Dec 22. 2013
By: Ravi Sinha
Populism has swept the
collective consciousness of the Indian masses in general and educated middle
class in particular. Whatever is fancy and suits the wish list of middle class
in the urban pockets is nowadays being advocated aloud without the cost-benefit
analysis of the issue. This populism, or better to call it populist rhetoric,
is writ large today in the power corridors, judiciary and media alike. When
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi bluntly suggested to tear apart the
ordinance of the Union Cabinet against debarring convicted law makers, he was
seen to be taking a moral high ground. However, he was just responding to the
populist rhetoric that was threatening to get the voices louder on the
issue.
Rahul Gandhi though had
a reason to side with the populist rhetoric, as the main opposition party that did
not contest the Ordinance or the Bill, rather just suggested a few changes here
and there, wanted to stump the government on the issue with backstabbing. After
all, they had failed to see the larger threat to democracy if every convicted
or charge-sheeted law maker is debarred from the House and prevented to contest
electoral process.
Having sniffed the fact
that the BJP Parliamentary Board had planned a march to the President against
the Ordinance, the Congress Vice President was left with no choice but to
triple cross the double-cross efforts of the BJP. However, in this political
one upmanship an ordinance that could have saved the democracy from many future
challenges was stalled. It is not about one Laloo Yadav going to jail or one
Rasheed Masood losing his membership of Parliament that is the core issue, the
core issue here is how many emerging mass leaders could be framed and political
careers spoiled in the time to come.
Where is this holier-than-thou
politics goading to the Indian democracy? Has the greater god for greater
number of people being sacrificed for populism is a question that is
threatening the future fair play in the battle of democracy. It seems now a few
educated middlemen will write the destiny of the masses, even though the larger
number will have a right to vote; of course vote only to those who are allowed
by the few men sitting over their fate with whatever coloured vision they may
be having against the uneducated but popular leaders of the country.
It seems judicial
prudence and law of natural justice is being compromised, if not outrightly
butchered in India, thanks to the new wave of populist rhetoric. India is not a
tiny country like Singapore where a referendum democracy can work, nor could
few vocal voices in the urban pockets be termed as the popular voices or voices
of the masses. Unfortunately, today even a few TV news channels have the
audacity to call them the ‘Nation’.
The nation, however,
does not rest in the studio of a TV news channel, nor in the drawing rooms of
those who watch these channels. The way India, the real India deep rooted in
the semi rural and rural pockets works, if charge sheet or even being convicted
is allowed to rob the democratic rights of the Indians tomorrow any rising mass
leader can be framed and convicted. Have not we seen many convicts being
declared innocent after decades of trial in various courts? What if they are
emerging leaders and hence being framed by the political heavy weights against
whom they dared to stand?
The way Indian judiciary
functions, if one is not resourceful it takes no less than 20-25 years to get a
clean chit from the lower courts to the Supreme Court if one is framed with all
the might. Who will compensate if a bright political career is spoiled by
getting him convicted? Can the judiciary or those who are carried by populist
rhetoric return someone his glorious years fighting in the courts and denied
democratic rights to contest elections, even if they have masses with them?
What if the ‘Real’
public support of a mass leader comes out on the streets against his vindictive
legal framing? Are we inviting social unrest and civil war in the process? These
are the challenges of a large democracy like India that are unique only to this
part of the world. So, imagining Singapore or the USA and making a populist
statement on cleansing the Indian system in general and politics in particular
is simply bullshitting in my opinion.
It is not just about
this one Ordinance or the Bill that is the issue today. It seems in every walk
of life whether it is judiciary or the media one is either guided by the
populist rhetoric or just plain subconscious desire of 15 minute of fame that
drives our collective consciousness. And that is something which threatens to
derail the democratic process of the country, curtail the civil rights and deny
judicial prudence and law of natural justice.
Take for example, ‘None
of the Above’ option while electing a candidate in the elections. It may not
have much impact in the rural pockets, but in the urban constituencies where
the voices leading to populist rhetoric are louder, it may create a unique
situation where the constituencies will either be represented by a real tiny
mandate or it will go to polls again and again only to get the candidates
discarded. The question is who will bear the cost of the repetitive elections?
Or does the wisdom of a few drawing room experts think we Indians are fools to
go to polling booths, stand in queue for hours only to exercise the right to
refuse all?
These are all fancy
thoughts that sound unique, ideal and revolutionary at face value. But scratch
the surface, dig deeper into the issues that this country confronts on a
day-to-day basis and one finds in the name of creating a clean society we are
sowing the seeds of political and social unrest. Right to reject or right to
recall is a thought that just does not fit into a large, heterogeneous society
like India. The architect of the Indian democracy and constitution were not
fools who did not address it the way it is being addressed now.
The alternate voices in
politics and other walks of life have always raised their heads in every
society. The unique problem with India today is that these alternative voices
that raise many questions without themselves having any rational answer are
increasingly taking the centre stage. And that is something which threatens to
drive the nation not on the merit of issues & agenda but populist rhetoric.
If not nipped in the bud, such media orchestrated populist rhetoric also
threatens to rob the sanity out of the society.
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