Patriotism has never been something that sweeps me off my feet. But I like one thing about the country of my birth: its inclusiveness and resilience. If I were an Israeli citizen, I would certainly be looking for an excuse to escape the collective guilt of having carved out a nation through annexation and colonisation of another people’s land. If I were a Turk, I would be struggling to live with the bloodied history of officially sanctioned expulsion and genocide of Armenians at the birth of modern Turkey. India, for that matter, has no history of ethnic cleansing though millions died in the sectarian violence during the Partition. While Pakistan was conceived as an Islamic nation, India remained a secular and democratic country thanks to its inclusiveness and resilience.
But are we becoming growingly sceptical of democracy? It may be difficult to answer, but I feel that a significant number of people don’t care a hoot about democracy, not because they are anti-democratic in their attitude. If you talk to them, you can measure their inner sense of disconnect with institutions that make democracy what it is.
We see democracy-sceptics among people from all walks of life. When I went to my favourite grocery shop yesterday, I hit upon the topic of price rise while I chatted with the shop assistant. He said that the common man like him was bearing the brunt when politicians were fighting out within and without legislatures. “What is the use of squandering crores of rupees for holding elections to the assembly and Parliament just for allowing political parties to wage battles?” I retorted that democracy was costly but worthy. “Are we not lucky that we are not citizens of Pakistan or North Korea or Zimbabwe or some other countries ruled by tin pot dictators?” I voiced them as rhetorical questions just to convey my uneasiness about the people’s tendency to spit on democracy when they are enjoying its fruits.
The shop assistant is a semi-literate guy whose idea about democracy is not as erudite as that we expected of people like us, the educated. It is rather disconcerting to know that there are strong democracy-sceptics among us as well. Recently, a senior university Professor told me that she had been astonished by many of her students airing their view that democracy was useless in the country. She said she was perturbed enough to visualise a time when we would all wake up one day to realise that we were no longer living in democracy. If the university campuses were not the places that could stimulate the spirit of dissent and democracy, we were facing real danger, I told her by way of sharing her concern.
I think a major factor that is driving people to be skeptical of democracy and democratic institutions is the feeling that people have no direct involvement in democratic process other than the right to cast their votes. The political parties and organisations have been allowed to hijack all public spheres and they are seen as sole beneficiaries of all fruits of democracy. Unless this is reversed and citizens are brought back to the centre of democratic process, we will witness what the Professor has chillingly visualised. I think we have not yet run out of time and are still able to lock the stable door before the horse has bolted.
But are we becoming growingly sceptical of democracy? It may be difficult to answer, but I feel that a significant number of people don’t care a hoot about democracy, not because they are anti-democratic in their attitude. If you talk to them, you can measure their inner sense of disconnect with institutions that make democracy what it is.
We see democracy-sceptics among people from all walks of life. When I went to my favourite grocery shop yesterday, I hit upon the topic of price rise while I chatted with the shop assistant. He said that the common man like him was bearing the brunt when politicians were fighting out within and without legislatures. “What is the use of squandering crores of rupees for holding elections to the assembly and Parliament just for allowing political parties to wage battles?” I retorted that democracy was costly but worthy. “Are we not lucky that we are not citizens of Pakistan or North Korea or Zimbabwe or some other countries ruled by tin pot dictators?” I voiced them as rhetorical questions just to convey my uneasiness about the people’s tendency to spit on democracy when they are enjoying its fruits.
The shop assistant is a semi-literate guy whose idea about democracy is not as erudite as that we expected of people like us, the educated. It is rather disconcerting to know that there are strong democracy-sceptics among us as well. Recently, a senior university Professor told me that she had been astonished by many of her students airing their view that democracy was useless in the country. She said she was perturbed enough to visualise a time when we would all wake up one day to realise that we were no longer living in democracy. If the university campuses were not the places that could stimulate the spirit of dissent and democracy, we were facing real danger, I told her by way of sharing her concern.
I think a major factor that is driving people to be skeptical of democracy and democratic institutions is the feeling that people have no direct involvement in democratic process other than the right to cast their votes. The political parties and organisations have been allowed to hijack all public spheres and they are seen as sole beneficiaries of all fruits of democracy. Unless this is reversed and citizens are brought back to the centre of democratic process, we will witness what the Professor has chillingly visualised. I think we have not yet run out of time and are still able to lock the stable door before the horse has bolted.
2 comments:
Democracy is a long debated and much protracted subject. As Indian democracy is mired in self aggrandisement of the politicians and their hierarchies, it is rather disillusioning for the commom people, mostly the middle class.
Though lately the middle class has moved away from the 'what' and why' of democracy, the onus has now shifted to the lower middle class. It used to be the middle class who shouldered the responsibility of the citizen of a free society, the much awaited dazzle of the Globan citizen is upon them at the moment. We play out our roles according to the razzle dazzle of approaching modernity, like in an opera.
When the cat is away,watching the razzmatazz, the mouse shall play - that is lungle law. Bereft of players, the politicians have taken complete control of the country. They are the players as well as the cheering audience. They are the marauders as well as the law makers. They have also contracted the deadly disease, MIDS - Moral Immunity Deficiency Syndrome.
We the citizens of the country have forgotten the ability to think and act in a rational manner. We have also forgotten the fact that democracy should be run in tandem by the elected and the people who elect them. We have come to believe that our duty ends with the casting of our votes.
Recently I had begun reading Jose Saramago's 'Seeing' and my eyes and senses opened to the many ways that still remain with the hapless voter. I have begun to SEE. The voter has the power to bring the mighty politician to his knees through a silent revolutin of the kind described in the novel. But as I said, we are after the glitz of democracy, rather than its power, which rests ironically in our own hands.
The tragedy is that we dont use those powers.
Those who are badly affected by the scheme of things are the working classes and the lower middle class. And they are the major contributors of democratical rights. Just like the army which guard our frontiers, so that we the citizens may sleep without fear, it is these very people, who hold up the instituitions of democracy, letting us enjoy the fruits of their labor without its thorns.
I believe that we must show the courage to stand up and be counted in a way that the country and its vast maajority of people may benefit from it.
Shall we stand up, dear friends to be counted?
Thank you Chandini, for your long comment full of rage. See howdemocracy, which should have given us peace of mind in the first place, has made us all indignant. As you said, we failed to stand up and counted. I think we cannot condemn politicians across the board. Our experiment in democracy has not failed totally, despite deficiency. We have strong institutions. Our only problem is the wo/man on the street doesn't feel connected to the democratic set-up s/he is instrumental in bringing about. Perhaps teachers and the media can play a great role in infusing a sense of responsibility among citizens.
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