The 2019 election is an election of our times. Quite possibly the most important election, this generation of Indians will ever have a chance to vote in. It’s an election that has a civilization at a crossroad facing two options: to willfully disappear into oblivion or reemerge as the preeminent power on the planet once again and maybe reach even greater heights. But just like any other election it’s something that’s beholden to eye of the reader. A tragic case of subjective plurality that’s engulfing voters across the world, where they leave out the objectivity and vote with their emotion. Ironically, unlike everything else India has done in the recent past, Indians in this case were ahead of the curve. Haven’t we Indians always voted with our emotions rather use objective metrics? It’s something that the country’s elites, quite possibly the only one who vote on which side offers them the most material benefits, constantly whip a frenzy about, but then stir the most. A classic case of the pot calling the kettle black. Now, who wouldn’t like a bungalow in Lutyens Delhi at discounted prices while preying on our most vulnerable instincts? *Cough Rajdeep *Cough

But leaving all that aside, this election really is about which direction we want our country to go in. The Prime Minister made huge promises in 2014 and this election will be decided by how the voters perceive his achievements. Do the voters see the glass half empty or half full, will more or less decide which way they vote. While there’s ideological puritans on both sides this election is all about those who aren’t. It’s about those who are still undecided, and unlike the 2014 election where most had made up their mind months before, it’s about those who aren’t going to until probably voting day. This is exactly where our biasses, to be specific the availability bias, plays a huge role in deciding who we vote for. The availability bias as defined by Daniel Kahneman is, “Is the human tendency to think that examples of things that come readily to mind are more representative than is actually the case.” And unsurprisingly the examples that come readily to mind are also the ones that we’ve experienced the latest. So when most Indians go to vote this election season, there votes are going to be decided by what they perceive feel the latest. But we as humans are anything if not creatures driven by simple desires that use complex ways to fulfill those desires. Antifragile as Taleb calls it. So this post isn’t an attempt to list the accomplishments of either side and tell you to vote for either or. I get we all have different priorities, but rather this post is an attempt to help you view your vote in a larger context. Zoom out and see the bigger picture. Decide your vote not on the basis of the last one, two, five, 10, 20, 30, 50 years, but rather in the hundreds/thousands because ours is a civilization that old. Vote keeping our heritage in mind and then decide which side is best suited to reclaim and exceed that, because lets face it we’re quite a world apart from reaching our potential. We truly are at a cross road, and this brings me back to the options I offered at the start, which if you noticed were two contrasting options that couldn’t be more different. And I know I said I wasn’t going to tell you who to vote for and I’m not going to, but deep down don’t you know feel it already? 

P.S. I’d like to end by remembering the lives we lost recently. The nation owes a huge debt of gratitude to the brave martyrs that lost their lives recently in the#pulwamaterrorattack, and while their families will never be able to fill the void, it’s been heartening to see that the https://bharatkeveer.gov.in/ website has been crashing quite frequently due to the outpouring of love and respect many Indians have for their security forces. Let this attack light a fire amongst us that burns so deep that the perpetrators of this dastardly terror attack are brought to justice, and the sacrifice of our martyrs and their families duly avenged. OM SHANTI! #Neverforget