Poll expectations & promises
During my professional career and subsequent constitutional posts, I had the chance to interact with a wide cross-section of people from different economic strata. I gladly embraced this chance during my service. I had the good fortune to serve in Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur and in the Border Security Force (which took me to remote land border areas). The stint in the Union Public Service Commission enabled me to go to various states that I had not been to before. During all the time I spent at these places, I tried through my interaction with people to find out about the problems they faced. To my surprise, these were almost the same everywhere, of course with some local changes. Needless to say, most of the people in the rural and border areas and city slums were dirt poor. They had little or no land, jobs, education or health facilities and importantly, access to government functionaries was negligible. They lived from day to day. Evidently, the GDP growth numbers which we are continuously bombarded with and politicians tom-tom about have completely missed the bus to ‘Bharat’. They hold no significance to the multitudes, who stand on the bread line, to those who made the ‘long march’ from the cities of modern India to the hinterland when the pandemic struck. They further hold no meaning to the folk who lobby for the meagre MNREGA doles, to the post-graduates who apply for jobs as sewer cleaners.
Coming to the point, what do people expect from political parties contesting elections and forming governments? The first and foremost requirement is guaranteed security of life. Today, in most states, we have a rogue criminal justice system which does not answer to the law, but to the local chieftains of the ruling parties. The system from top to bottom has become politicised and will do anything to advance personal interests and the party in power (there are honourable exceptions at all levels).
The next thing is the growing economic chasm between the ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’. It seems unbridgeable given the policies of various governments. On one side are skyscrapers, 28-storey residences, and on the other side the open sky as a roof or tin and cardboard sheds for shelter. How are we going to bridge this gap? Certainly not through doles of rice and dal or bicycles for girls. There has to be a detailed plan to shape the economy to the people’s needs, which would then be meticulously implemented. It has to be an all-inclusive plan to provide employment, guaranteed minimum wages which allow for dignity of labour and life, provisions for education and health, housing, to name just a few of the issues facing us. Unless we bridge this growing inequality, unrest in society is bound to grow. People’s anger, helplessness rise by the day. We are lucky that the lava has not yet broken through. This disparity will not be tolerated for long and it would be wise to read the writing on the wall and anticipate events and look for remedies, before we are overtaken.
While we are faced with these challenges, our politicians continue to fall back on the old dictum of ‘divide and rule’. It was used by the British to conquer us and the politicians now use it to rule us. They continue to use and build various fissures in our nation — be it religious, caste, tribal, rural vs urban, farmer vs shopkeeper… anything to garner a vote bank. Religion has been referred to as the ‘opium of the masses’. Our politicians have learnt this lesson well and continue to deploy this weapon. However, this diversion will not do. The people have had enough of religion and superstition, enough of freebies. Religion alone does not fill empty stomachs, it does not provide employment. For a strong country, the basic requirement is a strong, stable economy and an educated, healthy citizenry. External security and internal stability go hand in hand.
What the people really want on priority is good governance and that does not require money; good governance requires open-minded, educated, impassioned politicians and administrators driven by a sense of duty and justice. Justice is not available at the ground level because of interference in internal administration of all departments, especially the police. Considerations other than merit and integrity in matters of posting and transfers of officials lead to a dishonest and partisan administration. However, politicians and political parties continue to bribe the voter with doles of rations, cycles, sarees — whatever their creative and mischievous minds can cook up. Will all these stop-gap measures alleviate poverty, lead to healthy, educated, well-employed and well-governed citizens? Certainly not. We are only fooling the people and trying to get them addicted to a temporary euphoria.
A select few in the corporate sector are growing at alarming rates while there is a dismantling of the public sector, weakening of medium and small industry, traders and a perceived threat to the farmers. Will these select few corporates fulfil the demands of the people? Will they provide good governance, health and education facilities, etc? Why are thousands of mid-level industrialists opting to go abroad and take up citizenship and set shop there? Why are lakhs of youth on the move from India? Why are students leaving for studies abroad even before graduation? ‘Bharat’ has been reduced to standing in the bread line. Reduced by a continuous and unending line of politicians who ensured that ‘Bharat’ remained illiterate, misinformed and gullible. Gullible to the lies and deceit which allow the politician to get elected based on caste, communal hatred, tribal loyalties and any other fable which our leaders can cook up to ignite that momentary passion to get elected. ‘Bharat’ with its numbers elects governments and not the educated few of modern India. A ‘Bharat’ divided, misinformed and disillusioned. Poverty, they say, is a curse which defeats the very soul of an individual and sadly, it is man-made. It is not a natural phenomenon; its origin is in the greed which the rulers have. An endless greed which seeks to devour all. They sit on high seats and decide the fate of a sea of humanity which put them there in the first place. They issue commandments which would put a ‘Tughlaqi farman’ to shame, right from whom one can marry, what one can eat and drink and what qualifies as sedition.
Our political parties are not interested in long-term planning. The election manifesto has been made into a sham document which is presented a few days before the election and which nobody reads. The entire debate of electing an individual, which should be based on this manifesto and its promises of development, education and health, is entirely missing. Debates on relevant issues are replaced by bombastic speeches at mass rallies. Social media has become a mass weapon of disseminating lies, half-truths and propaganda. Sadly, the debate is reduced to the lowest denominator of caste and communal rhetoric, the issuing of freebies and doles. Today, the role of the Election Commission has become even more relevant and they should devise a methodology in which political parties debate on issues on a public format, on TV, for example, so that the people can be clear about their viewpoints. They further need to get far more active in monitoring not only the casting of votes, but the lead up to the elections. Our democracy needs a level playing field and it is the role of the CEC to ensure this (aren’t doles before elections bribes to the electorate and if so, shouldn’t the CEC act on it?).
— The writer is ex-chairman of UPSC, former Manipur Governor and served as J&K DGP
