Rally By Amateur Politicians
Today I went for the amateur politicians’ political rally in mylapore, I use the term amateur politicians because the party (namely Lok Paritran) have their intentions right, but their means wrong. Their campaigning in Mylapore is non existent, and entirely dependent on the student community and their influence.
The candidate Santhanagopalan Vasudev spoke at length about the change he hopes to bring, and his intentions, he reiterated he isn’t here for money and urged people to vote for him, and thereby bring in change. He also reiterated the need for the indifferent educated middle class to turn out and vote. He seemed honest and the will was there, but still unclear regarding the means, and what actually he can achieve. the volunteers and the participants, seemed motivated by the romanticism of being involved with the party, most of them didn’t have a clear understanding or grasp of politics and the campaigning mechanisms.
The entire rally interestingly was dominated by those in the 18-30 age group, and no one with grey/receding hairline were present on stage, though some did make their presence felt in the audience. surprisingly the volunteers (thondargal in tamil) seemed confident of a victory in Mylapore , I would have given them that chance but since they blundered with their campaigning I wouldn’t expect them to win, but they definitely can recover their deposit.
The party said they didn’t have money, that probably prevents you from conducting a door to door campaign? Many areas were still uncovered, and the candidate didn’t even visit his own backyard (he lives in CIT Colony, and Abirampuram is his backyard). While speaking to the volunteers it seems evident that they are amateurs, and don’t have a clue as to basis of running an election campaign. This seems understandable considering the 18-30 age groups disinterest with politics and indifference towards politics. Finally I presume all Lok Paritran members who’ve read this post would be angry if I don’t justify why I called them amateur politicians, when they consider themselves to be professionals. They don’t seem to have a clue regarding how to go about an election, they seem clueless and lost. It was hard for me to take them seriously, and unless people do take them seriously they don’t have a chance. With proper planning and campaginign the party could have easily won Mylapore, but blew it. The party seems to have given up on this elections, preferring rather to make their presence felt in this elections and focus on the future elections in TN, either in 18 months or 60 months. Hopefully by then they will be taken seriously.
Good Thoughts, experience always speakrs, before we step into something, strong planning and little bit of experience and advice is need ;)!
Better luck next time,LP .
Vatsan,
Well, I think you are probably right in calling them amateurs. They need to get through to people. You cant just win an election with a specific demographic – educated middle class. They have cut across barriers of Income, Education, standard of living and caste!
They may not be seasoned campaigners. But, I really hope they win.
i think for politics, the age can be 18 or 80, if they have real care on society and helping mind, sure they will win.
As a part-time volunteer myself, I take pride in the fact that the people who r doing the work for Lok paritran are amateurs like me. We are not professionals or free-lancers who wud do some work for thundu beedi, briyani and liquor..
And oh yeah, regarding professionalism, i saw how the DMK men went abt their campaigning in besant nagar:)
My constituency comes under Tambaram.. where only the “professionals” (going by your definition) are contesting. None of the parties have come for canvassing to my residence. Only one party(DMK) had given the slip which has our names…
Nee seriousa edukalai nu yaarum azhalai…
It’s your prerogative…
evanavadhu nalladu pannumnu necha mudincha contribute pannu, or encourage pannu or amadiya iru..
whether someone comes to yr house for campaign is not the ultimate yardtick for measuring their efficiency…
yaarayume kurai solradhu rombo easy…
i can find 1000 faults in the campaign and excecution of the established parties..
that does not mean they dont know anything.. nor does it mean i know more abt politcs than they do.
@Pk
olagathuku oru dubaya podhum innonu vendam!!
ur speaking like bush when he says ur either with us or against us by making this statement
evanavadhu nalladu pannumnu necha mudincha contribute pannu, or encourage pannu or amadiya iru..
ROFTL
Why is it that people get angry if anyone ays anything against LP ? What is being questioned here is not the fact that they are standing for elections or whatsoever. What is being questioned here is the way things are being done by them. volunteers can always take it as a positive feedback and try to improve upon it right ?
If someone says you are doing something wrong do we say that some other fellow is also doing wrong ? We can try to correct ourselves atleast right ?
K.Shyam
>>ur speaking like bush when he says ur either with us or against us by making this statement
indha Bush label is boring, why dont u call me hitler? :)
shyamk,
unfortunately that is exactly the feedback vatsan got from the office bearers and volunteers in mylapore. they all took this in the right sense. i was there with him, and i got to listen to this same feedback for the better part of 1 hr. belive me it was reptitive as SUN NEWS…
call me senile or idiot, i would rather write positive and vote for a candidate based on who i think will do good for the state, not based on whether they have canvassed well in my place…
nobody denied they were amateurs. why expect professional performance from amateurs in the first attempt and show them in bad light?
and project yrself as a know-all amidst them?.
he was cool enough to nit pick the modalities with a newly born party, maybe bcos they will not come in auto searching for vatsan…
he shud try criticizing the establish Amma’s and thalaivars in their podhukootams…
after all neutrality does not imply u can bully around with new kids:)
ive also spoken the office bearers of ADMK and strongly criticised them too, incase you didnt know, adu teriyama pesakoodathu, i know the maavatta thalaivar ADMK triplicane area, chummma vai vidathengal
good neengal vote podungo adu ungal perogative, and criticising is my perogative, u have no right to make moral judgements on that and also making blanked sweeping statements like nallathu panavangal na suport pannue etc illati amadiya iru ellam isnt acceptable, it clearly shows ur intolerance with opposing views
and ofcourse why would u listen to ppl u lable morons? avangala support pannati v become morons according to ur LP supoprters (may be not u) enamo avanga ellam aakasathula villu valaika pora madri oru scene,
I CANNOT VOTE FOR A BUNCH OF ROMANTICISIMG STUDENTS PLAIN AND SIMPLE, I WUD RATHER VOTE FOR A CORRUPT AUTHOCRATIC CM WHO KNOWS THE GROUND REALITIES
neengal dhaan bush katchi aachae
bush use panathuku reason irukku, chumma argument sake kosram dont suggest hitler,
The problem with vatsan is pretty obvious.One just needs to read his profile to understand that.he is a wannabe intellectual.And what is the easiest way to establish oneself as an intellectual?Well,just say something which goes against conventional wisdom and general consensus.So if most people (in the net world) support Lok paritran,try to criticize in all ways possible.Voila!a new intellectual is born with original ideas and unique perspective.
Having said that,its not that I disagree with everything that vatsan says.Its the conclusion he draws from it that is so mischeiviously negative.Of course,there are lacunas in the campaign – but what else would you expect from a bunch of inexperienced youngsters who have just launched a party a few months back. They will obviously make lot of mistakes – but since they are intelligent,they will learn from them.What is more important is to appreciate the fact that these people have the right intentions and sufficient intelligence and if they have sufficient will power,they might be able to change the current system for the better.But what you seem to saying is that you will not look at any alternative unless it is born perfect.Well,if everyone thinks like you,then all such alternatives will be crushed the day they are born.What they need right now is maximum encouragement from the sidelines and being generous towards their mistakes..Your criticism would be justified if the party makes the same kind of mistakes,say,five years from now.But trying to humiliate them right now is in very bad taste.
You accuse them of being romantic simply becos they are enthusiaistic.I am sure you would have accused them of lacking the drive if they had appeared sober.The bottomline – criticism for the sake of criticism.
And the comparison with Bush- as is typical of Vatsan – is purely nonsensical.What prabhu said is exactly what any sane person would advice u.And by the way,Bush said – “either with us or against us”. Now here is the homework for vatsan -what prabhu said is very substantially different from the Bush statement.I know its going to be a tough task for you given your meagre intellectual resources,but anyway give it a shot!
And oh! u have criticised aiadmk also in front of their party workers – entirely beleivable!As abbas says in Padaiyappa “What a man!”
@ sai arivandh
ROFTL
well,
i agree with vatsan. i am a person, belonging to that class of people who is fed up with either dravidian party of the state. so when comes an option of a third party, i jus dont close my eyes and support them. i expect them to come to my area and go for door to door campaigning. maybe i can understand what they are upto but how abt the normal people who dont know abt them. in my constituency the lk canditate did not appear, did not conduct any meeting, no campaigning. i didnt even know where she lived, till i found out her address in my polling booth. now dont tell me they have put all details in the website.thats tiring. so i totally agree with vatsan that they failed to reach the common public.
@veda
Veda,i think ur missing the point. No one would disagree that the campaign had many flaws.but that is only to be expected froma fledgling party with meagre resources – not just in terms of money but more importantly in terms of manpower.Its not that they had hundreds of volunteers and then decided not go on a door to door campaign!What is achieved by going overboard criticising such things?Why attempt to damage the morale of this group?The need of the hour is for ppl like us to put our full weight behind what is definitely a noble cause.Give them some breathing space,lets see how they evolve a couple of years from now.
Hi all,
I met this guy vatsan during the meeting…. that was the day he came from singapore if i am right…..
and i am a bloody damn supporter and a member of lok paritran who has worked all along for the party’s success ….
Leave him alone….we need kids like him….who just talk and talk and do nothing else…
it does help you know….first they spoke the party got started and told will not hold…..then we are contensting but cannot campign….then we had a meeting which was successful but unprofessions …rather ametuerish……next we would be winning by getting votes from the all wring segment of people….
“seemed motivated by the romanticism of being involved with the party,”
we are ….we would rather be motivated than be demotivated about everything thats happening around us…..
come on….grow up kid….
if you really think you can do a better job come and do it for us….
if he had told us then what it takes to do a professional capigning it would have helped…..
I never know he runs a consutancy of that…..
and to all who havent met him……
he isnt a intellect neither he looks like one…
i am sure i dont surprise you guys….
ROFTL,
the difference between the caders of various parties seems to be getting blurred!!!!!!!!
@ karthick and Sai A
thanks guys commenting and making making ur voice heard and think it will affect opinion, as i am unaware about the reach of the blog!!! otherwise u wont use the comments section to make ur voice heard!!!
and karthick i dont call my self an incellectual, read my profile, i wish u guys the best luck for the state elections in 2 yrs time,
“that i am called an intellectual by some…i hope i am one” from your
okay you dont call…..You do hope!!!!!
SO it was a clarification……
good that you know where you stand kid….
@karth1k
tht was funny, thanks for entertainin me on a slow day
Same here….how else do you think your writings are….
grow up….
to LP makkal : first of all as a party with ppl who have senses ! (atleast we think so !) we must encourage people like vatsan solely because he pin points what went wrong … take him in the sense .. he is your lovable critic. Every words he says need not go down to you as an accusation but certainly be taken as what the outside world thinks about us ! … You might not know what mistake u make when u r the part of it ! … but certainly ppl like Vatsan are of big help in this matter ! …
And exactly we need to focus this on in the next elections ! There are lot that you need to work on the organisational aspects of LP much before we plunge into elections next time ! … Take it seriosuly this time I saw the methodology used by ADMK and DMK as to how they approached the elections and we atleast need to learn the approach to reach the ppl although u dont want to follow their ideology ! (Reach -again not through politicians !… much different perspective !)
Vatsan: You could made it more like a soft critiscism rather than making a dashing accusation ! …. if i read ur post it seems so although probably ur intentions are what i had explained above !
Guyz ..Y dont u stop this hussle n reach out 2 a sol’n 2 the prblm ? ? ?
for the problem*