- One of the most common phenomena witnessed in the metros is the growing antipathy towards elections. It’s becoming increasingly clear that the urban dwellings in the form of buzzing metro cities in India are turning cynical simply because of the apathy shown by the government irrespective of party affiliations. The promises, assurances, reassurances, inducements, and incentives doled out by the political class during elections are viewed as just that, mere promises. It doesn’t matter if the polls are for the Lok Sabha or the state assembly, the people’s lack of enthusiasm stems from the fact that they have not seen real development despite a galore of promises. What could be the potential measures to ensure large voter turnout in metros?
PC: FreePik
- It’s a million-dollar question with no easy answers as the dynamics associated with the eligible voters in metros have several intricate layers, including the migrant population. Apathy is not restricted to any one city per se but is seen across the country. The cynicism prevalent can be gauged by the fact that the recently conducted state polls in Maharashtra and especially in Mumbai show how city dwellers lament the decay of their beloved metro yet don’t care if that’s not a poll issue. The Mumbai voter’s distress, all that hand wringing, is rather well captured in Maratha quotaman Jarange Patil’s desperate trajectory to force a change in circumstance. A strike, an indefinite fast, a compromise, a feeling of betrayal, an angry entry and exit from the poll fray.
- Exactly like Mumbai city, India’s financial capital, home to zillions of billionaires, where hundreds and thousands still flock to dream and do, yet, a city fatigued, worn down, spent – left to defend for itself its once-dazzling character, a cosmopolitan past its residents’ lament about in endless waves of nostalgia. What Mumbai, dream city, maximum city, everyone’s city, could have been. The fact is no one’s any longer accusing Mumbai city of internationalism. Its glitzy pockets haven’t expanded. Instead, the super-rich’s blinding dazzle is sharper, throwing darker and longer shadows onto every man’s city. In these shadows lurk Mumbai’s reality, the same as other metro cities.
PC:FreePik
- One of creaky infra, delayed completion of projects like flyovers, faulty bridges, encroachments over mangroves, traffic congestion, housing woes, and public spaces devoured for private activity. Mumbai today could be any city, its expansion following the hotel-mall-business district template, monstrosities mushrooming in every city suburb – without a thought to inclusion, let alone design, aesthetics, or what a megacity needs. No one is asking who we’re building for. Middle-class is groaning under the burden of Mumbai’s decay, a coastal city vying with dirty Delhi even on toxic air. It’s airport? Jammed. Daily commute? Like going into battle. The less said the better about the civic amenities. Will the situation improve dramatically? No harm in daydreaming though.
