The common focal point to all these unrest among the people that fuelled their outrage is mounting inflation, unemployment, disenchantment with the government that resulted in the indifference of rulers to decades and an unending corruption. Particularly in Tunisia and Egypt, the situation was very intense which led to the ouster of President Zine El Abidine ben Ali and put an end to 30-year rule of President Hosni Mubarak. One of the major drivers behind these public movements is the Facebook and Twitter generation. These young men used the ‘alternate media’ to their advantage when the state ensured a blanket ban on the other sources of information.
Now the question here arises, why is the ‘Jasmine revolution’ failed to call upon the Lotus despite the causes undeniably present here in India. A self satisfying answer to this question could be that here still persists some sort of democracy which in all the above mentioned cases were absent. But for how long can these answers contain the people from taking themselves to the streets. In India a staggering 78 pc (some 84 crores) people can’t even manage a proper meal twice a day. They do not enjoy the liberty to express themselves on platforms like Internet.
A similar kind of state-wide anger was witnessed in Bengal in 1965 owing to lack of employment, scarcity of food and the fact that little or no action was being taken to improve the situation. This led to an end to the congress-rule in the state and still the party is trying to undo the past. Then there also was a popular movement by Jayprakash Narayan. Basically it was a students’ movement with which the JP later associated himself and led from the front. It, however, lacked the basic attributes of a revolution and was more of a personal attack on Indira Gandhi following a judgment against her election in 1971.
If history can be a teacher then surely our politicians are the worst of pupils.
Today, corruption is the biggest malaise that India is facing. And it is challenging the very roots of existence of our society. Corruption depends on three things: values cherished by individuals; values cherished by society and the system of governance. Let’s take an example for each of them to ascertain where we actually stand on these parametres.
During and after the CWG scam broke out it was just a matter of time that there were whispers in several other corners as well. Then it was Adarsh Housing Society scam, Karnataka land deals, the mother of all scams the 2G scam. Even, space in not out of reach from the corrupt on the earth.
Corruption is always pervasive in every society but in a covert way.
In the 2G, as it is estimated to be the biggest of all, an individual’s values were targeted by a whole bunch of cronies for whom values never was a motivator and only profit can gauge their success. The first two criterion were easily tossed as a quid-pro-quo for the huge amount of money involved.
‘Masses chose who should run the government and classes decide how they should rule.’ A perfect example of Marxist theory was on display. The influence exerted by people outside the government in decisions of policy formation clearly explains the lack of system of governance.
During a recent meet only with the editors of TV channels the Prime Minister said, ‘I am not that a big culprit that I am being made of… and in coalition politics there are some give and take.’ He also emphasized the fact that ‘if some sort of compromise is not made then there would be elections every six months.’
Now to blame every shortcoming of the government on ‘coalition dharma’ may be a prudent idea but it does not augurs well for people expecting a no-compromise attitude from the government.
It is also important to ask the PM what kind of coalition dharma is he speaking of. In Tamil Nadu the DMK is in power with the support of 34 MLAs of the congress party and at the centre the congress party has 18 MP from the DMK. In case, even if hypothetical, DMK withdraws support from the Manmohan Singh government, it can still manage to complete its full term. But if it withdraws its 34 MLAs in Tamil Nadu the DMK is sure of biting the dust.
Also, the former chief minister of Maharashtra, Vilasrao Deshmukh whose name occurred in scams in Maharashtra and because of whom the Maharashtra government had to pay Rs 10 lakh to the Bombay high court, was elevated to the Union Ministry. He is a congress man. If the PM is really concerned about corruption and willing to take it ‘head-on’ why is he shying away from taking action against his own party men. Well, only the Prime Minister or the congress party is well-positioned to answer these questions if it wishes to otherwise it can wait till the next general elections and take refuge behind the ‘coalition dharma’.
