Politics in India

East India Company, a trading organization took the advantage of political turmoil prevalent in the country during 18^th century and conquered India. All other military and economic forces from Europe were defeated and thrown away from the sub-continent. India became a colony of the British. It was used as a perennial supplier of raw materials and a flourishing market for its industrial products. Sense prevailed on the British during the Great Mutiny of 1857 and the Crown took over the administration of India from the Company and appointed a viceroy to look after its affairs. Days passed. The first batch of national leaders learnt from the British books, European and American authors the meaning of Independence and the value of liberty, equality and fraternity. They raised the voice of Independence. There emerged a charismatic leader, the conqueror of Indian minds and hearts, the greatest soul after Buddha on this soil viz. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi during the first half of 20^th century. He ruled supreme and guided the destiny of this nation for about three decades continuously and successfully till he breathed his last in 1948.

To fight the British and deliver independence was the sole and unselfish objective of the freedom fighters under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi. The Indian National Congress, the party of Gandhi, Nehru and the masses was to convert itself into a social service organisation to usher in economic and social freedom for all the Indians. Unfortunately, the leaders and the workers of this great party shied away from this historic task but plunged into the corridors of powers to govern and administer this country straightaway. The persons who till the other day were leading processions, occupying jails and fighting for the great goal of independence were too happy to resist the seats of power. All their ideals and morals were set at naught the moment they joined the executive wing of the Government of India and started enjoying the perks of office. The Constituent Assembly was formed to deliberate and decide the fate of government the Indians were supposed to have for the future. All shades of opinion and groups in India were duly represented. The said Constituent Assembly gave us the Constitution of India which had the features of both union and federal forms of government. The idea was to have the advantages of both these forms. Gandhian principles and ideas were however accommodated under the Directive Principles of State Policy. The Constitution has had been amended many a time till now though it is a carefully worded and comparatively lengthy written constitution. There was a talk in the air and also debated at times unsuccessfully about the need to convert it into a presidential form of government.

With the passage of time and working of this Constitution, one notices some drawbacks in Indian polity. When the great leaders of freedom struggle became the masters of Indian Government, their followers too adopted their style. The new batch of leaders and followers learnt the art of government from their seniors. When the second generation entered politics their schemes of things were entirely different. The hardships of yester years during freedom struggle became the known but unimportant things of the past. How to win an election through fair or foul means and occupy the seat of power under some pretext or other became the one and only aim of politicians. It is true of all the politicians of all times. If one wants to find a selfless politician among the lot in the country now it is like digging the earth in search of gold in Kolar mines.

Man is selfish by nature. However, it is the duty of our nation and of our constitution at the moment to search out selfless and less ambitious human beings as far as possible and position them on seats of power. Unfortunately our constitution has failed to pick them up for such a task. In other words, we have misused our constitution to further the interests of some selfish and power-hungry politicians. Under the Constitution of India the rulers and the law-makers are elected at regular intervals. The permanent executive and the judiciary are selected on the basis of merit and distinction and then appointed. The cream of the Society normally entered the second category viz. the permanent executive and the judiciary due mainly to the security of tenure and fixed remuneration. With few exceptions here and there we can imagine the nature of lot available in the first category. In fact the caliber and morals of the first category should be richer and better than that of the second category. Unfortunately, that part is not taken care of in our Constitution. The executive executes and the judiciary interprets what the legislature enacts. If the legislature fails to come up to the expectations in work or to maintain moral standards, then the entire governmental functioning is polluted and vitiated. That is what has been happening in the country for the last several years.

In our Parliamentary Democracy the party system is supposed to work well and throw up a leader with a dedicated team of supporters to win the election and govern the country for a fixed number of years at a time. We have tried to follow the example of UK in this regard. The latter is a tiny island with a small population whereas India has a huge population with different languages, different cultures, different climates and different habits. All said and claimed it is true that the Parliamentary Democracy has worked well at the Centre with an exception during the latter half of 1970s. But it has miserably failed to deliver goods in the States. In keeping with the diversity we have a multitude of political parties in each State. There is hardly any party in the country other than Congress (I) which can claim to have an All-India status in the true sense. It is certainly the greatest weakness of our polity in the country. No one is sure as to when and where one can find an alternative to the Congress that was led by Nehru and his family members mainly due to the sacrifices they had made during freedom struggle and the leadership provided in the formative years of Free India. The circumstances and the course of events forced this nation to seek leadership from the same family. There was nothing wrong till this time. But the events of last 20-25 years lead us to believe that there is no alternative leader within Congress (I) other than members from the same family. With no alternative leader to oppose successfully within the congress or from other parties, it is almost a certainty that this country is going to have the Prime Ministers or the Presidents (as one keeps hearing) from Nehru’s family only for the next several decades if luck also favours them. Howsoever good natured and competent a particular family may be in this country, it is not necessary that they should alone rule it for ages in a succession. It is really a sad commentary on our politics and constitution. In other words it makes a mockery of the so-called people’s democracy. If 120 crores of population cannot provide an alternative leadership to this nation, we are doomed for bad days ahead. There was bold experiment some time back under the patronage and leadership of Jaya Prakash Narayan, a self-less leader and a Gandhian follower. That the said experiment collapsed like a pack of cards has become history now because of some selfish politicians again who had become power-drunk and fallen victims to the Machiavellian tactics.

Indian democracy should survive and that too in a true sense. Indian politics should be pure and simple. It should not be the exclusive domain of certain individuals, groups or families. Indian Constitution should ensure this or give way to a structural change for the better. The great ideals with which the founding fathers of the Constitution gave it to the people of India have been forgotten or neglected in implementation. It has had been badly twisted and misused to suit the convenience of some and selected few. It provides for direct election to the House of People and the State Legislature Assemblies. These two words ‘direct election’ meant a small and perfect assumption to the founding fathers but I am sure that what a catastrophe or calamity it has meant in course of time is anybody’s guess. Election in this country is the first and foremost process or activity from which almost every politician hardly gets out unblemishingly or he has to seek votes on all sorts of promises which he is sure not going to be fulfilled very soon. Promises, as one can imagine or understand, are sometimes laudable and achievable but mostly silly and unrealistic, not based on any analysis. Thus cheating becomes the number one condition for the beginning of one’s career as a public representative. Astonishingly, a glance at the Constitution reveals that there is no other role for these public representatives except to legislate on certain state policies from time to time. Ministerial posts are of course an exception; that explains the reason why sometimes more than 15 to 20% of the members had become ministers in certain State cabinets but the situation has improved with a ceiling percentage fixed as of now. The remaining 80 to 90% should not interfere in the day-to-day functioning of the government. But however, they do so. Is it a glamorous post? – a prestigious post? – a source of authority? – or a source of perks, income and exploitation? For many, I am definite, it is a source of exploitation and perks. It is a fact because they nowadays do less of legislative work and more of administrative work in many states. Many of them have no idea as to how many legislations had been passed by their predecessors and themselves and to what extent they had been accepted in the society and implemented by the bureaucrats but are anxious to step into the shoes of the senior bureaucrats and occupy their chairs, not because they are highly motivated by the scope of service but of animal comforts, perks etc. attached to them. There is hardly a state now where MLAs are not the chairmen of the public corporations and boards. They really have a hay day these days. Is it not a misuse of politics and politicians in India when it is already subjected to a mushroom growth of bureaucratic jungle over a period of time? The height of it is, as everyone is aware, the provision for pension and other benefits for public representatives too like in the case of the permanent executives. Let us await an alternative avatar viz., the Presidential form of government in the near future !!!