Today we can see demand being raised from the Vaish Community for political empowerment and partnership in power. However, I feel that for participation in politics social unity is very important. We have always raised our voice from Vaish Community Media platform for social unity. In fact, our motto also reflects our view-that is: “United by a common cord.”

Let me get closer to the issue of power sharing by vaish community. As I’ve averred earlier as far as the vaish community is concerned it’s still not united in a true sense. The apparent divisions within us have been keeping us aloof from today’s politics. If a society has to play a pivotal role in the polity of the country then it has to bury all its differences and come under a single umbrella for the larger benefits of the society. We’ve to involve each and every vaish people in the national network and decide our political leader. A charismatic leader on whose call everybody comes together. A more cohesive society can make its presence felt politically in a much better way.

A glorious example before us is that of the Akali Dal. Though the Sikh community is a minority community but they are a united whole and are capable of getting their voice heard by the political clan. Since we lag in terms of unity the so called political leaders of today exploit us in order to increase their own strength and further their participation in national polity. The common trend with the political parties is that they select vaish political nominee from the population where vaish is more in number.

Strangely, this trend leads to clashes between two vaish leaders of different political parties and makes us even weaker. The trend has to be reversed. For this, the community has to choose one single vaish leader from a particular area and the rest should return their nominations. This would not only make us stronger but would also lead to increased participation in politics by vaish community. Moreover, like in other areas that the community has made its mark the same could be achieved in national politics as well.

If the Agarwal society empowers itself through unity then it would hardly feel the need to depend on other political parties. To be more precise, we as the economic power and filled with the desire to help the needy could utilize our power for political stake in a much better way.

Rajesh Gupta

Your comments are welcome at:  rgupta@nnsonline.com