We need to usher in reforms in almost all government systems.”
Many people from the audience took active part in the debate, raising issues like whipping up of religious sentiments by some political parties, whom to vote in this depressing scenario where many of the candidates do not have a clean record, introduction of right to recall of the elected candidates if they don’t work efficiently and the issue of not voting for any of the candidate by having ‘none of the above’ option in ballot paper, etc.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}