Ballot Stronger Than Bullet, BJP Chief Tells New Voters

Hyderabad: Voting is not just a sacred right but every citizen’s responsibility. A ballot is more powerful than a bullet, said BJP Telangana president N. Ramchander Rao on National Voters’ Day, urging youth to embrace democratic duty.

He was speaking at a meeting at the party’s state office to honour first-time voters. Citing democracy’s transformative strength, he recalled how Abraham Lincoln, a shoemaker’s son, became US President and Prime Minister Narendra Modi rose from selling tea.

He warned against attempts to subvert democracy through violence or constitutional manoeuvres, noting how Indian voters had thwarted conspiracies right from the Emergency under Indira Gandhi to hung parliaments resolved by constitutional wisdom.

Criticising “armchair critics” who skip polling while debating in round tables, Rao flagged declining turnout among the educated as alarming. “Turn 18, get the vote, vote to earn the right to question,” he told Gen-Z voters.

He cautioned against divisive forces misleading youth in universities, drawing parallels with Nepal and Bangladesh. “Guns and bombs can’t change society, only democratic votes can,” he asserted.

Praising India as the world’s largest democracy, Rao recalled how Atal Behari Vajpayee’s government fell by a single vote yet upheld ethics, only to be re-elected by the people. India’s values of patriotism, social respect and humanity, championed by Swami Vivekananda and Dayananda Saraswati, make it a “human country,” he said.

BJYM state president Ganesh Kunde and other leaders attended the event.