| Published on 12-06-2008 In National | | Viewed 2246 times | Written by Nilotpal Basu | | What's scare mongering, Mr. PM? |
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Sometime back, when the leaders of the Left Parties had met the PrimeMinister to present him with a memorandum outlining the proposals for containing the rise of prices of essential commodities – there was astrange response. The very same evening, a terse statement was issuedfrom his office to the effect that any protest over the rise in priceswould, actually, `further fuel inflation'. The logic was simple – protest was synonymous with `scare mongering'. And, this was going to,surely, abet the speculators and further contribute towards upwardspiraling.Secondly, the statement also made out that protest over prices was `politicizing' a development which was the result of global processes. It was implicit in this argumentation that the global processescannot be questioned and ought to be accepted as such. The corollarywas that our government could do little to insulate the people from this global process which was invested with a degree of `omnipotence'.We are now witness to the continuing refrain on similar lines. TheBJP National Executive meeting attacked the government for failing to keep prices in check. The spokesperson of the BJP and a formerminister Ravi Shankar Prasad tried to rebut the Finance Minister onthe record of the NDA government. But both Mr. Chidambaram'scontention on the BJP performance and Mr. Prasad's rebuttal were essentially on cold statistics, repeating ad nauseam figures oninflation and annual growth rates. The discourse unfortunately is notcapturing the sense of urgency which ought to be displayed to providesuccor to the people. Far less this discourse is trying to examine policy making both by the present government and the previousgovernment of the NDA which has, no doubt, contributed to the presentsituation.But, the scrupulous avoidance of the policy underpinnings which has led to the present situation which by now even the Finance Ministerhas been forced to concede as `bad'. This is, however, notaccidental. Actually, there is a complicity in this consciousproliferation of a `culture of silence' over people's vital question of livelihood.Apparently unrelated, another question has also come up with a sharpfocus. This relates to the manner in which elections have come to beconducted. The obvious immediate reference is the manner of holding of the Karnataka assembly elections by the Election Commission ofIndia.Increasingly, the election process is appearing to be an exercise toprimarily contain `wrong doing' by the political parties. There is a manifold increase in emphasizing the need to bring down the moneyspent by the candidates and the political parties. The EC'soft-repeated prescription is now leading to curbing the activities ofpolitical parties themselves to pose before the people the issues concerning their life and livelihood.
The restrictions are,therefore, singularly directed on the number and volume of posters,pamphlets, public meetings, etc. which inform the people – of course,from the standpoint of each political party. Conversely, this attack on the right of the political party thus affects the people's right toinformation. Election time – no doubt, provides an opportunity forthe people to be informed about the analysis that each political party is supposed to put forth for addressing popular concerns. And, it ison these commitments that whosoever assumes office having to bejudged. That is, the bedrock of the principle of accountability whichis the heart of a parliamentary democracy. The political party or in the era of coalitions-the set of parties-have to redeem themselves incourse of governance in the light of those very pre-electioncommitments. Therefore, ignoring this crucial aspect can only imperil democracy.That this is not directed as such against the use of money power inthe election process has become increasingly clear in the Karnatakaelections. There have been widespread reports even in mainstream media of the increasing use of money power triggered by the activitiesof the `lobbies'. As compared to the `liquor lobby' in the pastelections, this election has thrown up the `mining lobby' as the flavour of the month. The election process has highlighted thatnotwithstanding such antics by the EC, money has flowed like water.This ominous development, therefore, raises the question that what isthe effect of all these exercises in so far as insulating the election process from manipulation through money power is concerned?All these developments from the statement issued by the PrimeMinister's office – the discourse between the BJP spokesman and theFinance Minister – the conduct of elections by the EC – howsoever unconnected they might appear are actually inter-related. Itunderscores a degree of consensus aimed at insulating our discourse onpeople's concerns for survival and livelihood from uncomfortablepolicy questions. The basic policy paradigm of neo- Liberal globalization has to be accepted as such; regardless ofwhether they are effective in addressing people's concerns or not.In a country as huge, as diverse and as complex as India, consigningthe bread and butter issues of peoples livelihood to the backburner can only signal an unmitigated disaster. In election after election,the incumbents are being voted out of office. To ensure that suchchanges are better informed. And daily discourse, particularly thoseelections be premised on the policies that parties espouse, so that there can be intermittent reality checks. That is the only way toensure transparency and accountability. This is surely a time forintrospection. |
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