I have some points regarding the current political situation in India and Anna's movement.
Democracy
People have got some misconception about democracy and the responsibilities of a citizen to strengthen the Democracy. Democracy doesn’t mean that People will have the only right to vote to elect a representative and that representative can do whatever hell he want to do for next 5 years. Democracy means, people are the Kings and whoever elected by them are just a representative to work for the prosperity of the people and Nation. People will have the right to throw them out at any point of time when they feel that servants are becoming the autocrats.
Parliament is not the ultimate power center of the nation. The ultimate word in a democracy is its constitution. Parliament does not and cannot go beyond the constitution. But unfortunately, our constitution does not represent a fool proof method to represent a powerful democracy. So, we need some laws to protect the interest of the people. Whenever the urgency come to introduce a law the Parliament has to step in to make it discussed and passed. Unfortunately, most of our elected representatives are against some of the fruitful laws which will eventually decide the fate of the representatives themselves. This is due to the weaken side of our democratic system for electing a representatives where a vested interest can become a representative.
Current scenario
Current democratic setup doesn’t address any of the people’s concerns. Corruption has become one of the main threats to the Society and people are very much disappointed with the situation. The Government at the center is the main culprit to this situation. If we analyze the mode of working of the current government, we can make out that their ultimate aim is not to serve the people or nation but to enjoy the power and help the vested group of interest they are supporting them. I see Vote bank politics is one of the major causes of this scenario to happen.
We are hearing from the recent events that political group at in power trying to redefine the democratic process by repeating the same stupidity arguments several times. They argue that Parliament is the elected group of privileged people they can do whatever they want to do during the term of 5 years and it is not constitutional to raise concern of protest against them by the people during this period. This argument shows their stupidity at its ever high and their greediness to enjoying the fruits of being in power. This argument could have been accepted by the people if the government had stood aside with people when there was a urgent need of attention required to remove the worry of the people by fighting the social evils like corruption. But in current situation Government is acting like autocratic rulers. For example, we had seen that how this privileged group acted when 2G spectrum scam and CWG scam was spotted by the CAG. Again they proved that they are with the corrupted while appointing the CVC. They haven’t shown any positive sign of responsibility when the issue of Black money is raised by the Opposition and by the Civil society. Instead they are protecting corrupted by hiding the names of the culprit and making agreement with the issue countries which will eventually protect the culprits.
Indian population may be touched to 120 Crores, but the percentage of people participated for the democratic process is very disappointing. Following are the details about the 2009 Loksabha elections held.
Total number of registered voters = 71.4 Crores
Election turnout = 59.7%
Number of votes polled = 42.6 Crores
Out of this Congress Vote% = 28.55%
i.e. People voted for Congress = 12.16 Crores.
I would say out of this Congress vote share, 20% votes are minority votes and another 30% votes are other community votes because of the vote bank politics.
With above statistics in mind, I don’t understand how these idiots can be this much arrogant to act like autocrats even they passed 3 years in power?
Indian Democracy is getting matured day by day after facing so many difficulties as I discussed above. The events recently unfolded against corruption are one of the most wonderful examples to show in support of this.
Anna Hazare’s crusade against corruption and Jan lokpal
In recent times we have seen a series of agitations against the Corruption. Basically they are intended directly for attacking Cancerous corruption in the society especially in power. All these agitations have got a tremendous public support and which put the government in pressure and still pressuring enough to act against Corruption. But they have tried to suppress the agitation in each and every stage using the force. The Government proved again and again that they are not the class which the common people can touch. The first point I wanted to raise is that peaceful agitations in a democratic country is very much required to support a powerful democratic system. I don’t understand why the government is so skeptical about people’s movement! The outcome of this is that eventually the people’s protest against Corruption is converted as the powerful protest against Government.
As we have seen, Anna Hazare’s movement against corruption attracts a tremendous public support. This phenomenon is not just a temporary situation which occurred due to some hysteria created by a charismatic leader or a sudden reflection of youths to show their presence after seeing a series of corruption stories. People came forward supporting Anna may not know much about Anna and they may not know much about the Jan LokPal bill. But, we should consider that those who are came out strongly against corruption and supported Anna know one thing, they are very much affected by the current injustice happening in the society, whether it is in the name of Corruption or in the name of vote bank politics. All those supported this movement are one way or the other, the victims of social injustice and they fully realized that the political system in this country is an utter failure.
The Government had introduced their own version of Lokpal bill only after a powerful agitation lead by Anna Hazare. They feel that the Jan lokpal bill will make trouble for the political classes. So, they made “necessary amendments” in the existing Lokpal bill draft to make it a dead snake stuffed. If you look into the difference between Government version of Lokpal bill and JanLokpal bill you will realize this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Lokpal_Bill ).
Fast unto death is a risky political pressurizing tool used in a democratic setup. This doesn’t mean that some unheard person can come and pressure government and can force them to implement any type of agenda they demand using this method. This is a wrong perception. This tool can be used only by somebody who is confident that their efforts will attract huge public sentiments and they know that there are other methods of protests available in their arsenal as a backup. Basically, people’s support is the base of the agitating tools. The time opted for agitation and the trustfulness of the persons leading the agitation all is important. We have seen some of the failed Fast unto death agitations in recent past. Whether it is of Swami Nigamananda in Utharkhand or it is of Irom Chanu Sharmila in Manipur, all above facts apply.
But I am sure, Anna Hazare has the entire proper blend to lead an agitation against corruption. Though he is demanding the Jan lokpal bill to be passed as it is, it can be treated as a pressure tactic to put the Government in Pressure to act swift against Corruption. Now we can feel the helplessness of the Government where they somehow want to protect their corrupted protectors and to protect themselves. The events will be more interesting in coming days.
