India is a unique country which has begun to fragment on regional and caste lines even before it attained true nationhood. We have become a house and no longer home to our billion plus people, and that too-a house divided. This is a unique democracy where the true voice of the peoples is of no consequence any longer.
The representatives win their elections based on selling certain manifestos (dreams) and touting certain ideologies. After being elected they start political realignments, often involving practices that are often at the fringes of law, or even outside it. They throw all ideology and promises to the people to the winds and start blatant and ugly power games with no regard to the very basis of their being in the parliament or legislatures. And, the law lets them do so. The voters who are used only to legitimise the rotting political system have no influence and worse - they do not even seem to mind these dirty politics. This is the sad and bitter truth of our democracy.
I sometimes wonder whether we are at all a functioning democracy. Are we a monarchy as represented by the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, now being populated by assorted fiefdoms of politicians of all hues across ideological divide and the whole gamut of professed principles. There are the emperors and there are the regional satraps, rulers, self styled kings who brazenly advance their sons and assorted next of kin to succeed them in the seats of power. Dangerously, we even have seat warmers or surrogate rulers like Manmohan Singh and Rabri. We are a special democracy where a Prime Minister has no political standing and has loyalty to a certain family as the only claim to fame and surrogate power. Are we ruled by an unholy alliance of seemingly opposed oligarchs who divide the spoils of power amongst themselves while pretending to be doing so in the interest of the 'people', and actually have a common agenda of plundering the nation and controlling its resources as well as people? Are we ruled by despots and power centres who divide the country and exploit the very people that send them to the parliament or legislatures? Are they dividing India like Russia and USA did Europe and the world after WW II?
Question, questions, questions!
After the ascendancy of Charan Singh the Prime Minister's position has become almost stripped of all its grace with the exceptions of Rajiv Gandhi and Atal Bihari Vajpayee. After the presidency of VV Giri, the Presidency of India became graceless and shamelessly partisan. It lost its dignity. Abdul Kalam did redeem the past glory to a great extent but the ascendancy of Pratibha Devi - a non-entity with a criminal case behind to Presidency (which has been reduced to no more than a rubber stamp post) destroyed all that again. It is dismaying that she has no standing even within he country and even today Abdul Kalam is the favourite President of the people.
We are playing in the hands of people who have divided the society, have created caste and religious conflicts, probably stage managed strife and riots. And we are being sold the fallacious Mera Bharat Mahan idea self arrogated to us on the back of mere populist propaganda.
The representatives win their elections based on selling certain manifestos (dreams) and touting certain ideologies. After being elected they start political realignments, often involving practices that are often at the fringes of law, or even outside it. They throw all ideology and promises to the people to the winds and start blatant and ugly power games with no regard to the very basis of their being in the parliament or legislatures. And, the law lets them do so. The voters who are used only to legitimise the rotting political system have no influence and worse - they do not even seem to mind these dirty politics. This is the sad and bitter truth of our democracy.
I sometimes wonder whether we are at all a functioning democracy. Are we a monarchy as represented by the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, now being populated by assorted fiefdoms of politicians of all hues across ideological divide and the whole gamut of professed principles. There are the emperors and there are the regional satraps, rulers, self styled kings who brazenly advance their sons and assorted next of kin to succeed them in the seats of power. Dangerously, we even have seat warmers or surrogate rulers like Manmohan Singh and Rabri. We are a special democracy where a Prime Minister has no political standing and has loyalty to a certain family as the only claim to fame and surrogate power. Are we ruled by an unholy alliance of seemingly opposed oligarchs who divide the spoils of power amongst themselves while pretending to be doing so in the interest of the 'people', and actually have a common agenda of plundering the nation and controlling its resources as well as people? Are we ruled by despots and power centres who divide the country and exploit the very people that send them to the parliament or legislatures? Are they dividing India like Russia and USA did Europe and the world after WW II?
Question, questions, questions!
After the ascendancy of Charan Singh the Prime Minister's position has become almost stripped of all its grace with the exceptions of Rajiv Gandhi and Atal Bihari Vajpayee. After the presidency of VV Giri, the Presidency of India became graceless and shamelessly partisan. It lost its dignity. Abdul Kalam did redeem the past glory to a great extent but the ascendancy of Pratibha Devi - a non-entity with a criminal case behind to Presidency (which has been reduced to no more than a rubber stamp post) destroyed all that again. It is dismaying that she has no standing even within he country and even today Abdul Kalam is the favourite President of the people.
We are playing in the hands of people who have divided the society, have created caste and religious conflicts, probably stage managed strife and riots. And we are being sold the fallacious Mera Bharat Mahan idea self arrogated to us on the back of mere populist propaganda.
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