The Dance Of Democracy

We all are aware and witness to what I consider as one of the greatest miseries of our country in modern times. We are living at a time when the existing government is so shrouded in corrupt activities that it just can’t ask for any more controversies. From the CWG to 2G, everything has been marred by corruption and the controversies that followed them. In the light of all these wrong doings, it becomes all the more important to fight corruption till the end. It fills me with great pride to see how the entire country is coming together against corruption. But , the question that I would like to ask is “ are we doing the right thing?”, fighting corruption is important , but is the means right, as I believe that greatness can be achieved for a society or the country only if ones intentions and the means , both are correct.

For a past few weeks I have been constantly receiving invitations in our common meeting place (read adda) the facebook, about joining Mr. Anna Hazare and the civil society, as they go one on one with the existing government. It is obvious that they must have a lot of support, hence all the online buzz. I still remember it all started with a hunger strike organized by Mr. Anna Hazare to implement the “JAN LOKPAL BILL”. Well the strike ended with the government submitting to the demands of the former. There was a lot of hullabaloo in all circles of the society and the media about the bill and its implications. This was followed by the superman of the yoga world Baba Ramdev going on a hunger strike to force the government to bring back the black money stashed in foreign banks. This was initially interrupted by the government in a brutal fashion, some people also compared the situation with the infamous Tiananmen square incident in China. Then the resilient Baba continued his strike in a different location, this time however the government seemed least bothered. With all this coming to a closure, we witness another dance of democracy when yesterday I saw in television, the civil society conducting polls , and team Anna planning one more hunger strike from the 16^th of this month ( most probably).. Well has been quite an eventful year I guess…..

All this activities have gained a huge momentum and the number of supporters seems to be on a rise as ever. It seems finally the youth of this country is getting serious about the plight of this country. I however have some serious questions regarding the current state of affairs. My most important concern is hunger strikes. It seems they are the “in thing “these days. The initial hunger strikes were still justified, but going to a hunger strike because the government did not agree to all your demands is preposterous. It seems team Anna would go for a hunger strike whenever their demands are not meet. This is nothing but holding the entire governance at ransom. What kind of a message are you trying to send , if my demands are not meet I will fast to death. Today they are doing this for the lok pal bill, tomorrow other organizations may follow suite for their demands. Some might do that for increase in quota while others for declaring war on Pakistan, the government cannot and should not succumb to such demands. Isn’t it the government of India who is supposed to take decisions on such issues, and don’t we ourselves choose them. Doesn’t the civil society understand that?...... The bill would be presented to the parliament and they will decide its fate. Our constitution allows only the parliament to decide on such matters; who is the civil society. Isn’t what they are doing an insult to our constitution.

Interestingly enough, the civil society conducted polls on the matter, going to the people, like a true democratic party. What I don’t understand is what the civil society is trying to prove. Tomorrow people might demand a similar kind of polling on other issues, like the ram-mandir issue, Kashmir, and so on. Is the civil society suggesting that we go for such polling each time the country faces a difficult situation? Imagine the chaos that will reign the country when for every decision, the whole country would be asked to vote. By doing such a thing and by supporting this are we not mocking our own democracy, are we not insulting our own constitution. Why do we have elections , why do we choose representatives, after all if we have to vote for each and every matter, then why do we have the government. An important aspect to this is, who will decide what is important, and what is not, what should be polled and what should be left to the government. For instance the people of Nagaland may consider the autonomy of their state as the most important issue, however I am not even sure how many people know about its capital city. Why do we have to be so absurd in our approach, why can’t we vote for a change, if people like Anna Hazare go to hunger strike for all their demands isn’t it a very dictatorial approach. Toady Anna and his team wants to make the Lokpal more powerful then the government itself and most of us are also supporting that, my question to Anna and his supporters is, “ who will choose the Lokpal, who will decide about its members?”,If the answer is the people of India , then we already have elections, what difference will that make, now we have corrupt politicians , then we will have a corrupt lokpal.

The civil society wants the judiciary to be under the ambit of the lokpal, if the constitution has allowed the judiciary to be the custodians of the Indian laws, then how can the lokpal have greater powers. Whom will the lokpal be answerable to. Agreed the lokpal will fight corruption, who will fight them if they go corrupt, these are questions that Anna or any of his supporter have to answer. I belong to a part of the country where I have seen a lot of bandhs, strikes and even hunger strikes, I strongly believe that such means of expression will only weaken us and destroy our democracy.if you want a change, vote for it. Why doesn’t Mr Anna Hazare contest elections next time, if he is so serious about changing the country. I am personnaly not against Mr Anna Hazare but I cannot support hunger strikes and holding the entire country at ransom for certain demands, the constitution says that only the elected representatives and the parliament can frame rules and constitute committees and thus so be it... If you want a change vote for it, don’t hold the country at ransom……… or else form your own political party