Democracy and Emergency
Friday, July 15th, 2005Last week Narayanan sir had given his views on Democracy in India.
Cho Ramaswamy, the name brings smiles and evokes curiosity to every thinking, conscientious Tamilian. His magazine “Thuglaq” till date stands testimony to the fact that you can provide clean political satire and still be in the media business. The kind of crowd that gathers for him every Pongal eve in Chennai is to be seen to be believed. This has been the case for the past 30 years. I have lot of respect for his literary and intellectual contributions to the Tamil society.
Cho is a political analyst and commentator nonpareil.That’s his domain and he is a king in his domain. He is to politics what Subbudu is to music. Though unlike Subbudu he does not have the luxury of writing good things about his domain.
When was the last time Cho got a chance to heartily appreciate a politican?
But sometimes commentators try offering solutions. Like Sanjay Manjrekar trying to offer advice to Sachin Tendulkar on how to attack Glenn Mcgrath. For those of you who were not old enough to see Manjrekar’s brand of attacking cricket, well you did not miss anything actually. Criticizing Sachin is different because that’s a critic’s job. But actually trying to offer solutions?
India is a land mired in problems. Problems North, East, West and South. Except that its not news here. That has been the way of life. Nothing works the way it should. Corruption is rampant. Honesty is rare.
Cho’s speciality is his ability to reflect all this through his magazine, articles and other forms and convey this to the masses which might prompt them to think. In my opinion that is his role in this society. A very honorable role mind you and he has been quite phenomenal at that.
But what happens when Cho, the commentator becomes a solution provider? Its like Subbudu teaching Unnikrishnan on how to preserve his voice and the ways to practice.
I think these things are best left to the performers, however bad they are.
2004 Parliamentary elections.
Cho was interviewed by a TV Channel - Vijay TV I think.
He was asked a question on the misuse of POTA and hence the need to scrap it. And he quipped in his characteristic pungent style ” Ama, India la Constitution kooda dhaan misuse panraanga, appa Constitutionaye thookidalama? ”
(Even the Constitutional provisions has been violated and misused in India, So shall we scrap that as well?)
I was stumped. I never did think in that angle. If we go on removing things which were or are misused, what institution or law will remain in India?
Now this view really made sense to me. It is simple enough for every student of Indian politics to understand that there was no need to dismantle POTA but its implementation has to be reviewed.
And two weeks back comes a bombshell in his interview. “India is not fit for democracy. So we should go for emergency”.
Apparently what applies for POTA does not apply for democracy.
Now when you are offering an opinion on an idea as big as that, one would have thought Cho would come up with some compelling reasons for the same. Nopes. I did not find any. The only view offered is “Indians are unfit for democracy. So lets not provide Indians that privilege”
There is no explanation offered on why India’s discipline will happen only through emergency and not through any other means. There’s no analysis on what will be achieved during Emergency. “Trains will run in time” is the only scenario given.
Actually there was another,”The middle-class welcomed emerency during ‘75”. How Profound! Have you ever seen the middle class objecting to anything and taking to the street?. The middle-class will welcome anything so long as their monthly budgets remain unaffected.
Ok. lets assume Cho is right and Emergency is to be invoked. Who should lead India during that time? His choice is Advani or Vajpayee. On what basis? What makes them so good and trustworthy? What if they prove that they are not to be trusted with so much power after invoking emergency? What is the exit route then?
Is not an idea of a sweet, kind hearted, benevolent dictator as lofty as that of a sweet, kind hearted, benevolent Musharaff?
When we suggest something as radical as this, do we not provide an explanation which at least tries to address the concerns inherent in that solution?
Granted Indira Gandhi was a wrong person who invoked emergency for the wrong reason. Granted the guys Cho sees as right are in fact right and sensible. Assume they are at the helm. Will Cho provide answers to questions like emergency for how long”. Or is it the sole discretion of Advani and Vajpayee?
And since there is evidence to suggest that Indians become indisciplined once emergency is lifted, does it translate India will be under emergency for ever?
“Look at China” is another fancy slogan. As if China was a democracy till last tuesday and which showed no signs of improvement and then the citizens voluntarily renounced their freedom and today China is a super power.
In a manner not very different from a Manjrekar’s specific advice to Tendulkar on how to attack Glenn Mcgrath, I find a whole lot of gaps in Cho’s arguments. China and Singapore are not to be compared with India. What is China’s population per square kilometer? Which is bigger, Singapore or Tamil Nadu?
My take is simple. And am not even remotely suggesting it as a solution to a complex issue.
Emergency is not the answer to India’s development.
India’s Unique Selling Proposition is its human resources. India’s Unique Headache Proposition is also its human resources. Any solution which does not address this aspect but which simply tries to strangle the people’s freedom is just trying to activate a time bomb.