Democracy – Blackmail, are they synonyms ?

At our homes, institutions and offices we come across people, whose opinion we don’t agree with, whose behaviour offends us, whose thought process is in complete disagreement with ours, what do we do? We learn to live with it, we compromise, and we adjust as that is what is expected from mature professional individuals.

But if that issue has nothing to do with us it is much easier to bring about a significant change. Suppose you don’t like a book then just gather a few friends, along with a few uneducated, easy to hire “professionals” and you have a mob. About 20 to 40 individuals are enough to fill, indeed overflow, the camera lens frame of those rapidly growing news channel. Believe me that 20 people group, depending on the energy levels, can be presented as a big mob on the 21’ TV screen. The video footage would be more than sufficient to ban the book in that particular state/town, and if you manage to keep your team motivated just long enough to allow one of those big national news channels to arrive at the live scene then the desired result could be replicated on bookstores across the whole nation. Better still if you hire some real good professionals, within that mob of yours, and they manage to set ablaze a vehicle or two, preferably one of those 24 x 7 parked roadways bus, then you can be rest assured that you have done enough to force that writer into exile.

The same effect could be replicated against paintings, movies, photographs or any other object against which you have any form of prejudice. You just need to have enough spare time and financial resources, rest our complex democratic system takes care of. The moment the mob is captured on the new channels, it is associated with a particular religion/caste, and then we have one or more of those political parties which has always pretended to be the voice of that section of the society, or in simple words has had a strong hold over that particular votebank. The results could be even sweeter if this particular party that we are talking about is currently in opposition, in that scenario they would make sure that they leave no stone unturned to bring you to the frontages of every leading daily. What if you make the fatal error of manufacturing a mob with different religious and caste identities, better still, the mob is backed by the entire opposition in unison. And the government is attacked on bigger ground like “morality”, “insensitivity”, “law and order chaos” and an emergency is requested. Once an emergency is requested it just boils down to the fact whether the governor was appointed by “Sonia ji” or not.

We know this is not the right course. Powerful media, a fruit of liberalization, threatens this very liberalization. We cannot blame the media channels after all they are governed by mere commercial interests. What needs to change is this politics of castes and religion, its time to welcome politics of agendas and ideologies. Effective Governance is about conceptualising and executing plans for macro level social and economic welfare, it is not about appeasing each and every component of the society. This politics of appeasement would if not reverse, incredibly slow down the pace of the desired transformations. We Indians would not like to earn the distinction of redefining Democracy as the Government of the people, for the people, and “blackmailed” by the people.

 

 

Powered by ScribeFire.

India is Unique, in more ways than one!!!!

After all that front page coverage’s and heated political debates on prime time television, 123 Nuclear Agreement has finally blurred into the background with the emergence of the “incredibly serious” Ram Sethu Controversy. How surprising that matter of national and economic importance can so easily be hijacked and taken over by matters of faith, religion, and minority-majority divide. I may be gravely mistaken to state that Ram Sethu is not a matter of national and economic importance, but that’s the way it is being projected. No one is interested in discussing the economic benefits that shipping industry would have or the eco logical and sea life damage the project is likely to cause.

But is this not expected in a country where the second largest political party is built and has succeeded merely on the ideology of Hindutva and support of fundamentalist organizations like RSS, VHP, Bajrang Dal etc. One thing I would give to BJP is that alleast it is a party built on an ideology unlike Congress(I) which is built on and around a family. Although the usefulness of such an ideology is far beyond my comprehension or for that matter beyond the comprehension of any progressive Indian, whether Hindu or non Hindu. But the dilemma is that there are millions of takers for such an ideology, people who vote for and give this ideology its voice. No wonder then parties would be formed and would continue to supersede matters of majority-minority divide over matter of national and economic significance.

And the more I look into the chain of events that have followed the publicization of this issue the more comical it appears. The poor judiciary just upheld the line that “There aren’t sufficient historical evidences to verify the existence of Lord Ram”, which is in no way derogatory or disrespectful to Ram or his followers and just reiterates a fact we all have read in history books since childhood that Ramayana and Mahabharata are works of fiction and not historical accounts. To make the maters even more amusing the simple English translation of the phrase “Vanar-Sena” to “army of monkeys” has been found highly objectionable and had to be reworded. And to cap it all NDA and its support groups are up in arms asking the project to be stalled so that the structure built by Lord Ram can be preserved, whereas the project was originally sanctioned by the NDA government in 2002. Such events just boost my respect for the Left, right or wrong, they atleast oppose and debate matters of national and economic significance, ensuring that the truly deserving news gets importance over insignificant ones.

Alas the 123 controversy may have died of without any tangible effect but this one might take a few causalities, namely the already suspended ASI officials, maybe a “Soni” cabinet minister, and definitely a big chunk of Brahmin vote bank from the Congress. No wonder such comical events would be played out on the political stage as long as we continue to empower people propagating this non progressive narrow-minded ideology.

—–Before anyone concludes anything, the author himself is a North Indian Hindu by religion

Mumbai! There is something different about the city

It definitely sounds cliché, heard and read a bit too often. And no wonder it was definitely the same for me as I moved into the city around 3 months back. During the initial few days the only thing I found unique/different about the city was people, lots of them, a swarming sea of people everywhere-on roads, on stations, in parks, on beaches and even outside atm’s. And the best thing was that they all were totally unaffected by the crowd as if they had bought some privacy umbrella which I didn’t had access to. I could see people barely able to find a place to stand in jam packed trains yet fully engrossed in solving a sudoko or a crossword; I could see people discussing contracts/business plans while having lunch on shared seats at a crowded restaurant; I could see the enthusiastic lovebirds sharing intimate moments on overcrowded benches at public parks. Actually there was, still is, one more thing unique about the city and that is the disgusting stinking smell that somehow reappears after every kilometre or may be even sooner.

Well the time moved on and I began to get absorbed in this Mumbai lifestyle- getting on those crowded trains, walking through those stinking patches so that I could reach my workplace, or I could catch the play at Prithvi theatre, or I could reach the Goregaon sports club to have a nice game of squash, or I could enjoy a walk along Marine Drive and gaze the golden western coast during those beautiful sunsets. Strangely enough I began to like the city.

But today, something happened that took me right back to those initial days in Mumbai making me realise that I am still a newcomer in the town. While walking back form Inorbit, in no particular hurry, I notice a stray dog in deep slumber on the busy pavement of Link Road. I decided to greet him (or may be her) and purposely made my steps much louder just as I walked passed his ears. To my surprise no reaction, not even a single muscle twitched. I could not stand such ignorance, and that too at the hands of a stray dog and I decided to make an improved effort and stamped a loud thunderous step right next to his ear, but the reaction exactly the same. Believe me this is an old habit of mine and all encounters I had had before Mumbai such an action had been enough to bring an absolutely perturbed look on the face of the dog, as if the sky has fallen and induce an immediate run for cover. At this point I realised sound energy wasn’t potent enough in this region and decided to brush his legs with a soft kick. Alas the thing moved, actually just the head and that too to the bare minimum. He looked at the culprit and forgave him concluding that the contact must have been accidental, because of the crowded nature of the pavement and went back to his preferred activity, sleeping.

That is the privacy umbrella all Mumbaikars, even the dogs seem to possess, hope I can have mine soon!

Indian Presidential Race – 2007

This year has probably witnessed the most publicised presidential election in Indian history. Since when did the post of India’s first citizen, commonly referred to as a rubber stamp, become such a desired and keenly contested position. Before we look at each of the presidential candidates, we would love to discover the factors that made the entire nation get so very involved in the presidential race. Apart from the ever increasing number of media channels who have played their part by providing extensive coverage to the presidential race coming up with sms polls and all other spices to cook up some hot news, in my opinion it was the persona of our present President, A P J Abdul Kalam that made the entire nation stand up and take notice of the Presidential office. Abdul Kalam truly redefined the standards of morality and stature expected from the President of the nation. The two qualities that made him a great president were:

¾ Coming from a non political background he was free from any political affiliations which allowed him to maintain a neutral/unbiased stance on quite a few hazy recommendations of the ruling party.

¾ Having excelled in his chosen field, his stature as a person deserving to hold the highest office could not be doubted.Long after Rajendra Prasad and Radhakrsihnana, in the form of Abdul Kalam we had a president whose speeches we loved to hear, whose articles/books we loved to read. The entire middle/educated class has begun to associate the office of president with a sense of morality, a sense of pride and we just can’t see it being passed on to any “non deserving”’ candidate. Prathiba Patil, who in all likelihood is slated to become the first women president of India, somehow quite perfectly plays the part of that non deserving candidate. Having emerged as the only congress candidate that was acceptable to the left front, her candidature has received a resounding criticism from all directions, let’s look into the reasons why:

¾ Even if we accept a candidate with a political background for the post of president, does she simply have the stature by virtue of her political career to deserve the first citizenship? She might have been an active congress leader in the state politics of Maharastra, but I am really sorry to say she has never figured in the national level politics. Precisely for that very reason she wasn’t the 1st or the 2nd or the 3rd choice of even her own party.

¾ Once again it is highlighted that if Congress is in power the biggest plus on your job resume is the “loyalty to the family”. By giving such undeserving candidates a chance to hold offices that they had never dreamt of, Congress, read as Sonia, has ensured that these candidates remain indebted to Congress for life, and thus work to appease the Gandhi’s rather than do justice to their office.

¾ Some people in this country are going gaga over her candidature as a symbol of women empowerment. First of all this symbolism need to be removed form Indian politics, because this symbolism translates the truly deserving candidature of Abdul Kalam as a sign of Muslim/Secular victory and at the same time divert the attention of the country from a undeserving candidature of Prathiba Patil’s to a sign of women empowerment. Secondly the fans of women power need to realise that women empowerment is in a lady rising to the stature of becoming the Indian president, and not in an undeserving candidate being skyrocketed to the forefront by manipulating politicians, most of whom are men. In my opinion if this is how women empowerment is to be understood then Laloo Prasad Yadav practised it way back when he promoted his wife to the rank of CM in Bihar. I would be much happier if Medha Patkar, Indra Nooyi, Sonia Gandhi, Kalpana Morparia were to be projected as successes of women empowerment rather than Prathibha Patil.

¾ To top it all we have all these cases of default and criminal charges appearing against her in the 11^th hour, putting even the morality issue in doubt. I would give her the benefit of the doubt and fully agree that these allegations, probably dug out by media and the opposition, are nothing till they are proved in the court. But once again, for me this entire saga of allegations brings her personality/stature more in doubt then her morality. Ever since these allegations have come out, we haven’t heard a single statement of defence form the lady herself, it seems the entire Congress party realises the need to protect, actually overprotect, their symbol of women empowerment.

And then the most unexpected happens, just a few days before the filing of nominations we hear that the name of Abdul Kalam is back in the contention. The third front representatives in the form of Mulayam and Amar Singh have managed to convince Abdul Kalam to contest for a second term. Although this latest development brought about an air of joy but it hardly made any sense as the numbers were always tilted in the favour of UPA+Left combine. Indeed this development had two seriously negative impacts:

¾ It undermined the non political image of Abdul Kalam, by exposing a political ambition, an inherent desire to continue in the President’s office even at the cost of getting into a dirty political battle. Although political fight is not something to be feared of and we must respect Abdul Kalam’s decision to venture into it, although temporarily, but there is no denying that this saga has tarnished his non political image and undermined his greatest virtue of being a candidate with no political ambitions.

¾ It made Mr Bharov Singh Shevkhavat, the vice President appear merely as a gap filler. He was NDA’s candidate, then he wasn’t and now again he is. Personally I never liked his candidature, as it is inconsistent with my opinion of having a non political person at the helm of Presidential office but at the same time there is no denial that based on his political career he is more deserving a candidate then Prathibha Patil

Well all this should be over very soon, and we shall see the first women President of India. This statement just highlights the powerlessness of an average Indian citizen in influencing the race, and brings us to a bigger question, should an average citizen have a say in electing the highest constitutional power of the democracy? For the benefit of those who still do not understand the complex algorithm of electoral college I would just like to give a brief summary. The Electoral College comprises of the elected members of state legislative assembly and both the houses of Parliament. The strength of a MLA vote is :

= Population of the State(in ‘000)/Number of elected members in the sate assembly

Thus in Sikkim the value of an MLA’s vote is just 7, while in Uttar Pradesh the value is 208.Similarly the strength of a MP vote is:

= Total number of votes assigned to the elected members of the State Assemblies/Total number of elected members of both Houses of the Parliament

Thus a MP has much higher number of votes than a MLA. The total value of the votes of all members of Parliament is 5,49,408 and that of the state assemblies is 5,49,474, the total value of the votes of 4896 members of the electoral college coming to 10,98,882. On the basis of the above calculations this time MLAs of the UPA and Left parties have 5, 17,369 votes, which when combined with the Mayawati’s BSP add up to the majority mark.

No wonder at this moment the entire nation seems to be voicing this opinion of direct presidential election or some form of public participation in the election. I would like to present a few points which should help people realise why this is not such a great idea.

¾ The Cash Involved: Direct presidential election would affect the finances at two ends, firstly it would lead to one more additional burden on the taxpayer and secondly it would involve huge amounts of campaign expenditure by the candidates who would therefore look for ways to recover that cost once they make it to the president’s office. Would it be justified for the government to undertake this additional expenditure for electing a candidate that has very few vital functions to perform?

¾ It would lead to the development of 2 power centres which is never a good idea for any state or organisation. A president elected by the people would assume greater political strength and would like to have his share of involvement in the process of decision making, which as per the Indian constitution is a domain of the Prime Minister and his cabinet.

Thus I believe given the current structure of the Indian constitution the best practise for presidential election can be achieved by incorporating a couple of changes

¾ Firstly the parties should not instruct their MLAs and MPs to vote for a particular candidate, instead allowing them to go for a conscience vote. This would ensure that the stature and not the number games determine the success of a Presidential Candidate. Constitutionally there is no whip issued by the party to its legislatives, it’s just that conscience vote is not a practise at the moment and needs to be publicised and advocated.

¾ Secondly all political parties should realise that they could very well be playing the role of opposition tomorrow and how much would they prefer to have a neutral president with no political bias at that pointing time. This would help them understand the importance of non political candidates and thus back such candidates. The changes that I have talked about require no constitutional amendment and are very much implementable for all practical reasons. But till the time the above mentioned changes are absorbed by the political parties and practised by their legislatives we as citizens of India can voice these opinions and ensure that next time onwards we elect representatives who are open minded to listen understand evaluate and bring about such positive changes. Jai Hind!

Technorati Tags: india politics, election, president, pratibha patil, congress,