Can there be any meaningful democratic power without responsibility?

India After Elections 2004 Pushpesh Pant South Asian Journal Jul-Sept 2004

The major issues casting their dark shadow on the lives of ordinary people were a dangerous drift towards communalism, and the criminalisation of politics. Chief ministers in many states of the union were accused of criminal conspiracies, defrauding the public exchequer and maintaining themselves in power through patronage and unabashed deployment of muscle power. Communal riots in Gujarat destroyed the credibility of the local administration. The impotence of the central government to rein in a recklessly fanatical satrap disillusioned many who had been na1ve enough to believe that ‘the years in power’ would somehow make the revivalist and irredentist BJP more liberal, tolerant, responsible and responsive.

The national parties, conscious of their lack of mass base, have followed the line of least resistance and settled for appeasement. What is referred to euphemistically as an ‘electoral understanding’ is in fact nothing else but parting with the demanded pound of flesh to the regional parties. Ostensibly to protect the state’s interests in the federal system, whichever party is out of power tries to join hands with those in power at the centre.

Secularism in the present Indian context is restricted to opposing the blatant communalism of the BJP. Definition of democracy is, similarly, restricted to keeping at bay the BJP brand of fascism. Representative, responsive efficient and transparent governance is seldom the subject of public discourse. Crimes against the weaker section of society -- women, dalits, tribals and minorities -- are as disturbing in the Congress ruled states as in non-Congress/BJP ruled states. The UPA has come to power with the support of as disparate elements as RJD of Laloo Prasad Yadav and the Communist Party of India-Marxists (CPIM). How many compromises will be made to keep out the BJP and how will these compromises affect the credibility and efficiency of the present government?

One can only hope that the people of India have learnt from the painful lessons of the past five years. Throughout this period, the NDA/BJP government inflicted almost irreparable damage on the bodypolitic. The constitutional scheme was repeatedly subverted and the independence of judiciary and the media were constantly under attack. Narendra Modi, with his fangs bared all the time, may have been the ugliest face of the party but the smiling villains were no less dangerous.

The Supreme Court was recently constrained to transfer the Best Bakery case out of the state and order an unprecedented retrial (after the High Court had acquitted the accused), the persecution of Tehelka was taken up as personal-political vendetta and an ‘exemplary’ punishment was meted out without due process of law to deter others from daring to bring out skeletons from the BJP/NDA closet. What the election results have unmistakably shown is that the BJP’s concepts of Bharat and exclusive Hindu nationalism are not shared by the large (hitherto silent) majority of Indians. The composite culture is an integral part of the shared heritage. The masses are beginning to realise that the slide towards intolerant dictatorship is inevitable if the effort to homogenise a richly diverse tradition is insisted upon.

The implementation of economic reforms and the country’s integration into the WTO regime has brought about a change in the popular mind-set. Liberalisation and privatisation have shifted the focus from politics to economics. This change is perceptible not only among the urban middle class but the idea has also filtered down to small towns. Different things are expected of the government and from the people’s representatives. Ideology today seems much less significant than in the past. No serious thought has been given to the impact of the reforms on the lives of people after a few years. Once India is integrated into the world economy, its vulnerability to global changes will inevitably increase. As yet there is no national consensus except perhaps on foreign policy issues.

There is talk of reforms with a human face but the specifics remain unclear. The role played by the left parties will be crucial. The left is certainly not confused. It has emerged stronger and more self confident than ever before. To get rid of the communal BJP, it has joined hands with the Congress and the CPI and CPI (M) have found it possible to bury their ideological differences to forge a common minimum programme. The reluctance of the left parties to join the government or to sign the Common Programme is a little disturbing. Can there be any meaningful exercise of democratic power without responsibility? Surely, the time has come to think beyond sectarian electoral interests in states like West Bengal and Kerala and focus on the national scene.

(Pushpesh Pant teaches at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and is a regular columnist in both Hindi and English, contributing to leading Indian Newspapers. He is also a political analyst for radio and television) References: Mushirul Hasan (ed.), Will Secular India Survive?, (New Delhi: Imprint One distributed by Manohar, 2004). A.G. Noorani, Citizens’ Rights - Judges and State Accountability, (New Delhi: OUP, 2002). Rajani Kothari, Politics in India, (New Delhi: Orient and Longman, 2001). Partha Chatterjee, The Partha Chatterjee Omnibus, (New Delhi: OUP, 1999).