Dirty politics and faith of the nation

Dirty politics and faith of the nation
As the first step we have to catch our kids before they get to school. We can garner their gentleness and spotless spirits for the welfare of an ll-inclusive nation first, relations next and persons at last. That is the only way out to make our nation’s politics win the confidence of the nation.

A. Jayaprakash Kovilloor

Incompatible they are, faith of the nation and politics, for sure. Faith is something that gets formed out of resolve, respect and reliability. Our Indian politics is the antithesis of these three. This state of affairs is not something that got shaped the other day. We have been part of this dirty system for the last six decades, and we all have had our shares to make what it actually is today. As we all have a rare faculty of staying aloof and cut ourselves into Daniels of judgement, we have kept our personal shells off any meddles, and we continue the same. So long as the problem remains to be somebody else’s we are contented. Then think of a situation in which the problem involves a whole nation! It is natural for every one of us to be criticizing the political system, and if possible we would take time off to make judgements too.

However, not many of us are able to judge ourselves and see that there is nothing called politics, no matter it is dirty and decent, unless there is you and me. We have failed to or we have feigned unable to identify ourselves with the problem, but we come to our ubiquitous conclusion that politics is dirty, particularly Indian politics. Again we forget that an honest and disinterested population can never suffer from a dirty political system. What I would like to emphasize is that we get what we deserve. And we have got what we have over the years come to deserve. How has it come about by the way?

It is very simple. Politics is a matter of power and fear. Both the ruling and the ruled are afraid of both. The ruling are afraid of losing power, and ruled is afraid of not having someone to vest the responsibilities on. The public has a rare ingenuity to be protecting itself from such fears by leaving the responsibility on someone else’s shoulders and counting the latter responsible for everything. When you get your things done by others, you cannot expect others to be doing things the way you like. Rather we have to put up with the way it is done. And we do not show the guts to demand for better professionalism, because we are scared of allegiance to our own calling. I personally feel that this is the primary reason for our nation’s loss of faith in its politics.

For us, elections are excursions through which we enjoy the great pleasure of exercising our franchise periodically, and as if we pay out an equal monthly installment, (EMI), we cut down on our responsibilities election after election, and we expect our service providers, our elected representatives, to be patrons of our causes and concerns: let it be supplying nuclear electricity non-stop or ensuring supply of essentials at affordable prices or laying roads or keeping the democratic fabric intact or whatever.

So, ultimately, where are we with regard to dirty politics and faith of the nation? They are nowhere near each other. They are not going to be near in the immediate future either. The stakes of the nation is huge so are the stakes of is politics. Since both the parties are afraid of power and fear, politics will not induce faith and nation will never feel like trusting politics.

There are solutions for this stalemate. We can make the nation trust its politics, or the other way round by taking a few steps:

· Education department should be severed and kept under the purview of the president, the governor and the vice chancellor.
· We have to adopt proportional and gender based representation in all legislative and elected bodies.
· There should be a call back facility, and no go-back facility once called back.
· Media need to be made accountable and be brought under judicial observance.
· Politicians should retire, and the retired ones should be phased out of electioneering.
· Defection has to be made a permanent disqualification.
· Bureaucracy, including police, needs to be governed by ombudsman.
· There should be pay parity in accordance with the changing times.

These things are not going to happen for sure for, we have come to such a difficult pass that makes us all feel that this is what it actually is or should be. We do not know of a different order. This has been rut decade after decade.

Even if we fail to do the above things, we can help politics stay free from its dirty clout by taking some individual resolutions. We have to individually ask ourselves a few questions. When it comes to an issue of some personal significance, how many of us are ready to think inclusively, say, it is a social cause and I am only party to it, so I should not be going off the track to get my things done, or I should not expect the rest of my fellowmen suffer for my personal gain or happiness. How many of us think inclusively. Very few! We all think in isolation. This is my cause, and I have to get it done some how. Or it is one of my dear ones’ cause, so I should forgo the established norms and see that it is done, no matter at whose expense I get it done. Do we not do it on a daily basis in our life? Yes, you do, I do and everyone does. The very same I, you and everyone take up the cudgel and cry foul when we see something dirty in the political system. Is it not true? We come down to our earth if it is a matter that involves our selves.

So, we are immune to the system, at the same time we are in the system. This will not work because there are only two ways to serve a system: one way is to be an integral part of it and the other is to be completely away from it. Can we be both? It is the ‘I’ and ‘ME’ and ‘OUR’ factors that make us dirty and our politics and politicians dirtier. The faith of the nation will falter in such a milieu. Still all is not lost. What is there not to be overcome?

I feel, if we will, within some twenty years’ time we can expect our political system be free from this ignominy and distrust if today’s kids are given a milieu, which thinks and takes everything inclusively. The making of this milieu has to start from immediate parents to guardians to elders to teachers to think tanks to spiritual heads.

Everyone close to a growing child should inculcate inclusive thinking in them, and their curriculum needs to be a product of this inclusive attitude and incorporate lessons and exercises designed to reinforce the principles of leading a life accommodating everything new and good in their purview. This will be possible only if the new generation parents sacrifice a little and shed a few of their inherited ills of ‘I’ ‘ME’ and ‘OUR” factors.

They need to understand that a holistic society needs all types of people; form politicians to policemen. Only engineers and doctors and IT gurus would not make a nation fair well. And school is the right place to identify the inherent skills and talents, strengths and weaknesses of a child. We can identify who could be a politician of inclusive thinking, who could be a scientist, a doctor, an engineer or whatever. This is possible if every parent wills so. This is possible. To what all extent our patents go to meet the demands of their dream children!!! Therefore, this is the best thing they could do for their kids and the latter’s future nation. Let them pick up all-inclusive thinking habits from their homes.

Parents should take a resolve that: ‘I will not allow my children to be influenced by those evil forces that have made our society this hopeless. They have to have a new world order in which they are to be their decision makers, and they are to decide their destiny. So we have to provide them the right milieu”. Let’s all do it. Let all good things begin from our homes inclusively.

I think it is worth the wait. It is imperative that a nation of modern times must have faith in its political system and its men. So is the case with politics itself. It has to shed its age-old filth and scales of ignominy from its face and come clean. Thinking of the long road ahead, I feel that it is worth sparing a couple of decades so that we can have a new national political order footed not on any dirty politicking but on the pillars of indomitable faith.

As the first step we have to catch our kids before they get to school. We can garner their gentleness and spotless spirits for the welfare of the all-inclusive nation first, relations next and persons at last. That is the only way out to make our nation’s politics win the confidence of the nation. jaypeesarefine@gmail.com