The Future of Indian Democracy

Talking about future of Indian democracy, Lord Meghnad Desai makes an interesting suggestion about the prospective scene when the next parliament sits. Anticipating it as a “ helter-skelter” ride, he mentions how a third front can get together to give a new meaning to coalition – a front which is a conglomerate of various regional parties which come together with a comprehensive Common Minimum Program , bedding adios to dependency on two primary parties – the BJP and the Congress.

However novel and with heart in place, the above seems just an anticipation, or utmost, just hope. First, the choice of regional parties coming together to form such a coalition is as perplexing as it can get. Who do you choose between a SP and a BSP in UP or between DMK and AIDMK in Tamil Nadu? You have hardly anything to choose between these parties, however much your heart is inclined towards one of these. Additionally, parties agnostic to the ideology, what I would call the “potato parties” (so as to mingle effortlessly in any vegetable) like the LJP and the TMC, will anyways be hell bent on being the part of “any” government. But, just wanting to be a part of the government in itself knocks out the basis of such a coalition, which would then lack ideology of ethical Governance.

Another assumption of such a coalition is their ability to come up with a detailed Common Minimum Program. I don’t think that these parties can come to one common ground unless the issue is that to hike MP salaries, or on ‘people’ front, to keep the rail fares to the minimum. Austerity is missing from the former while concern from the latter. Why could not they increase the rail fare by a reasonable amount and communicate to the ‘not-so-affluent’ Indians as to how that would translate into a better and safer journey still eludes me.

We all have seen empirically that the BJP led/supported states are doing better on economic and political front, be it Gujarat or Bihar. They are not mistake – proof, but nevertheless, one finds good intent in their governance. Hopefully, they continue to do good jobs in the states while also be cognizant of supporting the current UPA government in their endeavor to introduce some well-thought- after reforms. This would not only lead to their gaining traction in the eyes of the youth who would play a major role in deciding the results of the next general elections in 2014, but will also give them a chance to revive a party which after the visionary Vajpayee seems to be lacking the necessary guidance. That said and done, the major force behind all these possibilities is us, the people of India, who need to get inked indelibly and exercise our right to choose the government of our choice.

One caveat of the above article is that it is written with a vision to have an ideal democracy, as envisioned by our forefathers. This day as I write, Lincoln died almost 150 years back. It unfortunately, seems symbolic that our democracy is not so living either.

"General" rule

For it was for the post - that of the Chief of Army Staff that has thus far saved the man, because we all know what happens to those who blow the lid off corruption in India. The Manjunaths , Amit Jethwas , Satyendra Dubeys have all perished in search of what Holmes would have called the search for truth and a matter of morals. You blow the whistle; they blow the life out of you – simple Math some would argue. ‘Strangely’, we do not have a strong law that protects these men who expose corruption – something that America realized in 1863, still eludes us. America had the False Claims act to protect whistleblowers by combating fraud by suppliers of the United States government during the Civil War. It encouraged whistleblowers by promising them a percentage of the money recovered or damages won by the government and protects them from wrongful dismissal. But then, America was then steered by the great Abraham Lincoln, a man who ‘took decisions’.

What started as a bemusing spat between the Army and the government has now become quite amusing. For you now know that the Chief is right (though a little sloppy with the timing) and the government rattled. When the Congress accuses Gen Singh for ‘not wanting to pursue’ the matter concerning the alleged bribe that was offered to him for substandard defense purchases, they forget that the Defense Minister, by virtue of being informed about this and being the senior in command order, held the onus. He failed to act. In fact, he should have even questioned the General as to why he did not want to pursue this matter! Congress’s claim of a disgruntled Chief due to his lost age case in Supreme Court is as childish as one can possibly imagine. They also claim that a letter claiming the obsolescence of Indian defense equipments was leaked by General Singh himself and above that that there was no need for such a letter. However, such letters are prerogative of the head of Armed forces to write to the PM when he seems fit. In this case, all the more reason as General V.K.Singh has limited number of days in the office (though SC still calls the age case ‘ambiguous’). Also, he would not gain anything from this leak and in fact would be liable to court-martial if found guilty. Would any chief risk his life earned reputation on this? Surely not.

This issue has another angle - the role of media. While The Hindu was cognizant of the importance of the news and its potential to create ripples in the society, consequently taking time to verify and sanity check the interview with the General before publishing , The Indian Express sensationalize the ‘movement of troop’ – a possible Coup d’état by the Indian army. Even simple logic eluded the latter. If 1000 soldiers could throw the government, surely we would have been in a military regime. The least The Indian Express could have done was to consult ex-army men before ‘exposing’ / exaggerating the entire episode. They would have been told that these normal fleet movements are but a part of routine, scheduled well over in advance.

While I used ‘amusing’ as a word defining parts of this entire controversy, it is quite disheartening to see glaring loopholes in the matter of Defense ignored. It’s high time we integrated the Army headquarters and the Ministry of Defense where both jointly take the decision of purchase of equipments, as the military would know what they want in the field and the government would know how to best bargain the price. Let us hope that what seems so intuitive to us, does not get unnoticed by the policy makers, at least now.