Dictatorial Democracy

As I came out the lane where I stay, I saw two lanes of the road were blocked and a pandal was erected leaving just two lanes for the traffic. I stopped by to enquire and was told that a local leader’s sister was getting married (on the street?)and the pandal was for celebrations and to accommodate the guests. Imagine the inconvenience that must have caused to the vehicular traffic for couple of days apart from the noise pollution due to loud speakers and bursting of fire crackers ignoring supreme court ruling. But that is the privilege of the local leader, you may call goon if you like. Cursing the system and apathy of local police and municipal officials I headed towards the highway. As usual the lane I was in was the slowest, but after a while there was no movement. I got out of the car to check what’s going on. I noticed a beggar; yes a beggar owning C class car was arguing with a low paid toll booth employee for payment of the toll that was equivalent to the cost of 300 ml of petrol. He claimed to be a social worker and insisted that he is not supposed to pay the toll. The cost of petrol that the car had consumed was much more than the toll that he would have paid, but it’s the bloated ego that created the ruckus. More than anything else I felt sorry for the chap and volunteered to pay on his behalf, so that at least the traffic will move and time & fuel will not be wasted. I tried to take my mind off such horrific instances in a democratic nation where the so called leaders consider themselves above the law.

My calm was short lived. One day I saw on the TV news some CCTV footage of a toll post where an elected leader was brandishing gun at the poor toll collector for having asked him to pay the toll or show the ID. In another incidence a dynastic youth leader, son of a minister ordered the toll booth to be vandalized as the leader was not allowed cross the barrier without payment of toll. In yet another incidence an elected member of state assembly threatened to disrobe a female employee of “All Women” toll post. And the list of such shameful incidences is endless.

We always talk of democracy and take pride that we are the largest one. But what kind of democracy is this where such elements are our leaders and rulers? We get what we deserve and that is what we have. We have the same constitution since republic, except few amendments, but the fundamental principles are almost unchanged. Then why this change in the society has taken place? Are we getting more tolerant to rouges, unscrupulous elements, cheats and goons? Or we are scared of them or both. With changes is morality our culture has changed or you may say that the change in culture has affected our morality. The laws though unchanged do not take the kind of cognizance as it was in the past. The justice is delayed and the punishments are not deterrent. The attitude to abide the law is changing and this is seen across the board. Right from jumping the traffic signal to multibillion dollar scam no one takes the law seriously. Everyone feels that they are above the law and worse is they take pride in breaking the law and dictate terms. This is extremely dangerous situation in a democratic country. We are creating cluster of small size dictators. And these dictators grab political immunity and are above the law to loot the country and docile population. This is a new breed of politicians that is grooming. These fellows get into the main stream from sideways to push their nefarious designs further. They contest and win the elections often resulting in fractured mandate. Then coalitions are formed and that is the end of good democracy. Where on the earth a democracy functions well with minority government? Political parties with as little as 11% votes can also rule the nation. Is this a democracy?

Political parties accuse each other for their political ideologies. The other day I saw in a TV talk show a hardcore Congress supporter claiming that the country is stable under Congress rule because his party is centerist. If any other party with rightist or leftist views comes to the power then the country will collapse. The statement is as stupid as someone saying if I move then earth will lose the balance and the North Pole will shift. Centerist, rightist, leftist are all politically motivated ideological creations of the political parties for the niche marketing. Everyone has hunger for power; all that these guys are doing is to market themselves projecting some ideologies. End result is same whatever path they choose. None of these ideologies are perfect and can be universally applied. The parties just look for larger segment to grab the votes, come to the power and ………….

During the British rule we had social stratification based upon caste whereas in Briton it was based on class. In last sixty four years we have combined both. The dimensions might have changed but magnitude has increased. Now the divide between the societies is both as per the caste as well as class. The neorich with the help of money power have acquired the muscle power and this combination has given them political power. Criminalization of politics is one of the side effects of such a potion. This is a deadly potion for the society that can dictate terms for the democracy. Dictatorial democracy is also a form of democracy. The elected members of Panchayat can dictate terms. We have started accepting corruption, lawlessness, unethical activities and many other ills as part of our life, as a part of our society, as part of our republic. This has to change. And we alone have to change it. It cannot be done overnight, it’s going to be long drawn process. There is no school that teaches patriotism, it has to ignite within. One person has to motivate other and this chain has to be open ended. We are left to ourselves, we have to shape our destiny, we have to change. No political party will do it because politics is a game of compulsions. In this game politicians emerge as the winners and public is the loser. Bring about the change, the rules of the game will change and thus the results.

Resolve today, it’s a question of your future and future of your children and grandchildren.

Happy Republic Day.