I am a very confused person these days!! The reason being that ever since I was in school, I was taught that India is one of the largest democracies in the world. Is it true today?
Let's go back in history when India was under colonial rule and from being a prosperous, rich nation, also referred to as "Sone ki chidiya", was reduced to abject poverty and backwardness. The freedom fighters fought a long and hard battle to make our country independent of colonial rule. The leaders in their wisdom decided to give the independent country a democratic form of government, which would be - '' of the people, for the people, by the people". They even abolished the various princely states and united them, for the first time.
Now fast forward to the present, 65 years on - Are we a true democracy or have we lost our way? Aren't we heading back to a kind of monarchy, where dynastic rule is in vogue? This is true for the center as well as some states, where the heir apparent is appointed - be it the son , daughter or wife, willing or not, deserving or not. The party members remind of the courtiers of the bygone era falling over themselves to please their "so called masters", willing to carry their footwear or sweeping their house or making tea. Such mundane and menial tasks have earned them plum appointments, thus sending out the message that sycophancy earns them brownie points. Even family members are appointed as Personal Assistants or Public Relations Officer, qualification be damned.
The British followed the policy of divide and rule and played one king against the other. Today politicians use the "caste card" to divide the nation to get the votes. Each politician seems to have a personal agenda rather than an ideology. I, Me, Myself, My Family - the nation can hang itself!
The British, being foreigners, looted the country and sent the wealth out of the country as they had no sense of belonging. Where is the sense of belonging? The same is being done today by a handful of our (so called) own people. Whatever is left of the plunder is to be doled out as subsidies!! Subsidies at the cost of the common man!
When are we going to teach our people to fish for themselves rather than wait for alms to be doled out? These doles are a form of bribe to get the votes. These votes then empower the politician to indulge in horse trading, which is the norm rather than an exception. Politics today has reached the Nadir Point. It is getting murkier and murkier.
Where are we headed? Where do we go from here?
Is it going to be all the way downhill from here or is there some hope for the future? Before we look into the crystal ball, let’s see what is on offer:
- A Food Security scheme; large scale subsidies likely to push us completely into the dark ages. Where the fat will only grow fatter since there are no safeguards for such schemes which will leak like a sieve, right into the coffers of those who set it up. MNREGA is a standing testimony to it but rather than learn from it, it has only emboldened them to try out more such ventures to siphon off what little is left.
- Schemes set up not to address the problem of population but encourage it by providing for all pregnant women in the form of cash. While I have nothing against providing for nutrition for them, I feel that yet again there needs to be safeguards. We just need to look around to see that segments that would benefit from such schemes. The slums would only overpopulate. Every extra hand for them is an extra hand to beg and now the system will provide for more such extra hands. Shouldn’t such largesse be restricted to families for their first child only? But then again, how would it translate to votes?!
- The curious case of Ishrat Jehan which gets ‘curiousier and curiouser’. A terrorist or nota terrorist? An issue which is more convoluted than the proverbial ‘jalebi’. Ironically the biggest issue in this case appears to be the ‘fake encounter’ and not the issue of the credentials of those in question. As if to say that this country has had this and only this encounter. While one can never condone any extra judicial killing– the entire case smacks of rank politicization. It is such cases and their coverage wherein the entire perspective is shaped to present and package it differently so that a segment is appeased that their interests are being served well. Maybe rightly so, but at what cost? Will it only embolden the others waiting to strike?
- The RTI Act was a step in the right direction but over a period of time it appears to have lost direction. When the PMOs Relief Fund is outside its ambit it raises many pertinent questions. Is this a private fund ? Is it meant for a different purpose that can’t be divulged? Or is it that the public need not be informed as to where their hard earned money is utilized and how ?
- The latest of course being the proposal to set up a Task Force for Minorities. When pointed out that that the Law provides for everyone, the rejoinder is that the minority community is specifically targeted and there are no safe guards for it. Now this subject is a Holy Cow that can be touched by none for reasons obvious and there are enough pseudo secularists to brand one as a fundamentalist if you don’t appease the minorities. But then where does it leave the rest of the population? Can’t the tribals claim a similar persecution by the Law? When such a point was raised the votary for this issue on a channel had the temerity to say that it cannot be compared as they are Maoists!! Vote bank politics may have never sunk so low but there is more to come as there is too much at stake. A GADDI which cannot be vacated and if vacated has to be for the rightful HEIR ordained by the powers to be.
- Each day throws up an issue and it will only get murkier as Election dawns closer. So will it be the dawn of a new era of governance or the same system packaged differently. Your guess is as good as mine.
