Indian Political Scene

Indian democracy as conceived by the founding fathers. Our highly unique Constitution is five decades old by now. And hence, according to a section of scholars the constitutional scheme and democratic parliamentary mechanism as well, require a close scrutiny with special reference to its successes and failures - especially in the light of the working of various democratic institutions such as - the legislative, executive and judicial bodies, the Election Commission, the Finance Commission, the Planning Commission and various such other bodies. The suggestion - according to many other experts, certainly deserves all commendation and should be taken up for a serious public debate.

Yet, if there is any motivated attempt aimed at reviewing the document - the process need not be addressed as an attempt to review, but could just be to correct certain anomalies. Above all, the NDA government has not by now succeeded in convincing the nation that it doesn’t any longer continue to be a prisoner of Hindutva philosophy. Internal contradiction coupled with its failures do not lend it the required moral authority to tamper with the document. Evidently, during the past five decades of its working, the Constitution has been put through a variety to tortuous processes of amendments by various successive governments, more to attain their own partisan and party agen­das than to promote national welfare, and as a result of all that, the sacred document has begun to lose its sanctity. Whatever it be, any attempt to change, modify amend or review the Constitution ­should be taken up only in the public glare and all modalities of such an operation should be totally transparent and involve a deep cross-section of highly accomplished intellectuals from all walks of life.

India today enters the new millennium with a wild variety of complex and notorious intricate social, economic and political problems that are eating into the vitals of the Nation. Though India has made long strides in industry, agriculture, irrigation, education, social welfare, science and technology - it is not to be ignored that there are as many as 300 million illiterates. Nearly fifty percent of the people are poor or below the poverty line, and at the same time fifty percent of our land has not been put to proper cultivation. Lakhs of villages do not have safe and protected drinking water facilities, no approach roads, no schools, no public health centres and - “Social and economic disparities have widened and in the fair name of democracy, caste and anti-secular forces have been further fortified”. Regionalism, linguistic chauvinism, communalism and fundamentalism are there constantly at the vicious game of destabilising the nation and terrorising the masses. There is also no denying the fact that the country ought to come to grips with various other problems of regional, national and international nature.

Constitutional document - even without being resorted to any reviewing process could be given the required strength, through incorporation of recommendations made by Commissions and Committees appointed by various governments of India in the past. Highly valid and valuable recommendations offered by the Administrative Reforms Commission and the Sarkaria Commission would be of immense help to any government in furthering the efficient functioning of the Constitution.

Presently, as the nation has accepted the philosophy of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation as part of its economic life - the constitutional scheme of socialism and political sovereignty as a corollary of economic sovereignty are at risk. Opening up of our markets to various countries in the world, has its own tremendous impact on the social, economic and political aspects of life of the masses in the developing countries and efforts are clearly visible on the part of the developed countries to dictate terms and conditions of trade and commerce to the rest of the world to the disadvantage of the developing countries. It is a praiseworthy achievement that India has successfully sent the right signals on behalf of the developing countries to all the developed countries during the recent Seattle Third Ministerial Conference of the WTO. Therefore, hereafter India should necessarily adopt a policy of cautions optimism.

Appointment of Governors, Article 356, Reservation of Bills for President’s consideration, President’s powers and functions, distribution of funds between the Centre and the States, along with many other issues have become notoriously political in nature. Of late, the problem relating to the position, powers, functions and privileges of the representatives of the people also has begun to assume dangerous proportions with enough potential to wreck the legislative bodies and hence, should be looked into immediately without any further delay. The position of the Speaker - either of the Parliament or that of any state Legislative Assembly deserves a very close scrutiny as to present him from becoming a democratic dictator. His role especially in deciding the position on splits in parties, ‘defections and disqualification of members’, should be treated as a priority issue to be tackled efficiently at the earliest.

Accountability, ability, sincerity and commitment on the part of the members of all representative bodies and other groups should necessarily be governed by a strict code of conduct. As the campaigning methods, procedures and various techniques adopted by the political parties for their respective candidates are degenerating the parliamentary democracy into a hopeless farce, measures should be initiated to make the democratic exercise more meaningful and rational.

Finally, we need to look at the concept of ‘secularism’ as conceived and promoted by the members of the Constituent Assembly. It has lost its meaning and place of pride over the years as it has been reduced to a political ploy for gaining votes. In the words of a learned commentator. “In modern India ‘secularism has been converted into a mischievous slogan by unscrupulous politicians and their journalistic cohorts. Secularism as a concept is commonly understood today as a force contrary to moral and spiritual values”.

At the international level, the loss of face suffered by the government on accounts of the mismanagement of Kargil and Kandahar have bitter lessons for India to learn. However, it should be of some consolation to India that the American Assistant Secretary of State of South Asia, Mr. Karl Inderfurth had conveyed his country’s strong message to Pakistan - saying that Pakistan should take all necessary measures as immediately as possible to desist from supporting cross border terrorism with India. While making the point clear that Pakistan was there at the of the hijacking ­drama, America has demanded that the democratic process should be initiated by those in power in Pakistan at the earliest. Again, the American President’s visit to India boosts up India’s image and would as well certainly grant the most required moral and psychological support to it to tackle many other international problems from a position of strength. Of late, India is being dragged into dealing with the issue of Karmapa Lama’s crossing over into India from China. Though the issue is highly sensitive, India appears to have been handling the situation discreetly by keeping all options open.