Thread by @amitmehra

Not one election in last 7 years has been fought on development, jobs, economy, education or any public interest issue. Every election has most irrelevant narratives of religion, caste, regional identities, fake, propped up incidents which have no benefits for the common public/1

The entire purpose of election is similar to that as a final exam for a student or a job interview. Now imagine the disaster if we were evaluating students or employees not based on their aptitude, vision but on irrelevant aspects. /2

With media, rich, powerful lobby in cohorts, we are being made to elect national, state Governments on most irrelevant and redundant issues to run this nation. This is serving only few people in power & their cronies but is a recipe for disaster for our country & citizens./3

Though politicians are at the helm of crafting huge shift in focus of elections, parameters of evaluation & aptitude, biggest blame rests with mainstream media who have completely abdicated their responsibilities to hold people in power accountable or speak truth to power/4

Thanks to media propping up anyone that suits their business interests, anyone with zero credentials, aptitude, experience can get elected to highest echelons of power based only on religious, caste, regional identities or even by simply mouthing hate, bigotry, divisiveness./5

We lost a huge chunk of our demographic, economic edge thanks to such shift in national focus. Instead of youth creating future, many are being used to spread misinformation, hate to help keep the focus away from real public interest issues to manipulate electoral results./6

Media endorsing, propagating such irrelevant public discourse is normalising ignorance of public & national interests issues in electoral process and is one of the biggest contributors to this disaster of many people with zero aptitude, terrible performances getting elected./7

Religion, caste, regional identities always played a role in elections but largely elections were fought on issues of public interest, policies, political vision & aptitude, performance track record of candidates. Today, none of that gets any media attention & it is by design./8

Irrelevant public narrative, discourse around elections needs to stop but the only way it can be done is if public starts seeking accountability not just from politicians but also from journalists, media house, their owners. They should not be allowed to misuse their power. /end