“We are not alone; we are together” was the booming reverberation in the campus on October 7&8 when Indian Social Institute, Bengaluru took the initiative to organize a two-day National level Consultation on ‘Promoting Democratic Process’ in collaboration with Jesuits of South Asia, SJES, AICUF, Youth Ministry, Diocesan Priests, Religious of women and men, Leaders of Ecumenical Churches and Lay Collaborators (CSOs/NGOs) and like-minded human rights defenders. In all about 120 organizations joined from 8 states of India which in itself was a great momentum of their preparedness for the elections.
The two-day workshop focused on serious deliberations about the forthcoming elections 2024 and the need for a change in the governance system in view of the larger interest of the poor and the marginalized. The role of Bharat Jodo Abhiyan and Eddelu Karnataka who have rich experience in mobilizing individuals and organizations in election campaign were of great help as they were with us for both the days and gave proper orientation to our collaborators. The main speakers were from Bharat Jodo Abhiyan, and Eddelu Karnataka apart from our Jesuits from ISI B and Ashirvad, Bangalore. They shared the philosophy, methods and strategies that we need to employ in the coming elections. The success stories of Eddelu Karnataka were very well showcased for the entire group which reflected as action programs in the state level group sharing and the plenary that followed. The state-wise group discussions provided a platform for all participants to make an excellent assessment of the situation in their respective states. The plenary session which collated all the state reports built a very good built synergy. They said, “we have now woken up and are willing to fight”. It strengthened them to focus on their role as citizens and concrete actions for 2024 elections. One important learning from the workshop is education of voters. From the leanring, it became very clear that it is everyone’s duty to help enroll new voters and re-enroll missing voters and see that everybody come out to vote on the day of voting. Hence, Political illiteracy is harmful to democracy was the carry home message. It became very clear that the organized minority have been imposing their vested interests upon the unorganized majority. From this General Elections, we will see that we, the majority will get organized and rule for us and by us. This was the feeling most of the participants carried home.