The Congress Party has converted every process, practice and institution of democracy into legitimized subversion.
Turning and turning in the
widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the
falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre
cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
These are lines from a poem “The Second Coming” composed in 1919, just after World War 1, by the great poet William Butler Yeats. The poem symbolises the gloom of post war Europe. When I reflect upon the state of our governance and society today, these lines come back to me.
We have had the good fortune of inheriting on a platter the best principles of democracy from capitalist and socialist systems, which we wove together into an ideal democratic, federal Constitution and gave to ourselves. We never had to shed a drop of blood for them. Other nations and people in distant lands had already paid the price by their blood and revolutions during the last millennium. Perhaps, that is why we fail to realise their value, why we show contempt for them by subverting every sacred principle of democracy to serve ignoble ends. Perhaps that is why there has been no social evolution in inculcation of democratic obligations and duties. “Duty” is a word that seldom surfaces in any public discourse in India.
The custodian of our democracy, that for the most part was the Congress Party, can claim the distinction of having converted every process, practice and institution of democracy into legitimized subversion. Our supreme institution of democracy, Parliament, has become hostage to an opportunistic totalling of numbers, kept in leash by a captive CBI. Even otherwise, a majority of the “representatives of the people” are in fact representatives of crony capitalists, criminal mafias specialising in the loot of our natural resources, and rent seekers with an eye on how to siphon off plan budgets meant for public works or development programmes, including food and medicine for poor women and children and funds for the physically challenged. Once they become representatives of the people, they arrogantly believe that they become embodiments of the supremacy of Parliament, and start pursuing their predatory vocations with greater hubris and vigour.
I think the aam aadmi as well as the intelligentsia are also steadily getting wiser about how the hon’ble “representative of the people” acquires this title in the first place. Of course, there are exceptions, but a well known and well practiced open secret reveals the arduous road he must travel to reach there. According to the open secret, to get a “ticket” from the political party to fight an election, a sizeable nazrana is a mandatory rite of introduction. If the candidate is rich, he can afford it. In other cases, contractors and businesses do the sponsorship. That is the first step of our democracy.
The next step is that the “ticket” winner has to aggregate enough revenues to compete successfully in the vote market, be it in terms of cash doles, white goods, and booze. This happens through a combination of party funds and private donations, much of which are used for private enrichment. I am given to understand that India’s several multi-level elections, from Panchayat to Parliament are the only occasions when aspiring representatives of the people not only come begging for votes, but also flood the villages with cash, consumer goods, and freebies. The trend of increased liquor consumption in rural areas has been wholly attributed to the art of electioneering. Elaborate delivery systems to dodge the Election Commission’s vigilantism have been innovated and from all accounts are carried through successfully.
The third step in the practice of our democracy is when the lucky winner achieves the hallowed designation as representative of the people. He now fractionally embodies the sovereign power of the people, and acquires its Midas touch. He becomes the custodian of his constituency for performing public good, for honest and equitable implementation of all laws and as champion against corruption. He gets down to work immediately, as he has serious responsibilities to perform in his span of five years –— he has to settle debts with benefactors and patrons, normally through facilitating licences, permissions and proposals pending with government (often dubious or nepotistic); he has to seriously examine sources and opportunities for further rents for enriching himself, as time is of the essence. Five years do not take long to pass, and in these days of coalition governments, anything can happen at any time. To achieve this smoothly and expeditiously, he must have an enabling environment with his personalised bureaucratic nexus in place. In the states, this would imply a chosen retinue of police, revenue, engineering and development officials, and in the Centre the ministry’s secretariat and field offices. During the last decade, rent seeking has been most profitable in real estate and natural resources covering all the five elements of earth, water, fire, air and ether. Then the percentages and commissions from civil works, contractors, development services have to be worked out and routed — all requiring a great deal of diligence and commitment. Transfers and postings of officials is of course the oldest and time tested source of revenue. Incidentally, it is this that triggers the multiplier effect on corruption at all levels, as bribes given have also to be recouped, with incremental value. And thus the representatives of the people serve their constituents and enrich themselves.
The UPA government’s gift to India’s administration has been the right of ministers to appoint only bureaucrats of their choice in their ministries, under the guise of a “democratic norm” in coalition dharma. It is no wonder, therefore, that such a multiplicity of scams in the UPA regime were executed so smoothly and silently for so long, something that can only happen when the representatives of the people and the bureaucracy operate in a harmonious criminal nexus.
In the past few decades, executive and financial power has passed over completely into the hands of the representatives of the people at all levels, whether through statute or informally. However, despite several administrative reforms commissions that are meant to study these issues, no steps have been taken to amend the financial rules of government to make the political executives financially responsible. Presently, there is a complete asymmetry between actual exercise of financial power, and financial responsibility. It is in this grey area of financial irresponsibility that corruption flourishes unchecked. Even today, there are no financial or administrative codes for elected representatives exercising financial powers, no accountability or disciplinary rules governing them, even though they are the final authorities to authorise expenditure of public money. It is this lacuna that gives phenomenal opportunity for the politician-bureaucrat nexus to flourish, and prevents development funds from reaching the target groups. Behind every corrupt bureaucrat will be a protective politician, and behind every corrupt politician will be a bevy of carefully selected, supporting bureaucrats.
Well, let the people know, if they don’t already, that this is how “the largest democracy in the world”, as other countries see us, or “a vibrant democracy” that we flatter ourselves with, is functioning today. The sooner we admit this, the better. The sooner we start a national debate as to how to bring the true essence of democracy at work, for the good of the people and the country, the better. People’s perception about their representatives has hit rock bottom, and there appears to be a general feeling of helplessness to wrestle with a system that under the garb of legitimate democracy has turned so rogue and corrupt.
Political dysfunction and subversion certainly percolate into social dynamics, something I will write about in my next piece.