12 Aug 2007
Deja Vu and That Uncomfortable Feeling...
The 60th I-Day is just a few days away, and the hype has already started. It'll be a task to endure the euphemisms, that shallow emotion of patriotism, the loud, pointless talkshows, the giggling pretty faces with tricolor painted across, and the absolutely faked speeches of those fucken goons (read politicians). It'll be everywhere - newspapers, idiot box, newsmagazines, radio, blogs (ironical that I mention!), billboards, websites. While patriots revel and media exploit, it'll be a compulsive viewing of the circus for chaps whose attitude is that of non-solidarity toward fellow compatriots.
Some things never change! One hears the same lines every year. Same issues, same tasks, same problems, same stupid questions, same trite answers, same plans. They sell me the same idea every goddamn year - "today is grand, tomorrow will be grander". Nothing beats it for an exercise to make one a stoic.
Among the many opinion polls, democracy has again been voted the "greatest national pride". Just because we have an elected government, they keep telling me it's a democracy! To hell with having an elected government! The more important attributes for a democracy are accountability and responsiveness of the government. How accountable and responsive a government do we have?
Yes, RTI sounds fine and one can get some things done by voicing a concern (which goes by the grand phrase, "freedom of speech"), but this works only if the opposition is on your side. Let the concern be something that corners the opposition as well, and you will be eliminated. The din against quota works, the "non-violent protests" (glamorous exercises these days, thanks to Mr Gandhi) demanding justice for a certain Ms Lal work, the demand for better roads works, but expose the criminal deeds of the bastards among the ruling party and opposition as well, and nothing happens - even if you have video footage to boot. Just because some of us can write inconsequential pieces - against the system - in magazines and blogs and survive, it doesn't imply we enjoy "freedom of speech". For every lucky few who survive, there are thousands who don't. The powerless are fucked day in and day out. This has been the story for decades. Nothing has changed.
And, by the way, how fair an "elected" goverment it is? They bribe for votes, they rig, they use power, they manipulate, and they win. Barely 60% people turn out to vote, out of which votes are distributed among a dozen candidates. Chap X gets the maximum number of votes and he becomes the representative. If 70% (of the 60% that turn out) votes go for 11 candidates and 30% go for chap X, he wins by virtue of numbers. If you actually map it to the population, only 18 (considering it is a "fair" election) out of every 100 approve of him. Being unable to force the 40% who opt out of exercising franchise to do otherwise, the government equates "majority" with "maximum number" of votes. Democracy has more flaws - not as regards a concept, but as regards implementation - than just this. The concept sounds great on paper, no doubt. But then, even those of monarchy and dictatorship sound just as great. Democracy is, by many means, certainly the better one, but it needs a lot of basics to be in place. India is far from that.
To my mind, heritage is India's greatest pride. Its philosophy should come as close, too. One has to, however, ask brilliant chaps like Siddhartha in Pratidwandi to get correct answers. He would not mention democracy even among his top ten.
Majority opt the easy way, for it's practicable. They keep referring to the "positive thinking" mantra - be blind to the foibles, focus on the achievements. The glitz of the effects of economic growth are thus passed on as justifications to feel proud and entertain "hope" for a "better" tomorrow - a day that never comes. Illusion always makes for a better companion than reality. Ideal is always a preferred beloved to status quo. Idiotic references also come in handy - "Come on dude, with all its flaws, we are better off than most countries. Look at the brighter side! Chill!"
Comparisons are good in academia, and they better be left there. One can write bestsellers with their focus on comparison, but it's ridiculous to derive fake emotions from it to beat the harsh facts of reality. How sensible is it to console oneself that a chap in, say, country XYZ is exploited worse than he is? How does it matter if citizens in other countries are worse or better off? We live in this country, we elect some chaps and we expect it to go well. If there is a problem, the solution is within, not without. That we live in a "connected" world matters at economic level, not as regards the relation between the rulers and the ruled.
The powerless have no voice, corruption is rampant, exploitation is rife, and the system is rotten. Unless these things change, it's a sham that we take pride in democracy. As the 60th I-Day beckons and the world looks up to us as an emerging superpower, we are still ruled by goons! And we don't seem to be doing anything to correct this!
A tad cynical perhaps, but I will rather down a glass of wine hoping we get rid of goonocracy than join the dance of the patriots to celebrate democracy. Cheers!
Current Mood: Happy
Current Music: ---
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