The problem with us, in the educated middle class, is that we take the sacrifices of the generations that came before us for granted.
It was our ancestors who ensured that India became the world’s largest democracy. And it is the democratic institutions they set up that have kept our country together despite the obstacles it has faced. Sadly, we are only too ready to diss the electoral democracy they fought so hard to install.
The most recent example of this was the anti-corruption movement that was allegedly led by Anna Hazare. That movement was a response to middle-class disillusionment with all politicians and it had its origins in the corruption scandals that marked UPA II and the governance vacuum that resulted from Manmohan Singh's decision to abdicate all responsibility while refusing to actually abandon his very nice bungalow on Race Course Road.
The overwhelming theme of that movement was that electoral politics was a waste of time. Anna Hazare routinely poked fun at elections and declared that were he to stand for election, he would lose his deposit because elections were won through corruption and unethical means. His followers/puppeteers said the same sort of things. Arvind Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan attacked elected politicians from all parties. Kiran Bedi even did a little skit on the stage, as Hazare fasted in the background, to demonstrate how politicians were hypocrites who ignored the will of the people.
Such was the self-righteousness of the Anna movement that its leaders actually believed that they had a greater moral claim to pass laws than the people the country had actually elected to do the job. Asked about their Lok Pal Bill they said that their draft should be passed without any changes. After all, they had put it on the net and their followers had suggested changes that had now been implemented.
And the political establishment was so weak and so confused in the face of this middle-class outrage and media hoopla that it actually went down on its knees and accepted that the Anna Hazare gang had a perfect right to dictate terms to parliamentary committees. Even this did not please the so-called crusaders. They sneered at the kinds of people who made up the memberships of these committees and appeared on TV everyday to make fun of the elected government of India and the elected Opposition. It is to the media's eternal shame that so few of us ever said, "Hang on a minute. Who the hell gave you the right to act as though you are bigger than the institutions of Indian democracy?"
| "Be careful of all those who mock Indian democracy and its institutions. Be sceptical when the media hypes up a movement. And be a little cynical when people join public life and then say that they disapprove of politics." |
Well, guess what?
The people of India asked the questions that the media would not.
And so, one by one, the former crusaders who believed that they occupied a higher moral plane than India's formal democratic system have all become signed-up members of that very system (having thrown Anna Hazare off the bus, once he had lost his utility).
The first people to take the plunge were Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Kumar Viswas and Shazia Ilmi. They did not prove to be bad politicians – or bad people for that matter – but there was no evidence that they were significantly better than conventional politicians or that they resided on some higher moral plane. Kejriwal got to be chief minister of Delhi, messed it up and then ran away after 49 days on the job. His colleagues, full of big talk, stood for elections all over the country and nearly all of them went down to humiliating defeats.
Now, Kiran Bedi, protagonist in that anti-politician skit, has also joined the people she once lampooned, parachuting into the BJP to become its chief ministerial candidate. What about the terrible things she said about politicians? Forgotten. What about the tweets against Narendra Modi? Deleted.
It is not my position that Kejriwal was wrong to form a political party. Nor do I believe that Kiran Bedi should not have joined the BJP. Hell, I think that even Shazia Ilmi has the right to stand for election on an AAP ticket, to call the BJP names, and then turn around and join that very same BJP. These are the democratic rights of every citizen of India.
But here is my point: be careful of all those who mock Indian democracy and its institutions. Be sceptical when the media hypes up a movement. And be a little cynical when people join public life and then say that they disapprove of politics.
The truth is that there is a lot wrong with the Indian political system but, for better or worse, the system does ensure that India remains a democracy. And it is still the best way of implementing change in this vast and complicated country.
Yes, the Anna movement people have become the very politicians they once so bitterly opposed. But that's okay. All it proves is that Indian democracy is much much stronger than any media-hyped movement. Whether Arvind Kejriwal becomes chief minister of Delhi or whether Kiran Bedi beats him to the job is irrelevant. What matters that they are both submitting themselves to the will of the people.
Name:
Please enter name
E-mail:
Your email id will not be published.
Please enter email
Please enter a valid email address eg. xyz@abc.com !
Friend's Name:
Please enter friend name
Friend's E-mail:
Your email id will not be published.
Please enter friend email
Please enter a valid email address eg. xyz@abc.com !
Additional Text:
Security code:
Other Articles
-
It is not only the right thing to do on an intuitive level but also entirely in accordance with the principles on which this nation was founded.
-
My point is that in a country as large as ours, a numbers game makes no sense unless you look at the larger picture.
-
It is tempting to see the revolt as a failure because Pawar got nothing of consequence in Delhi. But it would be a mistake to do so.
-
This was an unnecessary reshuffle, forced on the nation by Manmohan Singh’s unwillingness to hold on to the finance portfolio.
-
And the end has an emotional power that is unusual for comic book pictures. What a pity it is the last movie in this trilogy!
See All