Is middle class backing creation of Frankenstein monster?
Couple of months back architect of Janlokpal bill Prashant Bhushan and Arundhati Roy announced from common platform that liberal economic policies post 1991 are root cause of corruption. Left leaning thoughts of Arundhati Roy should not surprise anyone however Prashant Bhushan's view must ring alarming bell to middle class.Prashnat Bhushan and his father Shanti Bhushan are architects of proposed anti corruption legislation of Janlokpal and hence their opinion about root cause of corruption calls for greater scrutiny.
Are liberal reforms really root cause of corruption? Was corruption not rampant in pre-reform socialist India? Isn't ever growing Indian middle class more prosperous thanks to stupendous rise in employment opportunities created by our entrepreneurs? Do we want to go back to the days when state would punish you for accumulating wealth (even by legitimate means) by imposing 97% income tax? Do we want to go back to the dark era where you had to wait for years to get a phone connection, LPG etc? Isn't it true that all the Facebook using techies working in air conditioned offices of IT companies, clicking like button of "I support Anna Hazare" message, are creation of post 1991 reforms?
Economic liberalization essentially means less state intervention to facilitate ease of business which in turn results in more and more job creation. School of thought which opposes these reforms believes in more state control.
If we are in agreement that pre-1991 inspector raj was biggest obstacle in India story , if we agree that we need more reforms and less state control then we should give second thought to backing creation of omnipresent super-cop proposed in janlokpal bill. Adding one more complicated layer of unaccountable bureaucracy in name of janlokpal is not going to work. Middle class backing of janlokapal which in all likelihood will bring back inspector raj is like supporting creation of Frankenstein Monster who will take on its own creator.
Middle class in India is extremely apolitical, cynical/suspicious about every institution, agitated by corrupt bureaucracy and has very little or no faith in electoral process.
Much of this wide spread cynicism with establishment is justified. Urban middle class is also staunch supporter of meritocracy. This is the reason why middle class finds resonance with Hazare lead anti corruption movement. Drawing room discussions are unanimous in terming all politicians corrupt , all elections won by paying money to poor voter and hence they feel it is impossible to expect politicians to take steps in cleansing the system and eradicate corruption. Hazare lead movement provides a perfect platform to frustrated, enraged and cynical (with establishment) middle class. Anna Hazare echoes middle class apathy with electoral process and along with anger against growing number of scams.
Anna Hazare famously said if he was to contest election he would lose his deposit because matdar (voter) is not jagruk (aware) and she votes for a saree or a liquor or few hundred rupees. So here is the simple man with unimpeachable integrity, courageous to take on state, echoing the blunt sentiment which was till now only limited to drawing room discussions. He was obviously going to strike a chord with people. His movement is perceived to be apolitical , their goal is to create unelected , super powerful lokpal with honest credentials who will punish corrupt netas, judges and babus.Underlying assumption is , since the selection criteria for this super-cop include unquestionable integrity, disassociation with political parties, superiority of intellect he is going to be unbiased and quick in punishing crooks. Middle class is over joyed by this idea of super cop or lokpal as they feel our judiciary is too slow (if not corrupt) to punish any corrupt politician and hence we need a quick fix institution to correct it.
Are all politicians corrupt? Are all elections won on basis of money muscle? Is every poor voter is out there to sell her vote?
Don't we also have honest politicians like former Prime Minister Vajpayee, A K Antony, Nitish Kumar and Narendra Modi? Are we not mocking 84% voter turnout of West Bengal in recently concluded assembly elections when we say people vote for saree or few hundred rupees?
No sane person would oppose anti corruption agitation or no sane person would support Government's blow on our right to dissent and protest. All I am saying is tarring all politicians with same brush and showing apathy and disrespect towards electoral process is not going to lead us anywhere. We need more administrative reforms, economic reforms, electoral reforms coupled with transparency in election funding, stupendous increase in number of judges ,easy access to justice, judicial accountability and lokpal but not the kind of single all powerful ombudsman proposed by team Anna.
Overhauling of existing institutions is need of the hour not creation of unaccountable institutions on top of that. Talk of reforms and overhauling sounds very boring to the ears of people who are now excited by quick fix utopian solutions proposed by janlokpal team. Those solutions look lucrative but lack essential checks and balances enshrined in our constitution.
Janlokpal violates principle of justice, which separates investigating authority from judiciary so that judiciary can objectively assess findings of investigation.
When a judge issues a judgement, somebody will be looser and it is highly likely that some losers will try to use whatever means available to malign the judge and that means may very well be Lokpal if judiciary is brought under purview of lokpal. Independence of judiciary is like a fertile soil which allows hundreds of flowers to flourish, few weeds will also grow in same soil however those weeds should not become pretext for killing the very soil in which beautiful flowers blossomed.
It must also be said here that our parliamentarians are by and large responsible for current perception of people about parliament. Parliament should be place for high quality debates on various issues which concern people instead over the period of time it has become place for petty political battles ,extreme confrontational politics, opposition and ruling parties locking horns , lack of participation by MPs , frequent walkouts. These days all parties frequently boycott parliament but their spokesperson participate in discussions organized in television studios. Why can't they have more civilized and quality discussion inside the house. I was extremely delighted to listen to quality speeches given by Arun Jaitley, Sitaram Yechury and Sushma Swaraj in recent times. This must not be aberration and needs to happen on regular basis. Both opposition and ruling parties must weak up now because if they don't vacuum is going to be filled by activists like Anna Hazare.
I would like to finish by adding word of caution to the arrogance displayed by some protesters. No individual is bigger than nation. Neither Gandhi was nor is Hazare. There needs to be caution to wind here ,honesty and noble intention riding on the popular bandwagon of frustrated and legitimately enraged group of people, does not provide authority to arrogate themselves to thrust upon nation a draconian legislation which lacks essential checks and balances. Contrary to rhetoric of Kiran Bedi Anna is not India and India is not Anna.
Anurag Choudhary
No comments:
Post a Comment