Some of the recent developments in the Indian political scene has left me speechless. Two prominent incidents are worthy of mention & deliberation.
After a long drag of about 15 years & an ugly debate on the floor of the Rajya Sabha, the UPA Government with the support of the majority of opposition parties (mainly BJP & the Left) managed to pass the Women's reservation Bill, which guarantees 33% representation for women, from Gram Panchayats right up to the Parliament. And promptly, as expected, the Congress claimed all the credit for passing the bill saying,"this is the result of the vision of Congress President, Soniaji". That the Congress has declined as a national party was very neatly summed up by the Late Ramakrishna Hegde, the former CM of Karnataka, when he responded to a loyal Congressman's statement, "Soniaji is our tallest leader". Hegde responded,"what he is saying is, except Soniaji, everybody else is a dwarf in Congress. He is admitting that Congress has dwarfed as a national party since independence". Any way, coming back to the women's reservation bill, the debate in the Upper House turned acrimonious & even went to the extent of seeing some unruly & unparliamentary behavior from some of the MPs. It appears that we should get used to such behavior from our elected representatives, even as we debate what is "acceptable behavior" & what is not, in the Parliament. In fact, it would be most beneficial to the general public, if the Government comes up with "standard code of conduct" bill in the Parliament, detailing which behavior can be considered acceptable & which can be considered unacceptable. Some of the acceptable behaviors that come to my mind immediately are:
- Using abusive language against fellow MPs.
- Passing lewd remarks against women MPs.
- Firing paper rockets at the Chair & / or others in the House.
- Ability to reach the well of the House from the last seat, & then climbing on top of the Chair's table in less than 10 second.
- Ability to pull mikes provided at every member's seat in no time & throwing it at close to lightening speed at other members to cause maximum damage.
Any behavior hitherto regarded as dignified, gentlemanly, respectful, & parliamentary, should be totally barred. Any member displaying any such behavior should be dismissed by the Chair from attending all further Parliamentary proceedings.
What followed the "smooth passage" of the women's reservation bill was even more enlightening. Some of our distinguished members cried outside the Parliament,"there'll be war in the streets if this bill becomes law". What a senior MP said is even more heartwarming & is a guiding light to the future of Parliamentary Democracy in India. This MP said,"I don't like to say this, but they would be the women youth would whistle at". Come to think of it - we have a total of 543 seats in the Lok Sabha, of which, 33% will be reserved for women. That is about 180 seats. Imagine a situation where these women Parliamentarians enter the Praliament to the whistles & cries of youth everyday. I don't know what to make of such a situation & behavior, should the youth begin to behave this way taking cue from the statement made by the senior "leader", seriously. I am actually surprised, should I rather say 'relieved', the senior leader did not actually have the scene enacted outside the Parliament by hiring some hooligans, just to "prove his point". You know how it is in India. These politicians can go to any extent just to "prove a point" or have their "hidden & selfish agendas" pushed through. A case in point is our very own former Prime Minister, Deve Gowda. It is widely speculated & spoken in hushed tones that the "son of the soil" has huge interests in the BMIC Project. In order to safeguard his own interests, he is trying every trick possible to have the project terminated, even as thousands of crores of public money is being poured into the project. To prove his point that "farmers' interests were being hurt" by the BMIC project, our "son of the soil Prime Minister" hires few hooligans, disguises them as farmers, & has them damage the BMIC road thru' a stage managed "farmers' protest". In fact, the "son of the soil Prime Minister" even called the CM of Karnataka, a "bast***" & justified the same saying he was stressed trying to pacify the "affected farmers".
We can now understand, what these politicians are capable of, just to prove their point. That's why I said, I was relieved when the "whistling" episode was not enacted in reality outside the Parliament.
The second episode which left me speechless was the statement made by the former CM of Karnataka, H D Kumaraswamy (HDK). He said that his party would be open to give tickets to criminals to contest elections, in order to bring about "transformation" in them & to make them part of the mainstream. His argument was that unless criminals were also given a fair chance to contest elections, how will the Parliamentary Democratic System result in the social transformation that it is supposed to bring about? Although the argument appears logical, my personal opinion is that this was the last stage thrust Indian Democracy needed, to push the Nation into the Geosynchronus orbit. This Geosynchronus orbit would ensure India reaches the point of no return socially, economically, & culturally. Surprisingly, HDK's father, the "son of the soil Prime Minister" himself did not support his son.
When jobs, whether Government or private, are not offered to historysheeters (there is a question in job applications, both for private & Government jobs, asking applicants if they have been criminally charged for any offences earlier?), can we even imagine law makers with such a rich history? If a criminal can become an elected representative, he can also become the head of Government. Imagine for a moment a nation whose law minister is a historysheeter, environment minister is one who has frequently flouted rules, cultural minister who motivates youth to whistle at women MPs, women and child development minister who has many illicit relationships & illegitimate children, & so on. Suddenly, the scene becomes not so pleasant; it actually gets a little nightmarish. Now, this is what we should be prepared for if criminals are allowed to contest elections.
While HDK's argument is well taken, there are other ways in which criminals can be transformed. There should be laws that forbid criminals from contesting elections, until they have been proven to have socially transformed after serving their term & proving the change from "within" by living amidst the civil society for a given period of time. This time should be reasonable enough to ascertain if the transformation / change is real & genuine. Framing such a law is not so tough. It requires political will & a long term vision for a future India. Including civil society in framing such a law & making it water tight, & giving the powers to police & judiciary to enforce, will change the character of the Nation. Active participation from civil society by collaborating with law enforcement agencies will give past criminals an opportunity to change, to transform, & to serve the Nation without having to carry the burden of past.
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