“Prices are going up” – blame politicians, “Terrorists are exploding bombs in every city” – blame politics, “My community is not getting reservation” - blame it, even if your son is not able to qualify for medical/engineering/civils exam blame politics. This is an all India psycho problem now days. Why it is so and what are the possible reasons let us think.
Some reasons are specific to India and some are worldwide. I can be wrong but as it is a very deep question, perception can differ. When I start to think about politics, I am not very sure that politics and politicians are that big a problem as hyped in today’s society. Below are some possible reasons I could think of apart from “politicians are bad” mentality. Please add to this list if you think of some more.

1. Economy and economic processes are root cause of problem in every society. Because it is all about survival. In democracy we have a safety valve to express our anger, and this safety valve is media. Because general population cannot understand economics, but can understand politics as it is nearer to their everyday life, they tend to blame politics for their economical problems. A great example is oil price rise. India has and will change government on an issue that is not in the hand of politicians. It is economy baby. Good or bad monsoon can change the fate of a government in next election.
2. This is a major problem only in democracies. As we can control or we think that we can control a political process, we tend to mobilize against politics. No one blame any dictator for their everyday problems, even if they do then they take it for granted and do not discuss it.
3. In India whenever we see the rise of a normal man to the position of power, we try to pull him down. We as society cannot see the rise of our neighbor. You can observe this phenomenon in politics also. People can vote for Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Jyotiradiya Sindhiya again and again, but they cannot allow Mr. Ganeshi Lal to win the election again, if he had not performed well in his first tenure. Rural and to a large extent urban India vote along caste line and expect their leader to be a “Raja RamChandra”. It is not possible. So as soon as their illusion is broken, they start to come against that politician.
4. Politicians as a community is also responsible themselves for this politics bashing process. They attack each other and accuse the other politician for their own gain. But this gives people a sentence, a slogan, a voice to rely against any other particular leader. Many shall argue that this is the beauty of democracy, yes it is, but personal attacks are not democracy.
5. Media is run by economic giants, not by political leaders. (those days are well gone when media was not a business) It directs its all energy in diverting the attention of normal people away from economics and let them focus on politics, films and sports.
6. Religion was afeem (opium) of people some decades before. They blame everything wrong in their life on past life or will of God. Now politics is afeem. People put the burden of their problem on politics and then go back to their normal life. This is a way to release stress.
7. Indians as a people are argumentative by nature. We like to discuss ideas and problems. Politics provide highest number of topic to discuss on. This turn into politician bashing because of point 6 above. That is why you can see a lot of people on tea stalls, samosa shop, chaupal, social parties to be involved in this little all India game of blame politics.

Any leader is as good as his/her people. So we, ‘the people’ should try to change themselves first, politics will automatically follow.

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