The Hindu Business Line : Of a man who didn't vote

EVEN when polling is in progress, voter turnout is one of the first statistics that interests readers as a measure of the success of elections. But apathy, at times accompanied by anger, eats into any boast of big percentages. So, through the first-ever presidential address to the nation on the eve of a general election, the First Citizen advised a few weeks ago that voting was an onerous responsibility.

Barring those who could not exercise their right because their names were missing, people who don't queue up to cast their vote are generally viewed by poll analysts with as much contempt as spectators in a stadium who don't join in the applause.

However, an anecdote by ex-Cabinet Secretary T.S.R. Subramanian in his recent memoir presents a different portrait of a man who did not vote. Let's rewind to about three decades ago, to the Azamgarh bye-election — "the first election to Parliament after the Congress was totally wiped out of the Hindi belt following the Emergency." Another first then was that the Election Commission had appointed an election observer. It was peak summer, recounts TSR, when temperature soared to 48 degree Celsius in the open.

After "criss-crossing the constituency and visiting polling stations," he stopped "at mid-day on a side road, under a tree," to have his lunch. "In the far distance, I could see through my binoculars a field where a peasant clad only in his loincloth was tending to the land in preparation for the planting, in advance of the approaching monsoon rain.

"I soon also saw his young wife, carrying a small basket containing his meal, accompanied by her two children. From a distance, I could observe the children bounding ahead to embrace him as they approached him. I also could see the affectionate greeting that the woman gave him, in a loving yet dignified manner, without even coming close to touching him."

That's as detailed as a movie clip, but TSR recapitulates how he could sense "a certain restful peace in that rural scene" even as the fierce mid-day sun scorched in one of the most backward areas of the country, "among rustic folk who lived barely above subsistence level." On one side, we have these villagers bestowed with tranquillity to be content with "the most elementary things," and on the other, "the politicians and bureaucrats and industrialists and professionals who extract from such people the last bit of juice for their own luxury and their own narrow ends."

Had the man not heard of elections? Or, could he not spare time for democracy? TSR answers these questions: "He was immersed in his own simple routine with its minimal needs. His fortitude and inner strength are what have prevented a bloody revolution in India, despite the deprivation and exploitation of the class he represents."

So, would you still want him to vote?

SayCheek@TheHindu.co.in