In these times, none of the above is an option (NOTA) being tried out more often than it was even five years ago. It is not just when someone asks you at home what would you like to eat that you say nothing, despite options being thrown at you, but even schools and Amitabh Bachchan seem to be encouraging NOTA.
Multiple choice questions (MCQ) are an essential part of school exams nowadays. And Bachchan, in any case, roles out options on the Kaun Banega Crorepati show that helps participants on the hot seat, to choose the correct one even if it is a NOTA. None can be the right option when every other option is wrong. On KBC, it could mean a fortune.
The KBC in democracy is being tried out now. Try criticising Narendra Modi, and pat comes the response from his fan club, what about Rahul Gandhi? Wasn’t the Congress behind 1984 anti-Sikh riots? Isn’t UPA government the most corrupt?
It is as if the discussion on politics has been reduced to MCQs. Ask more questions and answer none. A polarised political discussion throws some options but even then if you do not want to opt for any, you have NOTA.
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Sure, options in democracy were always there but now the MCQ mode is being played out. And, the more cynical you are towards politicians and parliamentary democracy, the more you want to try out none. And for the NOTA supporters, this right is of prime importance.
Unlike KBC, the NOTA button on voting machine may not win you any crore. So, by way of extension, NOTA supporters want that another round of voting should be held in a constituency with 51 per cent NOTA. The suggestion is revolutionary but what if after the second round of voting, NOTA still wins? Should we then have a NOTA citizen representing the constituency? So, there will be NOTA members of Parliament and members of legislative assemblies. And if they have majority in the house, laws will be made by NOTA!
The other option is to have several rounds of voting and indulge in criminal waste of public money.
The disenchantment with democracy is such that several well educated persons would even want dictatorship to rule the country, little realising that the Parliamentary democracy that has survived several decades in this country gives us the right to question, gives us the option of not only voting out prime ministers like Indira Gandhi when they invoked emergency powers but also put them behind bars.
Indian democracy is not about majority rule so a 51 per cent NOTA does not mean anything. It is a representative democracy. This democracy is about letting government, legislatures and judiciary function independently. Citizens who do not vote, in any case, can feel empowered with NOTA but for a vast majority for whom government is the only agency for development, for whom their MPs, MLAs and councillors are the ones who get them roads, lightening and water and for whom not making a choice is like disfranchising, NOTA is just an exotic idea that will sit on the voting machines of the MCQ generation who are essentially cynical and indecisive.