Monalisa Banerjee | Municipal Councillor, Social Activist & Entrepreneur

DIRTY POLITICS

You can ignore politics. Politics can’t ignore you.

Let’s be brutally honest.

Politics is dirty. Politics is corrupt. Politicians lie. Politicians fight. Politicians want power.

Sounds familiar?
For many of us, this is almost the entire definition of politics.
Ask a young person,
“Are you interested in politics?”
The answer is often:

“No yaar, politics is not my thing.”

And honestly, I understand why.
We have grown up watching politicians shouting at each other on television, allegations flying everywhere,corruption stories making headlines, money and muscle power, political fights going viral, and social mediaturning every political issue into a battlefield.
So naturally, we start thinking:

“Why should I get involved in all this?”

But here is the uncomfortable truth:

You can ignore politics. Politics cannot ignore you.

Think about your everyday life.
The road outside your house.
The streetlight that works—or doesn’t.
The water coming from your tap.
Garbage collection.
Public transport.

Hospitals and schools.
The price of your food.
Petrol and diesel prices.
Your taxes.
New roads, bridges, flyovers and Metro lines.
Business regulations.
Jobs.
Housing.
Even the way your neighbourhood develops.
Behind almost every one of these things, there is a government decision, a policy, a budget or a politicalchoice.
You may not be interested in politics.

But politics is very interested in your life.

And this is where I think we have gone wrong.

We have confused politics with politicians.

Politics is not just politicians standing on a stage and making speeches.
Politics is about
how society decides what should happen, where public money should go, what rules
should exist and what kind of future we want to create.
A politician is a person.
Politics is a system.
And that system affects every single one of us.
Yes, corruption exists.
Yes, dishonesty exists.
Yes, abuse of power exists.

Yes, there are people who enter public life for money, influence and dominance.
We cannot deny that.
But is that
all
politics is?
Or have we allowed the worst examples of politics to become our definition of politics?
Somewhere along the way, the word “politics” itself became a dirty word.
And perhaps we need to ask why.

The politics we consume is often not the politics we need to
understand.

Think about television and social media.
What gets more attention?
A politician quietly working on a complicated policy for six months?
Or two politicians screaming at each other for ten minutes?
A detailed discussion about a municipal budget?
Probably boring.
A political controversy?
Millions of views.
We consume politics as
content
, instead of understanding politics as
governance
.
We scroll.
We react.
We get angry.
We forward.
We fight in the comments.

And then we move on.
But the policy remains.
The decision remains.
The system remains.
And our lives continue to be affected by it.

So why do educated young people stay away?

This is something we need to seriously think about.
Many educated, capable young people say:
“I have a career.”
“I have a business.”
“I have exams.”
“I have a family.”
“Politics is dirty. I don’t want to get involved.”
Fair enough.
But imagine if the most educated, honest and capable people continuously say that.
Then who is left to participate?
If good people keep saying,
“Politics isn’t for me,”
we are indirectly leaving the space open to whoever iswilling to enter it.
Democracy cannot survive on spectators alone.
It needs participants.
And participation doesn’t always mean contesting an election.

It means understanding.
Questioning.
Voting.
Holding representatives accountable.
And, for those who want to serve, entering public life with the intention of changing things.

I know this because I am part of the system.

I am a municipal councillor.
Do you know how much a councillor in Kolkata is paid?
The honorarium is less than ₹10,000 a month.
Now think about the responsibility.
A councillor is directly connected to citizens.
People call about roads, water, drainage, garbage, streetlights, health services, schools and emergencies.
Sometimes at 8 in the morning.
Sometimes at midnight.
There is no neat
“9 to 5”
button that you can switch off.
I’ll give you a simple example from my own life.
I need a driver because I cannot drive myself everywhere while carrying out my responsibilities.
My driver costs me around
₹19,000 a month
.
Think about that.
The person helping me move around while I perform my public responsibilities can earn more than the honorarium I receive as a councillor.
I come from a family where I can manage it.
But what about a young, educated person who genuinely wants to serve society and also has a family to support?

How do we expect that person to enter public life?
This is an uncomfortable conversation, but we need to have it.

If we want honest public servants, we must create a system where honest public
service is financially viable.

Adequate compensation does not mean encouraging corruption.
In fact, it should come with
complete transparency, accountability and zero tolerance for corruption.
Pay fairly.
Disclose publicly.
Audit properly.
Punish corruption.
Measure performance.
Make public representatives accountable.
If we want the best people to enter politics, we need to make public service accessible to people who don’talready have enormous personal wealth or powerful networks.

And this is where Gen Z comes in.

India has one of the youngest populations in the world.
Gen Z questions everything.
You understand technology.
You demand transparency.
You want accountability.
You want results.
You don’t automatically accept something simply because someone older told you to.
That’s not a weakness.
That’s a democratic strength.
But there is one thing we need more of:

Political education.

Not party propaganda.
Not blind support.
Not blind opposition.
Not WhatsApp forwards.
Not Instagram reels deciding who is good and who is bad.
Actual political education.
Understand the Constitution.
Understand Parliament.
Understand state governments and municipalities.
Understand budgets.
Understand taxation.
Understand public policy.
Understand your rights.
Understand your responsibilities.
Understand how your vote translates into governance.

And most importantly, learn to disagree without becoming enemies.

Your vote is not a favour.

Don’t vote simply because your parents vote that way.
Don’t vote because your friends do.
Don’t vote because someone on social media told you to.
And don’t vote simply because you hate the other side.
Your vote is your opportunity to participate in deciding who gets the responsibility of governing you.
Question promises.
Question policies.
Question performance.
And yes—
question your own side too.
Democracy doesn’t become stronger when we blindly defend our favourite political person.
It becomes stronger when citizens demand better from everyone.

This is my dream for the future.

I dream of a time when entering politics isn’t seen as something mysterious, dirty or reserved for peoplewith money, family connections or muscle power.
I dream of a structured and transparent pathway for young people who genuinely want to enter public life.
Imagine a system where people aspiring to become public representatives are properly educated ingovernance, law, economics, public administration and constitutional values.
Imagine competitive examinations or professional pathways for entering politics and public service.
Imagine a political system where
knowledge matters.
Where
competence matters.
Where
integrity matters.
Where
performance matters.
That is the politics I want to see.
So yes, let’s call it
“Dirty Politics.”
Because pretending there is no dirt would be dishonest.
But then let’s ask the bigger question:
Who is going to clean it?
The people who complain from outside?

Or the people willing to enter the system and change it?
Maybe the answer isn’t to run away from politics.
Maybe the answer is to
understand it better.
Educate ourselves.
Question more.
Participate more.
Demand more.
And create a generation of citizens who don’t just complain about how the country is being run—
but understand how it is run and take responsibility for making it better.
Because politics isn’t happening somewhere far away.
It is happening
around you, every single day.
So remember:

You can ignore politics.
But politics can’t ignore you.

If we can make political education as normal as academic education, perhaps one day our children won’t betaught to fear politics.
They will be taught to understand it.
And from that understanding, perhaps a new generation of public leaders will emerge.
Not perfect people.
But better prepared people.
More accountable people.
More educated people.
People who understand that public office is not a privilege.

It is a responsibility.
India’s future cannot be built by politicians alone.
It has to be built by
politically educated citizens
who participate, question, vote and contribute.

Because this isn’t just about our future.
It is about the legacy we leave behind.
And our generation has a choice:
Stay away and complain about “dirty politics”—
or step forward, understand it, participate in it, and help clean it.
The choice is ours.
And the legacy we create today is the one the next generation will carry forward.
Forever.

Disclaimer:

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of Unpause Yourself or its affiliated organizations.