Reservation, secularism, resilience and democracy. I have never been able to understand these terms without taking their political senses in context. All these words have been used, misused and abused by every sect in the Indian politics to suit their interests. No doubt secularism is the most terrified victim of the politics. Reservation has been the hand of god for the politicians. Resilience has been a garb to hide negligence. Democracy has become a tool to silence the masses. But all these terms, in their true sense, describe the most important feature of the inclusive society we dream of. The dream of a welfare and equal state is not possible without understanding the democracy and secularism. Resilience is a sign of a mature and developed civilized society. They are the important feature of the great Indian democracy. In the last year, they were the determining factors of Indian politics. However, one has to be careful while drawing the line between their true meaning and the political definitions. Let’s analyze all the terms which certainly have the capability to determine the future of Indian sub-continent in 2012.
The misconception in the minds of people that secularism has something to do with religion has been planted by the politicians who either themselves have failed to understand what secularism means or want to misguide the masses in order to achieve political mileage. Problem starts with our definition of secularism. Secularism is being neutral towards every religion. Even in constituent assembly debates, the main focus was to create a great nation where religious influence was minimized. But in the name of inclusive society, we have changed it to “respecting every religion”. It definitely tries to reflect the “accept all” nature of Indian society but it has been very difficult to understand the sentence. The change in definition has made the word more vague and confusing. Secularism is a non- religious and amoral word i.e. it has nothing to do with religion. However, the garb of secularism has always been used to appease the minority. On the other hand, it has become a fashion for the organized religion from majority to criticize the seculars and secularism. Both can be termed as the after-effects of one another but both have been instrumental in dividing the society. From the word secularism, arise another vague term- secular fabric. Only god knows how many lethal steps have been taken in the name of secular fabric. Successive governments have failed to answer the questions posed by these words. Both, Congress and BJP have used religion to enhance their vote bank. The BJP has tried to make national gains via it, while congress has used religion extensively to make huge gains at localized level. The step to exclude Madarassas out of RTE is another of the congress’s policy that is aimed at achieving political mileage over its enemies in UP elections. Similarly BJP’s opposition to 4.5% reservation to the Minorities in OBC reservation is based on naïve understanding of secularism and is purely political. However, Congress has been able to revamp its image as a secular party which was tarnished after the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and backfiring of misguided calculations made by leaders like Rajeev Gandhi and Narsimha Rao in Babri Demolition. But BJP has not been able to cash the Hindutva votes that gave it the power in 1999. Some call it awakening of the people. But the main reason behind this is the absence of a face of BJP after Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The party seems confused between the issues of Hindutva and corruption. However, the rise of Modi can be a respite for BJP.
It is very important for the government to carefully examine every step it takes before implementing it. Some positive steps can also backfire in future if proper mechanism to control them is not devised. Reservation is one such phenomenon. No doubt it was one of the strong and positive steps that were necessary to ensure equality in our society. But it has also been politicized to a lethal extent. It has become a tool in the hand of regional parties to control the votes. New small political outfits are coming out with the slogan of reservation for a particular caste or community. Lokpal debate in parliament had all the elements one needs to understand the politics behind reservation.The speech of Ram Vilas Paswan in parliament was kind of funny. Lalu did not know what he was fighting for when he appeared in a news channel debate. Both these leaders are literally thriving to survive in their home turf- Bihar. So it was not unexpected on their part. Congress leader and eminent lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi tried to term the reservation as representation. It was nothing more than playing with the words. The reservation or the representation granted in the lokpal panel is way beyond the logic of any intellectual mind. However, it seems completely logical when one tries to revisit the step with UP elections in mind. It is a very absurd step with negative outcome for democracy. We have had many Judges in SC; CEC’s who have been from minority community without any reservation. Reservation in lokpal is just another trick collect minority votes in U.P. However, 4.5% reservation to the minority in the OBC reservation of 27% was a long awaited step. It is a very positive step. Religion cannot be a mean of exclusion. There are currently 21 sects within the Muslims which are categorized under OBC list. It would have been a grave injustice to a Muslim OBC as he was not allowed a reserved seat while a Hindu OBC was. BJP, in its opposition to this step seemed to fight only on the basis of its majoritarianism. However, BJP’s opposition met with dissent within its own party. Varun Gandhi, in an interview to a news channel openly supported the step. But the end result remains the same. Reservation was granted at a time when 5 states are going to the elections. Only in UP, Muslims can be the game changers in the 120 seats. However, BJP is trying to bank on Hindutva as well as corruption. It has introduced Uma Bharti in U.P to fill the gap that was created by the departure of Kalyan Singh. So it was important for BJP to maintain its image by opposing the reservation. Reservation may have done some harm and more profit to the nation, but the politics on reservation has never been able to help the country in any manner.
Resilience is a wonderful term which surfaces the moment a terror strike happens. All the governments and its minister’s start thanking the people for the “resilience” they have shown. They “hope” that people will not let the “mischievous elements” win. No matter how grave the causalities are, the outrage of the people is suppressed by the long shameless speeches given by the leaders. The patience of people is not only tested but it is put to death very effectively. The negligence on the part of authorities was well suppressed in the Mumbai blast, Delhi HC blast. The inability of the central government to send a strong signal to the terrorists is one of the reason, we are unable to create deterrence. The weak foreign policy in relation to Pakistan has been a determining factor in the politics of South Asia. Our PM went on to call Pakistan’s Premier “a peace loving man” when Pakistani lawyers were openly supporting the killer of Salman Tasser in the name of religion, when 26/11 accused Hafiz Sayeed was openly criticizing India and declaring Jehad against India. Even Pakistan had the courage to defend its sovereignty against the US. But we cannot pressurize Pakistan to take action against terrorism. Why? Because of our noble and pious values summed up as resilience. Nobody wants war, but few tough words and fewer tough policy hints would suffice. It will not be sweeping to say that cowardice is sold in the name of resilience and hope is a trick to hide failure and fear.
And now we come to democracy. 2011 was a wonderful year when it comes to democracy in middle-east. Few autocratic governments fell. Few countries switched to democracy. However, the most important country, Egypt is still fighting its battle for democracy. Hosni Mubarak was displaced only to be ruled by more cruel military council. In terms of India, democracy was only limited to speeches and allegation. Yes, we are the largest democracy and we are proud of it, but certainly, we are not the greatest. Anna and Congress both defined the democracy the way they wanted. Congress focused on parliamentary democracy while Anna wanted a more liberal democracy. Sadly, the democracy turned out to be the victim instead of winner. What happened in parliament in Monsoon session and then again in the first week of winter session was shameful. It was clear that both, the government and the opposition had no intention to let the parliament function. Be it JPC or FDI, none of the two wanted to debate on real issues. And how can we forget what happened on 29th December. How a ruckus was planned by the government to send the lokpal to cold storage. Opposition also tried to score points by bringing a large number of amendments. It was clear. None of the political parties wanted the Lokpal to pass. Congress was a step forward. It did not want a strong Lokpal to pass. It just wanted a puppet Lokpal in place to show to the nation. Our dear BJP was as always confused. And the third, and the hero of 2011- Anna Hazare was trouble with fever and declining crowds at MMRDA grounds due to lack of proper planning and strategy. Many political pundits term it as the fall of Anna. But before considering this point, one must note that MMRDA ground is virtually out of city, it was a working day and Anna was not well from the beginning. But somehow the pending debate on Lokpal in parliament was also a factor in the decline in the number of people. Team Anna went a little bit too far in its quest to push Lokpal bill. You cannot disregard the parliamentary democracy so easily. However, government was also responsible for this situation. It is very clear that Team Anna was pushed to this situation by the government. They assumed that they have been elected for 5 years, so nobody can question them except the opposition which they will dismiss as “dirty politics”. It is election time. Five states are going to select new governments for next five years. Today, democracy is not democratic. Democracy is once again in action, but not the one our constitution talks of or we proudly boast of. Government must understand that democracy does not begin and end at elections.
These four words were instrumental in determining the policy and polity of Indian system in 2011. These words were not discovered in 2011 but surely were re-written again. We are carrying the luggage of 2011 to 2012. Lokpal is still a distant dream. 26/11 culprits are still roaming free in Pakistan despite “friendly” talks between the governments and numerous dossier exchanges. Reservation and politics over it will continue for long time. Democracy will again be put to test. Let’s hope that New Year will bring something new for India.
