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This is not about any political party. It is about a people who are helpless in spite of freedom. It is about a Nation held hostage. When a government is elected democratically, they have a responsibility towards the electorate. Collective autocracy either way by the legislature is abhorring. By definition, all elected representatives are part of the government irrespective of the bench they occupy in the House. The people of India are hostage to those very same representatives elected to lead them, when they repeatedly fail to transact business in the houses or oppose issues, on flimsy grounds, merely for opposing., which in reality is dereliction of duty – a travesty of justice.
By any standards transacting business by the august body of a democratically elected parliament is not a discretionary activity. Legislators are often behaving like hooligans inside the revered precincts of the parliament without any shame. Legislators have to uphold the value system. The argument that I did a wrong because my predecessors did the same is absolutely despicable. If there is use of office and status for partisan gains, it is immoral and no law is required to castigate the guilty. One reason why the armed forces are swift in dispensing justice is there are sections in the Army Act dealing with ‘unbecoming conduct’ and ‘breach of trust’.
Half the federal states are ruled by parties which is not in power in the central government. Recently in a federal state, an “opposition party” has won a thumping victory in the elections to the state legislature. In any sort of media in the country there are enough and more criticisms on government policies etc.
It is difficult to discern fake news from facts in the digital media. With the proliferation of AI, it will become more difficult. It is for the people not to believe only what they want to believe. Rest assured, democracy in India is well and thriving.
Actually, India is a vibrant and super active democracy. Anything and everything that happens in this nation will take a political hue. Ask the media stalwarts, they greedily feed on it. With such a large and vocal media, ruling party as well as the opposition will constantly play games with people’s sentiments. That is the lot for Indian democracy. Yes, finally the people will choose. That is another story. Unfortunately, sentiment is a type of illness, a medical condition. Like the ember, it will create fire when fanned and die away when no attention is paid to it. This is starkly evident in this issue of Parliament inauguration and many, many such matters in our checkered political journey since Independence. Memory is short-lived, whether of the people or political parties who oppose a matter while out of power which they had advocated when in power. The Nation sees all this like watching a soap opera.
The Nation will move on. Parliament will function in its new place. Governments will come and governments will go, the soap opera will roll on. Whatever, hopefully the New India will move on. It HAS to move on with the new parliament building, to survive.
The world is constantly changing as it always has been. India has also progressed a good deal. Yet, to be a super power is still a dream. It will remain a dream if we Indians do not wake up right now; wake up before it is too late. Wake up before our economic potential is blunted by partisan behaviour of the pillars of democracy – legislature, executive, judiciary and the all important media. The world is shrinking. Interdependency of Nations is a given for growth. Among the erstwhile closed economies China has already come out and is a world player economically. Cuba is slowly coming out of its shell. In such a scenario it seems our leaders have a finger on the self destruct button. Our political system seems to believe that democracy ends with elections and progress is doling out freebies for the next elections.
Instead of focusing on development and all inclusive growth, already in our grasp, the powers that be are playing a game of one-up-manship. The pathetic state is revealed when during elections the discussions are about Dalit votes, Muslim votes, Lingayat votes, Dravida votes, etc., instead of talking of progress and development. Are these not divisive ways to approach the electorate? Social harmony, including religious harmony, is the domain of the society. When the government comes in there, it becomes a law and order matter.
Tail piece: Robespierre, Karl Marx and MK Gandhi were created by circumstances and they did not create any circumstance. So let us not try to portray nonexistent circumstances and try to prop up modern revolutionists. After all, it is the people’s nation.
These pieces are being published as they have been received – they have not been edited/fact-checked by ThePrint.
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