The Hindu Business Line : When reality strikes

As you read this, the State of Tamil Nadu could have been in the middle of yet another of those familiar sudden strikes that shut down normal everyday life, often with the tacit support of the Government and, of course, the ruling party. Educated people would be naturally mystified. Some recall that the Kerala High Court had nearly ten years ago held all bandhs to be illegal and that disruption to the ordinary citizen ought not to be tolerated.

Real political situation

I asked some well-educated people recently whether this can be called a Government-sponsored stoppage of all services or an agitation by the political party which happens to be in the majority. I was met with a mystified look, as if I was bringing up some obscure technical point. To me, this situation is symptomatic of the way the country is going. The party in power and the administration are two distinct entities. This point is a fundamental principle, critical for a functioning democracy and increasingly ignored in this country. We are so fond of talking from the rooftops about how civilised and cultured a society we are; and yet we forget such niceties whenever it suits us. However, the fashionable chatter over tea or coffee is about the real political situation in the country (which is necessarily something the laws of the land have nothing to do with) suggesting that all this is just part of life and nothing much will change, regardless of all the rules and rulings.

Opposing sanctions

Take another example — the official response to the shooting of unarmed civilians and Buddhist monks by a military junta in Myanmar determined to stay in power. Among the countries that oppose sanctions against the regime is India, a shining example usually of upholding democracy and the rule of law. Even more astounding is the statement by a minister that the Indian government would request both parties to exercise restraint. That is to say, if someone comes to shoot at you and you don’t have a weapon, both of you should restrain yourselves — one wonders how! This called to mind the statement by the American President Reagan that some nuns, who were fired on in error by armed forces, died in the exchange of fire. Exchange? I leave it to you to work that one out.

Time to wake up

I bring these points up mainly to emphasise how important it is to stick to the basic facts and sort them out from propaganda and opinion of self-serving polemicists. One has to ferret out the facts, and not be swayed by essentially temporary opinions and views, however strongly propagated by those in power. Otherwise one can all too easily become cynical, resigned, and accept the state of affairs as the way things will always be. And it is only all too easy to settle for this simple belief that a single person’s actions cannot make any difference to anything.

The Action for good Governance and Networking in India (AGNI), a Mumbai-based group, thinks differently. They filed a PIL and the High Court ordered the parties organising a bandh to pay a compensation of Rs 20 lakh each. It is clearly time that the well-informed and well-employed middle-class too woke up to the crucial need for accountable government and the ordinary citizen’s rights.

S. RAMACHANDER

More Stories on : Politics | Tamil Nadu | Jottings

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Not from software alone

Rising rupee, escalating worry

When reality strikes

Panchayat kitchens, in lieu of PDS

Relevance of India@60

Gambling for public funds

Does Mahatma Gandhi matter?

Cyber-crime