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Based
on the yardstick of competitive elections, free political
parties, peaceful transfer of power and legitimate exercise
of power by the elected, India is recognized as one of the
few post-colonial countries with a stable democratic regime.
But when judged by the more exacting standards of democracy
of empowerment of citizens, rule of law and self-correcting
institutions, our polity emerges poorly.
Power
is being habitually abused for personal gain or to hurt real
or perceived opponents. The way First Global is being harassed
and hounded for merely being a main investor in Tehelka.com
is a good example of such arbitrary exercise of power. It
was widely reported that Laloo Yadav's men had brazenly stolen
hundreds of new cars from dealers to ferry guests for his
daughter's wedding! The tragic events in Gujarat reflect the
complete failure of governance process and the abdication
of state's basic responsibility of protecting the life and
liberty of its citizens. There is little evidence to show
that these matters are being investigated. We may have survived
a major assault on our democracy 27 years ago, but millions
of mini-emergencies keep haunting us every day.
This
week we were witness to the "investiture" ceremony
of Omar Abdullah as the new president of National Conference.
In the recent past, in Andhra alone, whenever a sitting legislator
died, the wife/son are the chosen successors. We may have
abolished princely states but we sure have retained dynastic
and autocratic parties. For daring to express the truth, senior
party functionaries are humiliated and expelled. Where is
democracy? In effect our polity is reduced to being the personal
fiefdoms of a few thousand families across the country with
the rest of having no say.
But
there happens to be a silver lining. A few groups of people
cared to speak and some institutions have listened. Now citizens
across the country along with civil society participation
have succeeded in putting pressure on the Election Commission
to act proactively in implementing the Supreme Court judgment
of May 2, to force candidates to disclose their criminal antecedents
and assets and liabilities. Although the government and mainstream
political parties have tried their best to scuttle the Court's
judgment, civil society pressure prevailed and paid rich dividends.
Just as it happened during emergency, when millions of ordinary
citizens stood up and actively resisted the tyranny of the
state, citizens of this country should stand up and be counted.
The fight now is not against one party or one event. It is
a struggle for the very soul of our democracy, and for an
accountable and honest political process. In a democracy,
the citizen is the ultimate sovereign and eternal vigilance
is the price of liberty.
There is a poem written by a Nazi victim sending us a powerful
message to speak up.
First they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then
they came for the Trade Unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Trade Unionist
Then
they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then
they came for me
And there was none left
To speak for me
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