A Warm and Prosperous Future?

I have often wondered a lot about speeches made by politicians during elections and after them. I have never ever heard a single speech that ended with me rooting for the speaker. Sometimes, I wish I could hear a speech like what follows. The problem is that these politicians are so snake-tongued that I can never trust a politician's speech. What matters is his or her work. And you can never know anything about a politico's work until he or she's in power. Sheesh. Anyway, here's a speech I would like to hear.

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My fellow Indians, tomorrow is going to be a very special day for you and for me. Tomorrow will be the first day of polling. This evening, I will make before you my final speech before the results are declared. I do not deny that I am nervous. One is always nervous when confronting so big for the first time in his life. But I do my best to keep my nervousness down because I know that no matter what, the future is going to be hectic for me and being nervous is not going to help.

During canvassing, I have visited many places, met many people and promised many things. My party has promised you many things. I have talked about our country and its rich history. I have talked about the incredible diversity and sheer potential of its people. It has only been in the past few months that I have realized how vast, how glorious and how magnificent our country is. I have also realized, my friends, that taking charge of the administration of a nation such as this is a huge, incredible responsibility. To protect what is precious in our land is not easy. Neither is making sure that the nation innovates as much as possible at the same time in order to keep ourselves growing.

If indeed i am elected to the post I aspire for, I have an amazing team of people, skilled in various fields and talented at various levels to help me. To help you. To help our nation. But over the past few months, I have realized that this is not enough. No matter how educated or how talented a cabinet of ministers is, no matter how dedicated and conscious the government can be, it is not possible to solve each and every problem that occurs in a country as huge and diverse as ours. I'd like to share something with you, my fellow Indians. No government, on its own, can ever do enough.

Politicians in this country have time and again promised you millions of things over the last sixty or seventy years. Have you ever wondered why so few of these promises have ever been fulfilled? I will tell you. Our goals and aspirations have never been achieved because every government that ever came to power thought too much of itself. Every government, every minister, every politician believed that to be in power is to literally be in power. They believed that to be a part of the government was to control each and every thing that happened within our borders (and sometimes outside our borders as well). Even in these days of liberalisation, the government still believes that it is capable of doing anything it wants, whenever it wants. Which, of course, is not true. A country so huge and incredible like India can never be bound completely by the whims and fancies of the government.

But do you want to know something else, my fellow Indians? My travels in India have taught me another sad fact. The people of India have over the years, come to believe the same thing. Indians today, have this mindset, that the government is behind everything. A number of people believe that the government alone and no one else can save them from their problems. Ironically, the other section of the population believes that the government is the cause of every problem in this country because only the government has the power to cause such problems! Whatever you may believe, my fellow Indians, a lot of you seem to believe that the only body responsible for anything is the government and its affiliated bodies. The sad truth today is that most Indians prefer to sit back and wait for the government to do something for them. Others prefer to stand up and oppose the government on whatever it does.

The fact, my people, is that the government is helpless without you. This brings me back to my original point. No government can ever achieve much on its own. The responsibility is too great. Every government needs help. We will need help, if we get elected. During these last months, you have seen political parties go crazy, promising you unlimited water, free electricity, reservations for various castes, a solution to the Kashmir problem, elimination of terrorism...in short everything under the sun, including the moon. My party however, will offer you only one thing. We offer you a partnership. We can offer you nothing else because we cannot do without you. And you cannot do without us.

A politician in another country, decades ago said "Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country". I would like to say something similar. Ask not what your government can do for you, but what you can do with your government. We want you to be a part of what we do. Not just once every five years during elections but everyday and every hour. Our government, people of India, will neither be a benefactor nor an enemy. It will be a friend and a partner whose greatest wish is to help you realize your true potential. We want you to use the government to uplift yourselves.

How will we go about this? If we get elected, my people, I will want you to stand with us every single minute for the next five years. Everyday, I will want you to look around you and see what is happening. Has the neighbourhood school been opened? No? Why not? Find out. Don't just rely on the media though the media is a powerful tool and is well worth using. Find out on your own. Have the roads been completed within the deadline? No? Why haven't the contractors been penalized? Find out.

More importantly, people of India, I want you to keep yourselves informed. In the next two years, I hope to see lots of libraries and resource centres within every citizen's reach. I want you to use them. Learn. Don't just rely on the syllabus taught at school and college. Go out and learn about policies. Get onto the internet and read about economic theories and history. Develop your own views about what happens in the world and in society around you. Do not mindlessly follow the views of others. Ask for proof and evidence to validate their views as well as your own. My party hopes to increase the literacy rate in this country to as high a level that can be humanly possible in five years. But the real journey begins afterwards. I want to see every literate citizen become a responsible citizen and within a couple of decades I hope to see every citizen a literate citizen.

But that is not enough. I will warn you right now, that there might be pain. Some policies that we frame might seem harmful and against the people who voted for us. In fact, there will be some pain. I cannot deny that. But during those times, I hope that you will not abandon us but trust us, as a friend trusts a friend. Believe me when I say that this pain will be temporary. To achieve some gain, there always will be some pain. Please stick with us during those times and do not lose faith in us. Again, keep yourselves informed and try to understand why we will frame our policies in such a way. We will not try and stop you from knowing these reasons. Believe me, these will be for the good of the nation.

I am speaking as if we have already won the elections but of course, the choice to elect us still lies with you. Remember that as friends and partners, you have as much responsibility in administrating this country as any government. So tomorrow, I hope to see each and every eligible Indian come out and vote. Whether you vote for us or not, show us that you take your responsibilities seriously and care for what happens around you and to you as much as we do. That alone will give our party the strength to carry on...whether we win the elections or lose. After all, if you think about it, neither your responsibility nor ours will change due to the elections. All that'll change is our perspective.

So, here's wishing you, people of India, a very good night and a warm and prosperous future

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What do you think? Reckon you'd vote for this politician?