Whither democracy?

The country is on fire – metaphorically, if not literally – thanks to the fairly innocuous pepper spray. Yes, I am referring to the admitted use of pepper spray by Lagadapati Rajagopal, MP, in Lok Sabha on Thursday, 13 February 2014, which, some believe, would go down in the history of Indian parliament as a ‘black day’.

As I said, the use of pepper spray stands admitted by the MP himself. His detractors alleged variously that (a) it was used to disrupt the proceedings of Lok Sabha so that the Home Minister would not be able to table the T-bill in the Lok Sabha; and (b) to carry out a lethal attack against the MPs in the house. But  Rajagopal  himself denies it and says that he used the pepper spray to protect himself from the blows of the Congress and non-Congress MPs beating him and a fellow Seemandhra MP Modugula Venugopal Reddy. Of all these claims, the claim that Rajagopal intended to kill or otherwise fatally attack any of the MPs seems far-fetched; the claim seems to be a calculated move to blow the incident out of proportion to take advantage of the extreme indiscretion of Rajagopal; after all, pepper sprays are not known to be lethal weapons. It is also extremely doubtful whether Rajagopal’s intention was to attack the MPs and cause even minimal injury. One of two possibilities, if not both, seems to be certain: he might have intended to disrupt the proceedings of the house;  he might have used it in self-defense.  (Or he might have intended to disrupt the house using the spray but ended up using it in self-defense.) One can never be certain about these possibilities till the video footage from the video cameras in the house is released to the public. In the former case the use of pepper spray is totally unacceptable and thoroughly reprehensible; in the latter case, it is highly questionable. In either case, Rajagopal’s conduct is objectionable and falls short of what is expected from a responsible legislator.

I cannot quite say whether Rajagopal’s conduct marks a new low in the history of Indian democracy. But it does certainly mark a distressing and alarming low.

However, let us not forget that while we condemn Rajagopal for the use of pepper spray in the House, we should also condemn the MP’s who had gathered in the well and beat up Modugula Venugopal Reddy, Lagadapati Rajagopal, and some other Seemandhra MP’s. 13th February 2014 is a Black Day in the history of Indian parliament not only because of the conduct of Rajagopal but also because of the MP’s who had gathered in the well of the House to tackle the Seemandhra MPs .

I regret the incident and I am as upset as anyone else in the country about the sordid state of politics in the country. But, I want to delve deeper into the issue rather than be satisfied with mouthing pious, political platitudes.

I have no difficulty in accepting the Hon.Speaker’s condemnation of the incident as a blot on democracy. But I have great reservation about similar sentiments being voiced by the politicians of various political parties. It is not the first time that the members of state and central legislatures have conducted themselves in ways which are far from exemplary. Ironically, MLAs from Congress and BJP in the Delhi Assembly conducted themselves on Wednesday in a way which is hardly exemplary. Haven’t the opposition parties been blocking session after session of Lok Sabha during the last five years contrary to the expectations of the people and the founding fathers of our Constitution and wasting crores of  rupees of the tax-payer’s money in the process?  The incident in the J&K Assembly the day before yesterday is also far from being worthy of emulation. 

As regards the claim that it marks a low point in our democracy, don’t we have the responsibility to examine the circumstances which have led to this sorry pass instead of being content with condemning Rajagopal? 

The strategists for the UPA government are said to have lined up twenty-five MP’s belonging to Telangana as well as other non-Andhra areas in the well of Loksabha to block the Seemandhra MP’s who had been bent on blocking the proceedings of the House and preventing the tabling of the T-Bill. (At least one Telugu newspaper has listed some of the members so lined up by the ruling UPA. The video footage broadcast in the national media shows at least one pro-Telangana female MP in the well of the House!) These strategists are said to have deployed some MP’s to block the Seemandhra MP’s since BJP is said to have objected to the use of marshals to handle the protesting Seemandhra MP’s. This too marks a low in the conduct of our legislatures. When did our legislatures become battlegrounds where the strategies adopted by either side are akin to those adopted in a battlefield? Isn’t this an unfortunate decay of our legislatures? If the MP’s from Seemandhra have been protesting – across party lines – against the T-Bill, is it not the duty of the government to sit with them, hear them out patiently and with sincere empathy rather than force the Bill down their unwilling throats by using coercive, undemocratic methods? Can the government rightly say that it has been upholding sacred democratic traditions and practices in their true and proper spirit?

With much on record to blame the UPA government, is it sufficient for us today to lament over the conduct of Lagadapati Rajagopal?

 The problem is that when a government refuses to listen to its people and respond to their concerns, discontent is bound to simmer in the hearts of the people; when it blows up, the results are seldom savoury. Democratic governments differ from dictatorship and other forms of governance in that the voice of the people is paramount in a democracy and that a democracy is “a government of the people, by the people and for the people”. Can we honestly say today that successive governments in the country have been truly democratic? Can we blame this MP today for unwholesome, reprehensible conduct?

Democratic governance – as does a democratic way of living together – requires a spirit of accommodation, a spirit of give and take; it requires as much willingness to listen as the desire to talk, to dictate. Has our polity displayed the spirit of give and take during the last several decades? Has the government consciously and conscientiously tried to cultivate a spirit of accommodation and tolerance among its people? Has the government tried to cultivate unity amidst the mind-boggling diversity of the country? Successive governments have been guilty of banning this book or that book, this movie or that movie, this painting or that painting, this cartoon or that cartoon etc on any and every frivolous complaint that the sentiments of this group or that group were affected instead of convincing the complaining people that freedoms included the freedom to voice an opinion unsavoury to a complainant. This is hardly capable of promoting democratic spirit among the people; and it is from the people that our elected representatives come – not from the Heavens above.

Have successive governments in this country risen above murky politics and cynical politicking to elevate themselves to the lofty heights of statesmanship which ensures the integrity and development of the country as a whole? Have successive governments done enough to ensure that this country of mind-boggling diversity developed a sense of unity as a Nation? Isn’t this what one would have expected of a proper democracy?

We have lost the capacity to live peacefully with an opinion or a way of life which is contrary to our own. We have come to such a grossly intolerant condition where we do not accept even the people who look physically different from us; the spate of incidents making people from the North East feel insecure elsewhere in the country should have been eye-openers to us and made us take serious not of where our forefathers wanted us to be, where we are today, and where we are likely to be if we continue to sail as we do today.

It is about time we reintroduced the art of debating and elocution in our schools, colleges and universities so that students – the future citizens of India – learned to hear, understand and respect diverse and disparate opinions. It is high time we have undone the damage to our educational system and encouraged the art of healthy democratic debate.

 It is also high time we eliminated people with criminal backgrounds from Indian politics by setting up stringent standards. Perhaps we should also ban any single person from contesting in any election more than twice in his/her lifetime so that vested interests do not develop in politics.

 It is about time that our media started talking about the deeper issues affecting our politics and governance rather be satisfied with mouthing a couple of platitudes occasionally.

 It is also high time that we understood and respected the spirit of the law rather than the mere letter of the law which is possible only if we discard our cynical disdain for the system. 

We, the people of India want to be governed; we do not want to be used as pawns in the games of politicians. 

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. Spectralhues is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information on this article. The information, facts or opinions expressed in the article do not reflect the views of Spectralhues and Spectralhues does not take any responsibility or liability for the same.

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“I dare do all that may become a man. Who dares more is none”. And all, may be. It may be the vigor. Or the spirit. Or the courage to avoid being “politically correct” or bent. And, ban all averse with immaculate overture of graciously fathomable words firm in views. Subtle. Justifying the undying conscience. Values. Knowledge. And, dares to stay true. True to own. True to the world. And, to the words. With a dream in eyes it exists. In you. In me. In all. The sprite that never shies away. The spirit that never dies!