A FLAWED DEMOCRACY

SANJOG MAHESHWARI

C1-A-42 B M.I.G.FLATS

JANAKPURI,

NEW DELHI- 11 0058

CONCERNS OF COMMON MAN IN DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE

-SANJOG MAHESHWARI

 Rampant corruption of most despicable dimensions, lies and half-truths, power-mongering, self-aggrandizement, great show of money and muscle power, loathsome politics of vote-bank, disgusting horse-trading, sickening exhibition of blame-game with no hold barred, shameful display of treachery, betrayal ,duplicity and so forth- some of  the many evils- that are so inextricably entwined in our system of governance that scrapping of the Westminster model of Parliamentary democracy which was shoved down our throats by the founding fathers of our Constitution, for reasons better known to them in an unseemly hurry, and replacing it with the Presidential form of democratic governance, seems to be the only panacea for all our multiple maladies plaguing our polity and society.  Nothing short of it can deliver. 

So, it is high time that we switched over to the Presidential form of democratic governance and stamped out the multiple evils such as rampant corruption; politics of vote-bank, unabashed use of money and muscle power to gain entry and stay comfortably in the great power centres called Parliament and State Legislative Assemblies; unprincipled and wild conduct of our power-drunk tainted legislators inside and outside these Houses, that flow from the existing system based on the Westminster model of Parliamentary democracy. The worse could be in store, if we choose to gloss over this serious issue now by resorting to the quick-fix solutions as hitherto.

It goes without saying that no useful purpose is  served by playing the blame-game and trading charges for any untowards happening that are the order of the day.Tthe politicians invariably indulge in them. It is their pastime.  When the system itself is negatively related to democratic and civilised norms who can protect it from getting debased by criminalization and corruption? For the last 60 long years we have experimented with it. In the process common man has been thoroughly demoralized and has become indifferent to all that which the politicians love to call “National Issues of great Importance”. What the system has given to us? Gross mismanagement of economy resulting in the rich getting richer by the day and the hordes of poor committing suicide for which no body is accountable and ready to shoulder responsibility; rampant corruption impeding balanced and sustainable growth and development; degradation of the basic values and deprivation of the society and the polity; vote-bank cherished burgeoning population- nurtured and nourished by the politics of vote-bank for its own sake; unplanned and wild urbanization with crumbling and rickety infrastructure rendering urban life extremely miserable, stressful, torturous and tiring; yawning unemployment; quota-based division of the society and communities on caste, community, religion, language and regional lines; an army of political parasites busy amassing tons of wealth by corrupt practices; favours and punishments given selectively; to cite a few. The list of incurable maladies plaguing our polity and the society seems endless.

While the Rajya Sabha at the Centre and Legislative Councils of the States are dispensable institutions ( a luxury which, in the first place, ought to have never been forced on a poor country like India), the Lok Sabha and the Legislative Assemblies of the States have become the sanctuaries for most of the so called elected members who gate-crash into these august houses by exploiting to the hilt, the money and muscle- power they wield to cobble together, in most of the cases, much less than 50% votes polled (the percentage would be reduced even to less than 25 if the total number of voters including those who choose to abstain from casting votes is taken into account). In several states 90% of the M.L.As graces the house on the strength of minority votes. In some cases, the candidates polling even less than 20% have got elected. Thus in our blessed democratic set up, quite frequently, candidates not favoured (read rejected) even by more than 50% of the voters, grace high positions in the government. Quite a few of them are tainted with criminal record and their sole purpose for being in the government is to further augment their resources, mint tons of money by all means- fair or foul-cultivate their vote banks of minority, caste, region, religion or language for winning the next election(s) besides enjoying the bountiful freebies, handsome pay, perks, privileges and pension for the life. Those (elected?), even though rejected by more than 50% of the voters, show off as “people’s representatives” and want everybody else to recognize them accordingly. And the Constitution validates their claim. They go ahead to form main legislative bodies: 1) The Lok Sabha at the Centre and 2) The State Legislative Assemblies in the States. The government is run by these persons on the principles of “collective responsibility” that stipulates that no single minister would be responsible for any of his actions- not singly and individually responsible for anything he does or does not do as a minister. Rightly or wrongly, vide-spread perception is: “collective responsibility”, in actual practice, translates into “no responsibility’ or accountability” whatsoever for anything one as a political functionary does or does not do. On the larger canvas what we have is: “nobody-responsible-for-anything” syndrome in the ruling class. It has been a long time since we are taking our chances with such people and in the process corrupting and crippling our democratic institutions.

The Executive - officialdom and the state machinery under a ministry headed by a minister- is the handmaid of the Legislature. The self-serving bureaucracy and officialdom, even after 60 years of independence, still find it difficult to shed the colonial mind-set. They, as the framers of public policy, have been consistent in milking the state. They gobble up most of government goodies, unofficial fringe benefits-which in many instances are tax-free. This leads to a common man’s total disillusionment, cynicism, lack of trust in government - its agencies and democratic institutions. This lack of trust breeds disdain, if not downright contempt, for these exalted institutions of democracy and governmental machinery which is further compounded by the routine spectacle of corruption in high places that percolates down to the lower levels as well.

The Westminster system of parliamentary democracy was adopted in great hurry. Even before knowing what was happening, “ We the people of India "  (teeming millions of ignorant and illiterate) on the fateful day of 26^th November 1949, had already enacted, adopted and gave to ourselves the Constitution of India for the governance of this country without any debate or discussion on the document at national level. No wonder, the faulty system makes for a fertile breeding ground of corruption and mal-practices of every hue and colour. A la, the economic theory which articulates the obvious that “bad currency drives the good out of circulation” in this system also the bad elements in the polity drive the good out of governance. However, what looks very strange and depressing at the same time, is that all the big leaders cutting across the party lines are staunch votaries of this system and do not want it to be replaced by the presidential form of democracy and governance. Contrast it with the Presidential system of democracy of the U.S.A which, barring one single exception that of Nixon, who also was unceremoniously jettisoned out of the job and the White House immediately on the happening of the infamous Watergate scandal, has thrown up one after another singularly brilliant Presidents right from George Washington up to George W. Bush (and now the president-elect Barack Obama) to govern that country. And without exception they did it to the best of their ability and regardless of the world opinion. Incessantly they worked in the best interests of America and the American people. His outstanding qualities and brilliance not withstanding, a Bill Clinton faces the fury of the Congress and the country as a whole for the crime of perjury. As soon as the term is over, the lame duck President has to vacate the White House. A lame duck president has to go for house-hunting before the expiry of his term to ensure a roof over his head. What a wonderfuly system and arrangement! On the other side of the spectrum are the Indian legislatures who continue to occupy spacious Govt. Bungalows and other Govt. property years after they cease to be legislators. Even the Apex court’s verdicts fail to get them evicted out of their palatial sanctuary and the other facilities which go with it, as the system makes everything possible for Mr. Somebody. And that could be the reason why this system of democracy is favoured by all the politicians cutting across the party lines though they know better than everybody else how totally unsuitable and flawed it is- a wasteful, corruption-lidden luxury with which the poor of the country has been saddled by its wily politicians in the name of democracy which, in fact is, nothing short of mobocracy.

 

- SANJOG MAHESHWARI.

 

C1-A-42 B M.I.G.FLATS,

JANAKPURI, NEW DELHI-110058