Democracy whining

As the clock strike ushering the New Year, I wondered what would follow with worn out citizens. The expectation was embraced with apprehension as the developing events got quenched one by one with mortals fulfilling vanities. Everyday of the New Year has been greeted with chilling news. It began with the hanging of Saddam Hussein. That was not polite in the age of democracy to the once elected leader who was dejected by the US. The walk of US foreign policy is itself a threat to its campaign for democracy. But nation states were clogged with the fire from the Bush when he said, “If you are not with us, you are against us.” India ought to realise that the statement, without any consideration, abruptly closed the door to its age-old policy of Non-Alignment. The statement itself was an attack to the crux of India’s foreign policy. Saddam Hussein’s hanging was not even strongly criticised. I wonder why India voices itself too softly. But India seems to know that its son, Narendra Modi and his tribe, who could be clubbed with George Bush anytime, was harboured with power and dignity in its democratic umbrella. Saddam Hussein would have been very much safe, alive and in power if he was one of the chief minister, union minister in India. He could have sought salvation in the veil of India’s democracy. That puts a big question on the kind of democracy we have been practising in India. A democracy where we were dictated and prohibited from making a choice and opinion. A democracy where orders were imported on how it should function. India is still hanging on to the love for everything foreign. A democracy where rulers were partners to riots and bloodshed. If this is what democracy is living with today, isn’t it time we redefine what democracy ought to be? Bush dictated definition of democracy was a desperate reaction to the war against unseen enemies who, otherwise, operated with a resort to unreasonable tactics of terrorism. When institutions like the UNO failed to stand up against Bush and his supposed saviour of democracy, Saddam put a big question on Bush. The UN could look up to Saddam Hussein as someone who made a check and balance to the US foreign policy. But it could not. It did not. The UN as well as India were also indignantly silent on Saddam Hussein’s hanging. Is this a result of being a part of the “concert of democracy”? Fitting and isolating nation states into and from the democratic space has resulted in immense human suffering. If this happens in the name of democracy, what difference will democracy exhibit after the war against terrorism surface with the winner? As the assumed beauty blots our eyes, democracy takes a backseat. But in its name.

The next day there was the macabre news report of the psycho paedophiliac duo who not only celebrates in sexually assaulting and kills children but also try to eat their flesh in Noida. As the poor parents were made to realise their powerlessness with every passing day, the exhumed bones and skeletons were far from delivering them the expected justice. The big question in India’s democracy is, will the culprit find the safety valve again? It won’t surprise anyone if the gruesome events collect dust in stagnated files and the culprits go scot-free.

What follows was the massacre of poor and unsuspecting Biharis by the ULFA in Assam. The toll has reached 70. As the poor and helpless Bihari workers from different parts of Assam started fleeing Assam, the sleeping Leviathan missed the fire-fighting challenge. It is not about handing out two or five lakh rupees for compensating lost lives. As the government is oiling its barrel to give back an eye for the eye, it should also learn paedotrophy – the art of rearing children. Its celebrated democracy has produced and raised too many spoilt children. Start simple. Talk to them sincerely. Let them also respond honestly. The hit and run or shoot at sight game will lead nowhere.

Then again, the Midnapore land grabbing resulted in killings. The men in power must be saying, all these problems are opportunities in disguise. What about the North East beyond Assam? Khengjoi block in Chandel, Manipur is still gripped by the threat of landmines. The Indian Army is carrying out counter-insurgency military operation. In the process, it is the innocent villagers who suffer. As limbs and lives were lost, the authorities continue to show irresponsibility and insensitivity. The region is accepted by those in power as a disturbed zone. Whatever comes out of the place justified their understanding. Come what may, it is expected of the region. Therefore it affirms their expectation. While the syllabus in schools and colleges are packed with the concept of democracy, the region is alive with draconian law like the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958. The region also teems with the armed forces. As men in guns and weapons populates the region to make peace and security, the blanket of that gets thinner. No economic security. No human security. Just no security at all. The land and people are deprived of governance, employment, institutions, roads, electricity and the biggest resource, which is peace.

The plights of the region and its people multiply as it only remains geographically mapped, but unreached and far from the “Ignited minds.” The region hardly knows if the urban villages are talking about India as the emerging global economic power or overtaking China sometimes after 2010 or ten or fifteen years after that. But the region is already flooded with Chinese goods. The most underwear items, the sound, lights, sight and taste of everyday use in the region comes from China. Shall we still talk about free trade? Or the Look East policy? The walk will take a long soft way still. Shall we blame the Chinese for discovering the gunpowder, with which the region is booming? State actors as well as non-state actors all up in arms. But in India’s democracy, number game matters. The region, when compared to the fertile billion zones, is too small to move the hands of its democracy. Weak representation raising voices in a politically divided democracy has weaker impact. Merely pumping budgets and funds will not help. That is not the only way to do. But it is already becoming an excuse to say we did. There is a need for a sincere tilling of the land as one’s own if the interest is for peace, welfare, and development. The region is packed with potentials, which can be converted to become winners and champions in every sector. Till as your own. Only then the panacea will grow. Until then, the New Year seems sicker with the import and imposition of democracy everywhere. That will validate them to further extend the claws of Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958. Democracy is whining