Koi Nrup Hou Hamhi Ka Hani.

   "कोउ नृप होउ हमहि का हानी।
    चेरि छाड़ि अब होब कि रानी॥3॥"
This doha of Ramcharit Manas, Ayodyakand, by Tulsi Das is very frequently referred to in public discussions to show apolitical nature of common man of India. This is referred in present political discussion with intent that whoever wins the election, status of a common man on streets remains unchanged. So, it is practically irrelevant for a common man, who wins or who loses in election.
I was perturbed why such lines were used in Ramcharit Manas, which otherwise is a book of very balanced opinion. So, I went through the book to understand the context and content of these words. And what I interpreted is just opposite of what it is used for.
In the story, the scene is Ram's accession to the throne of Ayodya, as declared by Dashrath. Everybody is happy and getting prepared for the ceremony. Dashrath had planned it in haste and accession was publicly known on the day of accession. Manthara, the nanny of Kaykeyi, came to know suddenly about it by the humbug going on around. Since she was well wisher of Kaykeyi and her duty was to serve and advise her, Manthara rushed to Kaykeyi to tell her about this deception. Manthara knew that Dashrath was oath bound to hand over the throne to Kaykeyi's son, Bharat. So, when she came to know about Ram's accession to throne, she understood that Kaykeyi was being betrayed. But when she reached there with this news, she was shocked to see that Kaykeyi already knew about it and she was getting happily prepared for the the ceremony.
Manthara, the nanny, though was servant of Kaykeyi, but she considered her as her daughter. She had came with her to Ayodhya after Kaykeyi's marriage with Dashrath. She tried to warn her and asked her to dissuade Dashrath from doing so. Kaykeyi did not listen her advises. She told her that Ram was dearer than Bharat. He respected her, if not more then not even less than Bharat. Kaykeyi said that Ram will look after the state, people and his brothers better than any of the his brothers. So, Kaykeyi was not listening her advices. In that scenario, Manthara had said that if Ram becomes king now, may be he will look after Kaykeyi and Bharat, but what after that. Bharat and his sons will never be kings, at the best they will be adjutants of Ram and his sons. Kaushalya will be rajmata, Kaykeyi will never get that status. There was nothing wrong in it, but all this was her and her Son's right, which she is handing over on platter to Ram. Today she may not realise, but later, when she will understand, them don't blame her (Manthara). She (Manthara) said that this all she was doing for Kaykeyi. In this context, Manthara said that What she was going to gain, whoever be king, it is immaterial for her. She was a servant and will remain servant, she is not going to be queen.
What she meant was that one whose stakes are high, should be more concerned. She did not meant that common people should not take interest in politics. If we look at the scenario, Manthara was more concerned about what was happening than Kaykeyi. With those words, TulasiDas was conveying that anyone who is going to be affected by a decision, should carefully analyse the pros and cons and after that take what is prudent in those situations.  Only those can remain aloof, who are not at all related with that. Kaykeyi took her decision and went to kop-bhavan and what happened we all know.
Now let's try to analyse importance or applicability of these lines in present political system. First and foremost thing is that we live in a democratic society. Here, there is no Dashrath, Kaykeyi or Manthara, we the people of India play all these roles - We are Dashrath during elections, Kaykeyi during election campaigns and Manthara during electoral discussions. So, though, we remain common man after elections, but our role and responsibility is immense in this political system. We can't reman aloof and say "koi nrup ho hame ka  hani", because it is our responsibility, like Dashrath, to select the new king and like Kaykeyi to allow the facilitation of the accession of new king to throne or putting a brake on the system by going to Kop-Bhavan. But we can't remain aloof to the things. By quoting these words in wrong context has harmed the Indian polity more than any other quote. We should always take these words in proper context and never be apolitical in a democratic system.