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| State of the Republic after independence | | Nation at cross-roads | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Jan 25: The nation tomorrow will celebrate Republic Day. It was on January 26, 1950 that India was declared a Republic with great pomp and show. The entire nation celebrated the day and remembered the martyrs. The political leadership pledged to uphold the Indian Constitution, maintain the territorial integrity of the country and work with single-minded devotion for the promotion of people's democracy. The nation reposed full confidence in the leadership and hoped that it would regenerate the socio-economic and political life of the people with zeal and commitment. This happened 62 years ago.
What is the state of the Republic today 62 years down the line? It is standing at the cross-roads. No one knows what is in store for the nation. There is frustration, disappointment, dissatisfaction, anger and desperation and it is widespread. The political institutions have virtually crumbled or the political class has manipulated these political institutions, including the Parliament and the Assemblies, to further its own interests. The legislators are ruling the roost and they have converted the Indian democracy into a system that is of them, by them and for them, with the general public feeling cheated and abandoned. They are enjoying absolute power and this absolute power has made the bulk of the political class absolutely corrupt. The legislators of today are living and behaving like the Rajas, the Maharajas and the Nawabs lived and behaved in the past. A large number of our legislators are persons with criminal record and doubtful credentials. Caste, religion, money and muscle power, dons and mafia have dotted and vitiated the Indian political scene.
The ruling elite has turned arrogant and insensitive and the opposition has utterly failed to play the role of a watchdog. There appears some kind of understanding between the ruling elite and the opposition. There could be a few exceptions but they appear quite dormant. The corporate houses and the bureaucracy are an integral part of the nexus between the ruling elite and the opposition. They and the political class are working in tandem. This is the general impression. There are a few exceptions, but it is doubtful if they are being allowed by the vested interests to conduct themselves the way they want taking into account the needs of the people and requirements of the nation and the state. Corruption is deep-rooted and the Transparency International has adjudged the Indian state as one of the most corrupt states in the world. Several senior ministers are in the dock. They are facing very serious corruption charges. Even the Prime Minister is being accused of heading and leading the most corrupt government.
There are institutions like the Election Commission of India which do try sometime to assert their authority, but they are being threatened even by the Law Minister. The ministers hold the view that these constitutional institutions have to work under the overall control and supervision of the political class. The ruling elite want these institutions to work like committed institutions. Sections of political class are openly inciting violence and giving religious orientation to everything. So much so that there are elements in the establishment who are questioning the very accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India and some of them include the Union Home Minister, the External Affairs Minister and the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister. Then there elements in the establishment who are undermining the very institution of Army and talking in terms of soft or porous borders, demilitarization and compromise with Pakistan at the cost of the country. Then there are elements in the political parties like the Congress who are openly and brazenly identifying themselves with terrorists, extremists and rabidly anti-India elements. The truth is that anarchy is prevailing in the country; the truth is that a handful of politicians and their cronies in the administration are on a looting spree; the truth is that they have converted the Indian State into a banana republic. Indeed ours is a sham, fake and perverted democracy. This is the state of the Indian Republic. How sad!
Noted writer Salman Rushdie, who was barred by the Congress and other secular formations and fanatics from attending the Jaipur Literary Festival, has virtually compared India with the totalitarian China and suggested that the Muslim countries like Egypt, Turkey and Libya are more liberal and more tolerant. So much so, he yesterday told Burkha Dutt of NDTV 24X7 that India might have made progress in economic terms, but it has degenerated socially, religiously and politically and that it is a worse country to live in. Not only this, he candidly told Barkha that the religious bigots and the Congress leadership and the leadership of similar other organizations "are sharing the same bed". What he said constitutes a very sad and depressing reflection on the Indian Republic and he made these observations saying the Indian State "has stifled" the freedom of speech, expression and assembly. One may or may not agree with Rushdie but what he said was not incorrect. Even Burkha Dutt yesterday appeared quite reasonable when she interviewed Rushdie. |
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