STATE OF THE NATION
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SOTN: Alienated people want accountable leaders
Published on Tue, Jan 27, 2009 at 04:01, Updated on Tue, Jan 27, 2009 at 23:22 in India section
Tags: State Of The Nation, Politics
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Even after 60 years of democracy, there seems to be a general apathy towards politics and politicians. The political fraternity is seen as corrupt and indifferent towards the people who they are supposed to represent. The year 2009 will see our democracy tested like never before, with the upcoming General Elections.
The seventh wave of the State of the Nation Survey conducted by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies in partnership with CNN-IBN seeks to gauge public opinion on issues related to politics and democracy.
Though a political career is clearly low on peoples' aspirations, there is a bag of mixed expectations from the neta. On the one hand the politician is expected to be a Mr Clean, but at the same time be smart enough to get peoples' work done in the corridors of power.
The apathy towards netas is extended to the state institutions they run directly or indirectly. They are deemed as corrupt and inefficient and the there seems to be a general feeling of distrust among people when it comes to governmental institutions.
On the panel to debate the findings of the survey were Congress leader Salman Khurshid; Director Science and Environment Sunita Narain; eminent theatre director Aamir Raza Hussain; senior journalist Swapan Dasgupta; and historian Ram Guha.
Is The Common Man Alienated From Politics?
Those who say… | Yes | No |
Politics is too complicated for me. | 49 | 20 |
Politicians don't care about people like me. | 58 | 17 |
On the whole politicians in the country are corrupt. | 75 | 8 |
They would like their child to be a political leader. | 23 | 58 |
Note: Figures in percent. Rest ‘no opinion’ | ||
Salman Khurshid said that such hatred and contempt for politicians means there is a big problem in India. He said that for some strange reason, the politicians were the bulls that needed to be slaughtered in the country and that this kind of sentiment was terrible for a democracy.
"We may be bad people and some of us may not be living up to the standards of our people but I think it is terrible to have this kind of sentiment in the country," he stated.
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