Jan Sansad Vs sansad

 

Jan sansad vs sansad

Politicians should understand people's aspirations for a clean social life

Sakal Times September 9,  2011

Camil Parkhe 

The civil society's campaign for a stronger lokpal bill has challenged the supremacy of the elected representatives for the first time. Never before the elected representatives at the constitutionally highest house of Parliament were set an agenda for discussion. Members of both houses of Parliament belonging to all political parties may all have seethed in anger when they were given a deadline by civil society leaders to debate and approve a given draft of bill, that too by foregoing their Saturday holiday. The ruling and opposition parties had no alternative but to bite the bait as all of them had realised to their horror that the civil society leaders indeed had the people's mandate, although none of them has ever won an election.

The speeches of some leaders during the day-long debate in Parliament on August 27 revealed their frustration over being dictated terms by the people gathered on the streets of New Delhi and the cities and towns across the country. The speeches by Kiran Bedi and actor Om Puri, which lampooned the elected representatives angered the MPs most. Bedi and Puri might have gone overboard while addressing the protesters but no one can deny the fact most agitators on the streets shared the opinion voiced by the two.

The country has a rich tradition of studious parliamentarians with clean image like Jawaharlal Nehru, Ram Manohar Lohia, Madhu Limaye, Atal Behari Vajpayee and George Fernandes, whose long speeches in the house had held elected representatives spellbound. Nowadays not many politicians enjoy such a stature. The frustration of the masses over the poor image of their elected representatives was palpable when people marched on streets, donning the "Mai Hu Anna" caps.

This is not the first time people have come on the streets spontaneously to press their demands. There have been popular stirs for formation of linguistic states, construction of Ram mandir at Ayodhya and according important status to local languages. But most of these were led by political parties, in most cases by opposition parties. The elected representatives like MPs or state legislators were not at the receiving end of the agitations.

In contrast, there was not a single politician or a political party involved in the protests against corruption. It may seem that the stir for a stronger lokpal bill is directed against the ruling Congress at the Centre. But that is not exactly the case. The BJP and other political parties might have been too happy to see the ruling UPA being cornered and the government machinery coming to a standstill when social reformer Anna Hazare was on an indefinite fast for 12 days. But neither the BJP nor other political parties was in a mood to accept Anna's jan lokpal bill. None of the political parties was happy to see the campaign against corruption gaining such a huge popular support. They feared the protesters would soon come knocking at their doors. As Anna's team kept politicians of all hues at bay, all political parties avoided being part of the stir. Thus it why for the first time that daggers were drawn between elected representatives and the people who had elected them.

Anna Hazare has been saying that the jan sansad or the people's parliament is supreme to Parliament and at the lowest level, the gram sabha is supreme to the gram panchayat. In theory, no one should have any qualms in accepting this. But how can this be translated into reality? How can we know the people's mind on a particular issue? Elections are rarely contested on specific issues. Often, emotive issues sway the poll verdict one way or the other. A referendum may be a way to know the people's mind and Parliament cannot have any option but to honour the referendum result. But holding a referendum will nor be easy. And it will involve a lot of expenses. In post-independent India, the country has conducted referendum only once. A referendum was conducted in Goa, Daman and Diu in 1967 to seek people's opinion on whether the territory, then freed from Portuguese bondage, should be merged into neighbouring Maharashtra or retain its independent identity. The people had then decided to keep the territory's distinct identity with an impressive margin.

The provision of the right to recall will permit the electorate to keep the elected representatives in check and prove the maxim that ultimately people are supreme. Hazare has been pressing for this electoral reform for long. The demand must be considered seriously. A time frame of a couple of years after the election will have to be fixed before seeking the recall. Or, else there could be a continuous chain of recalling the elected representatives.

India is a vibrant parliamentary democracy. The popular agitation on the lokpal bill has clearly shown that a large percentage of the electorate, specially the younger generation, does not trust politicians. This spells danger for democracy. The elected representatives should understand this and work out a tangible solution to realise people's aspirations about a clean social and political life. Only this approach will avoid frequent confrontations with the civil society.

Anna Hazare For and by the people

For and by the people

CAMIL PARKHE

Thursday, August 25, 2011 AT 10:33 PM (IST)

Tags: Anna Hazare,   Lokpal Bill,   Jan Lokpal Bill,   Corruption,   Satyagraha,   Santosh Hegde,   Lokpal Bill,   Arvind Kejriwal,   Kiran Bedi,   Swami Agnivesh

During the last few days, the country has seen lakhs of people, especially youths, coming on the streets in support of the Anna Hazare-led agitation for the people's lokpal bill and to demand an end to corruption. What was most striking is that these people marching on streets of various cities and towns are not led by political parties or politicians. The morchas, silent marches or the candlelight processions do not have the familiar flags of various parties like the Congress, BJP, BSP, NCP, Shiv Sena or other major political parties.  

Instead, the protesters are proudly carrying the tricolour -- a thing we are accustomed to seeing only when India's cricket team is battling out against a foreign team. The high-pitch slogans raised at these rallies do not scare any section of society because they are not directed against religious or linguistic minorities or migrants.

The post-independent India has witnessed many national-level and regional level socio-political upheavals. The movements for organisation of language-based states engulfed the country in 1950s. It witnessed unrests in various regions, leading to the creation of  Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka and other states. The naxalite movement in the eastern sector has lasted over two decades, claimed many precious lives and posed a threat to the country. The movement against Babri Masjid  and construction of a Ram mandir at Ayodhya has dominated the socio-political life for two decades. It led to a division in society on communal lines.

Prior to the imposition of Emergency,  thousands of youths had joined the agitation in Gujarat and other parts of the country when socialist leader Jaiprakash Narayan gave a call for "sampoorna kranti." The atmosphere was indeed surcharged against the Congress-ruled government at the Centre.

India experienced widespread unrest against the ruling Congress in mid-1970s. This led to the imposition of Emergency. Indira Gandhi relaxed Emergency conditions and announced a general election in February 1977. It led to large-scale protests against the party. Youngsters came onto the streets to welcome the Emergency heroes -- opposition leaders released from prisons. The ire of the people was directed against the Congress and the party was voted out of power at the Centre and in many states.

There is a marked difference in the style of previous popular agitations and the agitation led by the Anna Hazare team. The post-Emergency polls outcome was a peaceful political revolution. But the people's anger was against the misrule of the Congress. This time, the anger is against the omnipresent corruption. The present protests have no place for rasta or rail rokos, arson,  damage to public property. It is reminiscent of the freedom struggle during which common people were never made to suffer.

The people who come to the streets now know very well that corruption is not confined to the Congress regime alone as was manifest in the recent Spectrum-2 or Karnataka mining scandal cases. So naturally there are no leaders of any major political party leading the lakhs of people on streets in the countrywide battle against corruption. Few politicians would like to take up the fight against corruption to its logical conclusion. Opposition political parties would have been quick in hijacking any popular agitation against the ruling party. But none is doing that because none is ready to take so clear a stand against corruption.

The spontaneous participation of youngsters and people of other age groups has dispelled the notion that the masses are apathetic to corrupt practices and other socio-political ills in society. They needed a social activists like Anna Hazare and his team members Kiran Bedi, Arvind  Kejriwal and others as catalysts to arrive on streets and demand improvement in the situation. The Anna team has fired the imagination of the masses and made them aware that they can seek positive changes in the system. The nationwide peaceful agitation could be an unique event in the world. This is an agitation not seeking change in political leadership but an end to the social evil of corruption.

It is too early to say whether the agitation would lead to the passage of the lokpal bill drafted by the Anna team or whether this enactment would help curb corruption to some extent. But the agitation has made people aware of their collective power and that they need not depend on the ballot box or their elected representatives to usher in social and political reforms.

The people's outrage  against corruption will certainly serve as a dire warning to all those involved in corrupt practices. The spontaneous agitation on such social issues will also help to mould civic-minded new generation. Major socio-political movements spring up future leaders. The current agitation will give lessons in leadership to thousands of people and provide future leaders in various walks of life.    Whatever the outcome of the popular upsurge, it surely would not be the last time the commoners will come on the streets to press their demands. The present agitation has already won attention of crusaders in other parts of the world and in future, India's model may be replicated elsewhere.