Events & Issues
New
Delhi, 15 May 2019
2019 Alarming Trends
ARE ELECTIONS A FARCE?
By Dhurjati Mukherjee
Elections are almost
nearing completion in the world’s largest democracy. But the developments
leading to these elections point to the fact that muscle power, violence and
abuse not of party policies but also of individuals have been manifest in most
parts of the country. Special mention may be made of West Bengal, where
violence has been manifest in each of the 42 Lok Sabha seats and musclemen of
the party in power in the State has largely been blamed for the terror
unleashed wantonly.
The other significant
factor that marked the elections has been the abusive language used by the
leaders of the major political parties. In no previous elections has such
attacks and counter attacks been evident. It is indeed shocking that leaders
could stoop so low as to criticise their opponents in such manner in a country
like India, where leaders have claimed that its civilisation and culture has been
among the best in the world.
Their clamour for
such remarks has been so sickening that educated people are steadily losing
faith in their capability to take responsibility for governing a state in a
judicious manner. Issues where leaders cannot claim credit or which are beyond
their purview are being aired time and again. The credit for the military or
the ISRO performance rests largely with their capability and acumen and
political leaders really have no hand in this.
In a diverse country
with people from different castes, creeds, religious affinities live and work,
the political parties have been trying to create a wedge in social relations.
Reports suggest that minorities are attacked by one party, while the other
criticises other parties by taking credit for giving special preference to
them. In fact, religious issues have been frequently used by leaders to defame
one another.
On the financial
front, parties do not have any limit on how much they can receive in total; or
from any single donor. Though candidates have a stipulated limit on how much
they can spend, in reality the expenditure is much more. Now with the
introduction of electoral bonds, even foreign governments can and are making
donations to political parties. It is indeed a tragedy that money power is the
essence in fighting elections and this is well known to the Election
Commission.
It is no secret that politicians
need financial support from corporate houses which turns out to be a quid pro
quo. Obviously, businesses require politicians to get the legitimacy of the
policies they prefer, most of which serve their own interests and are anti-poor
and therefore are willingly ready to oblige at the time of elections with
support in cash or kind.
All this has been
happening when the nation is celebrating the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma
Gandhi, who had all his life talked of communal harmony and unity of different
religions. For him, God represented a supreme being manifested in truth and
morality. It can very well be said that these values have been eroded in recent
times with religious fundamentalism holding sway which political leaders are
merrily encashing for petty electoral gains. Indeed, a sorry state of affairs.
The trends obviously reveal
that our leaders have little idea about the problems plaguing the country due
to wrong policies pursued by subsequent governments. At the very outset while
morality has been lacking in governance matters, the lack of effective
decentralisation and giving power to the people are basic reasons for such
pitiable conditions prevailing across the country. Also the neglect of
minorities and tribals has also been a major cause for concern, resulting in
lop-sided development.
The moot point is
that the role of the Election Commission needs to be questioned viz the conduct
of free and fair elections. Though a section, like the Opposition, may openly
accuse it of favouring the party in
power, which is debatable, it is a fact that Nirvachan Sadan has failed to
regulate the political leaders as far as their utterances and conduct are
concerned and strictly upholding the Model Code of Conduct. An opinion gaining
ground is that it could have played a more effective role in ensuring that candidates,
of whichever party, don’t cross limits.
The values that we
cherish and we want the young generation to follow have been missing during the
campaigns. Moreover, some utterances are also said to go against the rules and
regulations outlined by the Commission. But it has failed to take stern action
and let off candidates by barring them for two to three days from canvassing,
which many see as ineffective action, wherein some end up repeating their
utterances.
Political analysts are
of the firm opinion, and quite rightly, that political parties do not really
want an improvement to take place. The quest for power and money, very much
against Gandhian ideals, is provoking many a politician to win the election by
hook or by crook. It appears there is actually no desire by most political
leaders to adhere to democratic ideals, whereby giving the people a choice to
vote for the right candidate based on his integrity, policies and morality.
If the present trend
continues, it is feared the social structure could face a serious challenge. Similarly,
inequality would further widen with the rich becoming richer and the poor
stagnant in their incomes. Though corporate social responsibility (CSR) has
been introduced, this happens to be a far cry from Gandhi’s theory of
trusteeship. Way back in 1947, one may recall his momentous observation: “Today
there is gross inequality. The basis of socialism is economic equality. There
is no Ram Rajya in the present state
of iniquitous inequalities in which a few toll in riches and the masses do not
get enough to eat”.
The future looks
quite bleak as the political parties are desperate to retain or gain power. And
to achieve this objective, all values will be sacrificed and money power would
hold sway. The Commission has failed in its onerous task and, with the passing
of times, things would deteriorate further and society’s intrinsic structure
would crumble. The question that arises
before us obviously is whether we can expect most of those elected to ensure
proper governance and welfare for the masses, given the means they adopt to
come to power? --- INFA
(Copyright, India
News & Feature Alliance)
New
Delhi
13
May 2019
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