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| Meaning of political problem | | Context Kashmir | | Rustam
JAMMU, Dec 1: India is a democratic country where all adult Indians, without exception, enjoy the right to elect their government(s) every five years. They can, if they so desire, re-elect the government, as they recently did in Assam. They can, if they so desire, vote out the ruling party, as they recently did in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and West Bengal.
The story of West Bengal was all the more spectacular in the sense that a virtual newcomer, the Trinamool Congress, ended the 34-year-long rule of the Left. The people can, if they like, give a massive mandate to a political party as they did in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, and they can also produce a fractured verdict depending upon the situation and performance or non-performance of political parties, as they did in Kerala.
This is the beauty of Indian democracy, notwithstanding the several flaws from which the system continues to suffer after 51 years of Indian Constitution and the Representation of People's Act. A notable flaw is the failure to induce public-spirited persons to contest elections and enter the law-making bodies. Then, money, muscle power, criminals, caste and religious factors, and even selfish corporate houses have vitiated the system.
But still the system has established that the people are the chief determinants and that they can make or mar any government and any political party, anytime. They can defeat the all-powerful Indira Gandhi and elect the little known Raj Narain. They can render Lalu Prasad Yadav and Ramvilas Paswan irrelevant and make a hero out of Nitish Kumar in Bihar. The most notable aspect of the situation is that Manmohan Singh, who belongs to the miniscule Sikh community, has been ruling the country since May 2004.
More startlingly, we now have four women chief ministers, all governing major states - West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Delhi. They became chief ministers because of their skilful and effective leadership. While the Delhi chief minister is quite assertive and enjoys the full backing of the Congress president, the other three have created their own constituencies through sheer hard work.
Many of our chief ministers belong to Other Backward Classes (OBC), as in Bihar, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, to mention a few. We have chief ministers who belong to the Scheduled Caste community, such as in Uttar Pradesh, which returns 81 MPs to the Lok Sabha. Jharkhand has a tribal chief minister. We also have a few Christian chief ministers, though this is a very tiny community.
This means the Indian political system is not exclusive. It is all-inclusive and gives equal opportunities to all irrespective of caste, creed and region. It springs surprises at regular intervals. Everyone in India is able to participate and compete freely for public office. Critics aver that the reality is often different, that it takes a great deal of money - and often specific ethnic and religious ties - to enter public life.
This is a valid critique. But still the fact remains that the high turnout during the last assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala and Puducherry indicates people's faith in the system, though a vast majority remain at the receiving end and large numbers are barred from seeking public office.
Jammu & Kashmir is also part of the Indian political system. The only difference is that while the adult population in the rest of the country elects governments every five years, here the electorate exercises this right once in six years. In 1975, the Indira Gandhi-led Congress government enhanced the life of the Lok Sabha and the assemblies from five to six years after amending the constitution, an extreme step aimed at retaining an office which was slipping out of her hands.
The National Conference Government followed suit and enhanced the life of the assembly. In 1977-78, the Janata Party government of Morarji Desai did away with the amendment which enhanced the life of the Lok Sabha and Assemblies. But the Jammu & Kashmir Government has not thought it prudent to bring the life of the state assembly at par with other assemblies and, hence, its life continues to be six years.
Significantly, the attitude of the electorate in Jammu & Kashmir to the Indian political system is no different. A vast majority of the people in the otherwise troubled and militant-infested state has full faith in the system. This can be seen from the very high turnout in the ongoing electoral exercise to elect panches and sarpanches or to elect panchayats. Over 80 per cent of the electorate exercised its franchise facing all odds and ignoring the militants' threats. The anti-democratic forces did try to disrupt the electoral exercise by killing some candidates and injuring a few others, but that didn't deter either the candidates or the electors.
Yet leaders of all hues describe Kashmir as a "political problem" and urge New Delhi to resolve it "politically." Chief Minister Omar Abdullah says so. CPI-M leaders like Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami say so. In fact, all Kashmiri leaders - "mainstream" or otherwise - hold identical views on Kashmir and advocate a "political solution" to the issue. (To be continued) |
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