POLITICAL DIARY

New Delhi, 18 April 2009

Cheating The Voter

DOES ANYONE CARE?

By Poonam I Kaushish

Benito Mussolini’s sarcastic comment, “Democracy is a kingless regime infested by many kings,” fits India’s electoral glove. Wherein netas of all shapes and sizes, hues and colours, communal and secular think they are kings. And say nothing’s wrong. That’s what rajniti is all about.

The tragedy is when disparate political parties make no bones about cohabiting with their enemies post-poll to fulfil their lust for power. For the first time we are witnessing bald-faced talk that the numbers will decide the alliances and who sits on India’s raj gaddi. With clinical precision devoid of any pretensions of ‘meeting of minds’, ideology or principles. Exposing that power is the glue that makes incongruent parties come together.

Showcasing a new chapter in India’s sordid political cesspool: Honey, it’s all about the numbers and money! Raising a moot point: Does this not tantamount to cheating the electorate? Forget shame and infamy what is indigestible is that our politicos don’t care a damn about doing so. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

True, one can dismiss this as a natural by-product of a coalition milieu. Where unnatural parties band together to form a Government. Till date, we have seen three such experiments, United Front, a post-poll pact of regional parties supported by the Congress from the outside in the mid 90s, followed by the BJP-led NDA, a pre-poll pact based on a common minimum programme (CMP). The Congress-led UPA was a post-poll tie-up of the so-called secular parties backed by the Left from outside to fill the political vacuum caused by the defeat of the NDA.

What worries one are not the alliances but the breaking up of the NDA and the UPA with the promise of reuniting if the Congress and BJP get the numbers. If they don’t then the ‘politics of compulsion’ will lead to a khichdri of ram-shackled parties bandying for satta. In the meantime, it is raining vitriolic abuses between the Congress and ‘rolling stone’ allies NCP and Lalu, Mulayam and Paswan’s Fourth Front and the BJD and BJP. Less said the better of the Left-led Third Front, Andhra bidda Naidu, Southern siren Jayalalitha and North’s Maya memsahib.

Distressingly in this issueless electoral jor-tor, for the aam aadmi choosing a candidate has little to do with voting for defined policies and issues. It is all about making the best of a bad bargain. Wherein caste, class, creed and communal paradigms will decide how votes are cast. Along with loud and abusive procrastination that catches the eyeballs. Resulting in a wide disconnect between the aam janta and the netagan. Crippled as the polity is in fashioning a democratic model that is inclusive of the aam aadmi.

Significantly, the convergence of national, regional and local politics has led to a competitive identity crisis, where parties are busy playing one caste against the other, offering development to certain ‘chosen’ communities and monies dispersed based on class-creed requirement instead of socio-economic necessity. Thus, widening the gap between Brand India and Asli Bharat.

Besides, Election 2009 is not about the BJP or the Congress and its Prime Ministerial candidates. It matters little who will make a better PM, Manmohan Singh or Advani?  As we are seeing the unseemly skeptical of our Made in India netas Lalu, Mayawati, Paswan, Pawar, Karunanidhi, Jayalalitha, Naidu all chorusing Main Hoon Naa. In this crater of moral decay, it is a toss between chor x or chor y, neta m or neta a, dynasty g or khaandan a, tainted star or a disgraced icon.

What saddens one is the unbecoming and rude conduct of Manmohan Singh and Advani. In the cut and thrust of electioneering, pot shots and jibes against the opponent is a given. One may have varied ideology and agree to disagree on policies and visions of India, but the below-the-belt taunts by the ‘gentlemanly’ duo are a first of sorts. To be called a “nikamma PM” is not a tune Singh would like to hear nor “weeping in a corner as Babri Masjid was demolished” a jibe that Advani would take. Neither Sonia’s knockout punch, “Advani is a slave to the RSS”.

Importantly, their rude conduct and personal animosity in full media glare does not bode well for our democracy as it exposes them as petty men. If this continues it would strike a death knell of polite public discourse wherein both have to collectively work for the betterment of India. They have a job to do and that comes not by quarrelling with each but by debate, discussion, and consensus. Especially against the backdrop that the duo stand a one-in-three chance of occupying India’s gaddi. Alas, gone are the days when leaders rejoiced in their opponents’ victory. Remember Vajpayee who hailed Indira Gandhi as Ma Durga following India’s victory in the 1971 Bangladesh war.

Worse, this election is not only sans ideology and basic courtesies but also there a big question mark on alternatives to Manmohan Singh and Advani. None of the hum banenge pradhan mantri netas have elucidated his or her vision for India, of how he intends to get the country out of the recession, his blue print to fight terrorism, corruption and lift India out of its rising poverty and burgeoning unemployment. No wonder cynics dismiss neta as a dirty four letter word and a necessary evil.

That apart, in this new political churning the raison d’être of democracy --- of the people, by the people and for the people has been sidelined as a bygone relic.  In this nouvelle devil-take-the-hindmost toss-up, our opportunists’ polity has taken advantage of the lop-sided first-past-the-post electoral system of electing an MP. In a multi-corner contest a candidate obtaining a mere 20 per cent of the votes polled gets elected despite 80 per cent of the voters against him.

Trust our netagan to shamelessly take advantage of this electoral arithmetic. Remember, Nehru, at the height of his Prime Ministership never won more than 47 per cent of the popular mandate. Regrettably, starting with the Dinesh Goswami Commission in 1991 various committees have mooted changing the electoral system. Ranging from the inclusion of a column in the ballot paper stating that none of the candidates are fit to be elected. Two, more teeth be given to the right to recall an MP or an MLA who does not live up to the electorate’s expectations.

Three, declare an election null and void if the total votes polled is less than 60 per cent of the total electoral strength. India should also debate the change over to proportional representation wherein if a Party gets 5 per cent of the vote share it would be allotted an X number of seats in Parliament / Assemblies. Needless to say till we continue with band aid dressings for our electoral maladies our ‘sham’ democracy will continue to bleed. 

Churchill was ever so right when he conceded: “'No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” Plainly, Indian democracy is imperfect. However, the option is worse as we have seen during the dark days of the Emergency. As Poll 2009 continues, the time has come for a truly responsive and accountable polity. Towards that end, the aam voter needs to come out and Lead India. Else not rue: Whither India’s democracy? –INFA

 (Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)