Lok Sabha Elections 2019: Focus on development, not hatred

The young and first-time voters from Poona College of Arts, Commerce and Science demand a merit-oriented society with jobs for all, ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The students demand focus on the real issues of development and an end to hate speeches from politicians that attack people on the basis of caste and religion.

Habib Gul, a second-year Master of Arts (MA) student, said, “All the political parties are only selling dreams to people and not focusing on the ground reality. The country, especially our state, is facing drought driving farmers to commit suicide because of debt, crop failure or poor returns. Unemployment and reservation in education are the other major issues which need to be tackled, but politicians do not care about these issues and only make false promises.”

“Most importantly, I would like to tell all the candidates that stop giving hate speeches and divide the society on religion and caste lines,” said Gul.

Safety of women, scrapping reservation in education and jobs, upgraded educational syllabus to keep up with the times and better-educated candidates in politics were among the other expectations of students for a better India.

“When we pass out of college, the things which we studied here are not of any use in the job market. The main reason for this is the old syllabus which needs to be upgraded according to international standards,” said Faisal Shaikh, a Master of Commerce (MCom) student.

Nishad Anjuman from first-year Master of Science (MSc), said, “For me, safety and security of working women is more important, as the number of IT (information technology) companies have increased and there are young women working there. In the last few years, rape cases in Pune and surrounding areas have increased and we do not feel safe going out late in the night.”

Another student, Ekramul Sarkar, MA second year student, who hails from Assam, wants the Election Commission of India (ECI) to keep a tab on the expenses of political parties and their candidates during the election period. “Politicians can be seen only during elections and once they are elected they vanish for the next five years.

“Today’s youth is not foolish and they can very well judge a good and bad candidate at the local level. We will certainly see the progress report of the national political parties and ask them questions when their candidates come to ask for votes,” Sarkar said.

Quotes

“The BJP government had given many assurances in the 2014 election, but hardly could they fulfil the promises. The common man is still struggling for daily bread and butter.”

- Muberra Shaikh, first-year MSc student

“There are politicians with criminal records and candidates from same family. Our country has young talented people in every field. They should come forward and join politics.”

- Aliza Parbin, second-year MA English student