The battle beyond the ballot
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Benjamin P N
Apr 22, 2009, 11:39:41 PM4/22/09
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THE BATTLE BEYOND THE BALLOT
By P.N.BENJAMIN
The 15th Lok Sabha elections provide us with some sort of a watershed from which we can take a close look at the end-product of nearly sixty years of uninterrupted experiment (barring the discredited Emergency period) with democratic institutions in India. This is an impressive record, considering the fluctuating ebb and flow in the history of parliamentary democracy in other countries of the subcontinent.
Despite this impressive record, a close and honest appraisal would reveal the sad and sordid state of affairs that is threatening to subvert the principles of parliamentary democracy. Popular involvement in the electoral process in many parts of the country during the past several years ha been marked by a mood of helplessness, faced with choices between Tweedledum and Tweedledee. This has apparently given rise to the trend known as "negative voting" displacing one set of ruling Fronts by another set of parties or Fronts, not out of any trust in the latter, but because of sheer frustration with (often bordering on hostility towards) the former.
More dangerous trends have taken over the electoral process in many parts of the country. Electorate can be roused by the rhetoric of religious jingoism and regional chauvinism, although these are totally antagonistic to the proclaimed principles of democracy. The depth to which popular cynicism has sunk can be gauged by the acquiescence of a large part of the electorate in voting to power notorious criminals either under duress or from cold and calculated motives of seeking protection and privileges from the mafia dons. Corruption and criminalisation are accepted today as an inevitable part of the system, if not a necessary virtue by majority of Indian voters.
To a great extent, this moral degradation of large segments of the voters is due to the state of abject helplessness to which they have been reduced by the apathy of the ruling classes to their daily needs, forcing them to seek relief through illegitimate avenues. The electorate has been led to believe that they cannot have totally sterilised, clean electoral slate. Almost every political leader of any standing in India has done something or other that should keep him or her away from occupying, any position in public life, i.e., and if we want them to adhere to basic moral principles. But such principles are considered gauche by most of us today.
Elections have very little to do with the politics of social justice and equitable distribution of wealth. Serious economic problems have been relegated to the background. There was a time when the majority of our people were eagerly looking forward to the end of grinding poverty. Promises and platitudes, resolutions and manifestoes have come the way of the poor in impressive array at periodic intervals, and yet the discomforting question still persists: What about the elimination of poverty?
These issues have retreated from the nitty-gritty of electoral campaigns and speeches and find a place occasionally in the pages of electoral manifestoes, which in any case very few read. This situation eminently suits those Fronts waiting to capture power in New Delhi and to control the countrys political and economic destiny. It is rather a sad commentary on the Indian political system.
It is, therefore, needless to say that when the millions upon millions of Indians are casting their votes during this elections in the time of recession they will not be thinking primarily about the grand abstractions like "communalism", "secularism" and "stability" or even terrorism. They are today struggling with the barest, elementary problems of existence hunger, homelessness, unemployment and debt. Lets hope that they will be stirring this time against the failure of successive governments to solve these basic problems.
The multitudes of Indians, who have started marching to the polling booths, represent the nations dispossessed. At the abstract level the concept of a national suffrage has certain majesty: so many hundreds of millions marching into the booths and exercising their free choice. It is an assertion of the sovereignty of free men and women. They choose, they decide, they indicate their preference within the sacred precincts of the polling booth. They press the electronic voting machines (EVM) button and make and unmake kings. Elections are thus a proclamation of equal sovereignty. So goes the theory. In practice it is nothing of that sort.
Over the long haul, the verdict of the 15th Lok Sabha elections may not mean much to the poor in our country. Their daily battle of existence will continue. The economic laws will remain what they always have been. The poor and the dispossessed will have to learn, through the hard way that there is no surrogate to the solidarity of class. That the Marxian clich not the weakness of the strong, but the strength of the weak determines the process of history will retain its legitimacy.
P.N.BENJAMIN
Apt. 501, 5th Floor
Indira Residency
167 Hennur Road
(Next to Reliance Fresh Super Market)
Bangalore 560 043
How fun is this? IMing with Windows Live Messenger just got better.
By P.N.BENJAMIN
The 15th Lok Sabha elections provide us with some sort of a watershed from which we can take a close look at the end-product of nearly sixty years of uninterrupted experiment (barring the discredited Emergency period) with democratic institutions in India. This is an impressive record, considering the fluctuating ebb and flow in the history of parliamentary democracy in other countries of the subcontinent.
Despite this impressive record, a close and honest appraisal would reveal the sad and sordid state of affairs that is threatening to subvert the principles of parliamentary democracy. Popular involvement in the electoral process in many parts of the country during the past several years ha been marked by a mood of helplessness, faced with choices between Tweedledum and Tweedledee. This has apparently given rise to the trend known as "negative voting" displacing one set of ruling Fronts by another set of parties or Fronts, not out of any trust in the latter, but because of sheer frustration with (often bordering on hostility towards) the former.
More dangerous trends have taken over the electoral process in many parts of the country. Electorate can be roused by the rhetoric of religious jingoism and regional chauvinism, although these are totally antagonistic to the proclaimed principles of democracy. The depth to which popular cynicism has sunk can be gauged by the acquiescence of a large part of the electorate in voting to power notorious criminals either under duress or from cold and calculated motives of seeking protection and privileges from the mafia dons. Corruption and criminalisation are accepted today as an inevitable part of the system, if not a necessary virtue by majority of Indian voters.
To a great extent, this moral degradation of large segments of the voters is due to the state of abject helplessness to which they have been reduced by the apathy of the ruling classes to their daily needs, forcing them to seek relief through illegitimate avenues. The electorate has been led to believe that they cannot have totally sterilised, clean electoral slate. Almost every political leader of any standing in India has done something or other that should keep him or her away from occupying, any position in public life, i.e., and if we want them to adhere to basic moral principles. But such principles are considered gauche by most of us today.
Elections have very little to do with the politics of social justice and equitable distribution of wealth. Serious economic problems have been relegated to the background. There was a time when the majority of our people were eagerly looking forward to the end of grinding poverty. Promises and platitudes, resolutions and manifestoes have come the way of the poor in impressive array at periodic intervals, and yet the discomforting question still persists: What about the elimination of poverty?
These issues have retreated from the nitty-gritty of electoral campaigns and speeches and find a place occasionally in the pages of electoral manifestoes, which in any case very few read. This situation eminently suits those Fronts waiting to capture power in New Delhi and to control the countrys political and economic destiny. It is rather a sad commentary on the Indian political system.
It is, therefore, needless to say that when the millions upon millions of Indians are casting their votes during this elections in the time of recession they will not be thinking primarily about the grand abstractions like "communalism", "secularism" and "stability" or even terrorism. They are today struggling with the barest, elementary problems of existence hunger, homelessness, unemployment and debt. Lets hope that they will be stirring this time against the failure of successive governments to solve these basic problems.
The multitudes of Indians, who have started marching to the polling booths, represent the nations dispossessed. At the abstract level the concept of a national suffrage has certain majesty: so many hundreds of millions marching into the booths and exercising their free choice. It is an assertion of the sovereignty of free men and women. They choose, they decide, they indicate their preference within the sacred precincts of the polling booth. They press the electronic voting machines (EVM) button and make and unmake kings. Elections are thus a proclamation of equal sovereignty. So goes the theory. In practice it is nothing of that sort.
Over the long haul, the verdict of the 15th Lok Sabha elections may not mean much to the poor in our country. Their daily battle of existence will continue. The economic laws will remain what they always have been. The poor and the dispossessed will have to learn, through the hard way that there is no surrogate to the solidarity of class. That the Marxian clich not the weakness of the strong, but the strength of the weak determines the process of history will retain its legitimacy.
P.N.BENJAMIN
Apt. 501, 5th Floor
Indira Residency
167 Hennur Road
(Next to Reliance Fresh Super Market)
Bangalore 560 043
How fun is this? IMing with Windows Live Messenger just got better.
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