When my friend Vinod said he was campaigning for Yogesh ,an independent candidate from Bommanahalli constituency in Bangalore and asked me to utilize my time by helping Yogesh in the campaign , i needed no reasons as it was a request from my life time friend. But when he explained about his carrier i was quite puzzled and compelled to ask some clarifications from Yogesh ,who after working for around 20 years in a reputed networking firm(13 years in USA) decided to get in to social work.
I had put him series of questions and clarifications (Questions and answers are attached at the end of blog ) as a cynical journalist does and which i realize now that they can have demoralizing effects on any weak aspirant . But i was impressed by the way Yogesh answered patiently to my questions in a most practical way .
There are only few people who dare to explore the waters even after knowing the fact that the journey would be fraught with storms. One answer which impressed me the most came to my pessimistic question " given the nature of contemporary politics your chances of winning are very bleak so how would you handle it?." answer was like this " YES, Chances are bleak in the given setup. But we have to change and change comes only in small installments. A new-born baby doesn't run the 1st day or 1st month or 1st year...Good democracies and systems of the world did not happen overnight nor in few years.. needs a several decades for that... american democracy has more than 2 century history... So we need to put our best efforts and keep making progress.. If we are on right track, One/Some day we will achieve what we want... Reaching the destination should not be the sole objective but also to enjoy the journey to reach the destination..." . After this answer from him I am not sure how good a politician Mr.Yogesh makes but as a person i am impressed by his optimistic approach towards life which is very important in today's political arena which is full of apathetic ,pessimistic politicians. My belief is that " when a person has positive approach he would not hinder to think out of box and try new solutions to solve age old problems" and i guess you wouldn't disagree to this point.
Here is one more pessimistic question from me to which Mr.Yogesh answered in very convincing way.
Q: The votes that you are targeting of so called well educated are the most complacent audience in India. So you can least trust them.
A: That is because they were not given good choices consistently.. They have lost hope and so their apathy. As I said earlier, we got to change that by giving good choices. Winning is not my only objective but is one of the 4..
(1) Other 3 being bring the educated and dejected people to the booths to vote...
(2) Make them to believe there is hope and they need to take part in changing the system...
(3) Identify, mentor and nurture leaders for future..
if Yogesh get's 5,000 votes, I can assure you that there will be atleast 10 yogesh's willing to take the plunge in next election...
If yogesh get's 25,000 there will 50 more...
If yogesh win's (needs 50,000 votes) and delivers in 5 years.. there will be 100 to 200... If I were to win, I personally like to mentor atleast 5 in next 5 years who are ready to contest public election (be it corporation / assembly / municipal council or whatever).
This was something like a knockout blow to me. I am not sure about whether all these listed promises would be implemented by him or not ( My apologies for being cynical ,i attribute this cynicism purely to current political scenario in India ) but what i am sure about is him being the only candidate contesting in election from entire Karnataka with such a noble vision.I call it a noble vision because today's youngsters have lost faith in politics so winning back their confidence in politics is only way out to have sustainable democracy in India, which otherwise would lead to political unrest as we have seen in many Gulf countries. Yogesh has thought of not just bringing youngsters out to vote but to train them as a future leaders that India needs today to leverage demographic dividend that our politicians always boost about .
So now i have reasons ,obligation (as a Friend and as a responsible Citizen ) and moreover an opportunity to work with such passionate person (Yes i am being little selfish and greedy about knowledge ,experience and exposure which i am going to get working with him :) ) so I support Yogesh candidature in Karnataka assembly elections.
So i here by request to my friends to kindly support us in whatever way you can and give us some good ideas to reach out to people.
Come be part of this noble work .
Website : http://www.yogeshdevaraj.in/
Answers to other questions that may be haunting you ...
1)When you say ,you have good intentions of working for people ,is politics is the only way out ?
certainly, not.. there are many ways but depends on what one wants to do.. one such way other than politics is working for non-profits... i did that for almost 12-13 years while I was in US. after coming back i found the governance at all levels is failing fast and absolutely their is no accountability either on fulfilling their responsibilities nor for their misdeeds.
so the country needs big help in this area where day-by-day people are getting disinterested and loosing hope.. if we can bring little sanity, things will start changing for better.. a legislative house needs to elect 10% to 20% honest people with good track record..
2)What is the real power( Funds , Voice for a cause etc ) as an independent candidate you will have when the people from reputed parties are unable to do anything for their constituencies .
Representatives from all parties have proved that they are all the same when it comes to governance or accountability (for them it's all ME, ME and ME)... political parties doesn't attract good people nor doesn't encourage them even if they come on their own... politics has become investment these days.. invest X amount of money and try to make 10x or 20x money in 5 years.. once you get elected, you settle for life...
actually real power is one's character and ability to motivate others and bring people of different thoughts and interests into one platform that is DEVELOPMENT and MAKING PEOPLE's LIVES BETTER... to motivate others one needs to be CLEAN and a ROLE-MODEL.. These days the MOST CORRUPT get the best respect because of their money and muscle power
3)Sir , people are bored hearing false promises made by politicians about good governance they promise in every election campaign , so what's that make your candidature a unique one so that it catches people's attention?
YES.. every party promised and failed.. .that's the reason, people have lost interest in our political and administrative systems, which is very dangerous development.
I don't know about uniqueness.... but I'm trying to send a message across saying pl consider 4 things
(a) I'M COMMITTED to the cause, if I were elected... Me walking away from a high-paying job and surviving in public service even after 2 1/2 years should get attention if people really want to see it.
(b) I have EXPERIENCE both PROFESSIONAL (of 20 years) and in COMMUNITY SERVICE (of 15 years, although most of it part-time). Know how to work with people and get work done. Community service is way different (and tougher) than Professional work. Hence I will not promised what I will get done.. I'm saying what I understand and how problems can be solved...
(c) All my life I cared for HONESTY and INTEGRITY... That's what my parents taught us and we are teaching our kids. This is essential ingredient in Public Life which is grossly missing.... I can guarantee on this but voters have to believe seeing my past record...
(d) I understand THE PUBLIC GOVERNANCE SYSTEMS and have good idea on HOW TO SOLVE PROBLEMS.. will listen to the BEURACRACY for solutions and will work with them or make them work on the solution..
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