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Election fever is
here again. Within one month in Kashmir, after four months in Gujarat, in less
than a year in nine other states, to be followed by the Lok Sabha elections.
While the parliamentary outfits are moving into high-pitch, those little
interested in the event are being cajoled, coaxed, ‘persuaded’, even threatened
to participate in the event. Why this sudden interest to join the "mainstream"?
Surely, even in a bourgeois democracy, all have as much of a right, not only to
choose one set of scoundrels or another, but also to choose none at all. Also,
surely one has the option of not joining in with the scoundrels.
In Kashmir this
‘coaxing’ reached ridiculous proportions. First, the Centre sought to persuade
the Hurriayat leaders to participate. When this failed they jailed the more
‘hard-line’ ones, utilizing a combination of threats and baits of release, to
get them to participate. When these tough measures did not work, they floated
the Kashmir Committee, who too sought to get their commitment of participation
using mild methods of persuasion. Finally, a host of officials from Europe and
America swarmed into Kashmir, with just one message — participate in the
democratic process.
‘Democratic process’,
‘mainstream’, et al, have become the touchstone to implement the Bush-formula in
India "if you are not with us, you are with the terrorists". Forget about
the ordinary Kashmiri, whose only knowledge of earlier elections has been
violent rigging and extracting votes at gun-point, what about the common man in
India? What is his experience? Ignore for the moment past examples of
booth-capturing, rigging, bribing, distributing liquor/money/saris for votes,
caste-based elections, communal-based elections, etc. etc, what have been the
fruits of victory?
The ordinary man in
the street, not only the very poor but also the middle classes think that in
this past half centaury, though all parties have been in power at one time or
the other, while some people have gained enormous benefits, their own situation
has in fact deteriorated. Particularly in the last decade it has worsened like
anything. All basic necessities have got more expensive, incomes have gone down,
even the little that was saved has disappeared in the bank scams, and now their
children see no scope for any decent job. A nightmarish future faces their
families. What then is the purpose of this ‘democratic process’ and what is the
use in joining the ‘mainstream’ if, through it, only others gain at their
expense? This is a common-sense simple doubt that any thinking person would
face, when asked by the host of parties to vote. And, if this ‘mainstream’ does
not give the answer, they will quite obviously look elsewhere. And if no viable
alternative is available it is quite possible they clutch on to any prop, even
if it is fundamentalist.
Besides, what do they
see around them that would increase their confidence in the ‘mainstream’? Bank
scams, UTI scams, defence scams, petrol pump scams, land scams, fodder scam,
stationary scams, rice scams and hundreds of other such small and big scams!
While the effects of the drought continue to ravage the countryside, the
government releases a mere Rs.1,200 cores (that too, a lot of this is in the
form of sub-standard, rotten, foodgrains), while it decides to raise a massive
Rs.36,000 crores to reimburse the country’s two major financial institutions (IDBI
& IFCI) and the biggest mutual trust, UTI, of monies robbed from it by the big
business/TNC/bureaucrat/ politician combine. Any ordinary person would think why
is this ‘mainstream’ so insensitive to the lakhs starving and dying in the
countryside, and yet so sensitive to the scamsters?
Then they see the
gigantic Rs.2,500 crore petrol-pump scam. While for most of us it is difficult
to earn a few rupees these days, the RSS/BJP combine in just the last two years
gifted away 1,372 petrol pumps, 1,604 LPG gas agencies and 236 Kerosene Centres
to their associates and relatives. In order to do this, they arbitrarily changed
the guidelines of the Dealer Selection Boards (DSBs) in Nov.2000, where they
gave veto powers to the chairperson, and the dictatorial authority of the
petroleum ministry to change any chairperson, without issuing any notice. It is
said that for every pump the bribe was in the range of Rs.40 lakhs; the earnings
at these petrol pumps will, of course, be in crores. Those who benefited, to
name just a few: Arpana Mishra, the wife of the nephew of the Prime Minister
(the application was addressed from Vajpayee’s own house in Lucknow); then the
relatives of: RSS’s chief spokesperson of Maharashtra, M.G.Vaidya; Maharashtra’s
BJP chief Pandurang Phundkar; Maharashtra’s BJP leader and ex-Deputy CM,
Gopinath Munde; Shiv Sena MP, Chandrakant Khaire; Bihar’s BJP President, Nand
Kishore Yadav; Bihar Samta Party leader, Prabhnath Singh; Karnataka BJP chief,
B.S.Yediyurappa; Karnataka, leader of the opposition in the Assembley, Jagdish
Shettar; petroleum minister, Ram Naik in Belgaum; in Tamil Nadu Union Minister,
A.K.Moorthy; PMK president from Salem, G.K.Mani; in Gujarat, BJP MP from Godhra,
Bhupendra Solanki; in Jharkhand, the CM, Babulal Marandi; etc.
What strikes any
ordinary person is that if the laws of the land can be so blatantly changed by
the ‘mainstream’ to benefit those in power, does joining the ‘mainstream’ only
mean that they too get the opportunity to join up with the gangsters and share
in the booty? Is that the meaning of the ‘mainstream’? Barely, is this scam off
the headlines, that we find prime land in the very capital of the country — in
Delhi’s most posh localities — given away to ‘pure’ RSS elements at throw-away
prices.
The next major scam
to hit the headlines was the land scams involving the top echelon of the BJP/RSS
combine. The very BJP’s new chief, Venkaiah Naidu, was caught with having
usurped 40 acres of land two decades back, that was meant to be distributed to
the poor SC/ST of that village. After being caught out, he meekly said that he
would distribute 5 acres of it, thereby proving his guilt. In addition, in the
last two years the Urban Development Ministry have gifted away prime land in
Delhi’s posh Vasant Vihar, Rouse Avenue, Mehrauli, etc areas at one-tenth the
market rates. Under the pretext of being education intuitions, those to gain
include the former and incumbent Urban Development Ministers, Jahmohan and
Ananth Kumar, and also the minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office,
Vijay Goel. This scam too goes into crores as the land gifted were in prime
localities.
Then if we turn to
some of the States the picture of the ‘mainstream’ is not much better. In
Punjab, though corruption has always been high, it is said to have reached
record levels during the BJP-backed SAD (Shiromani Akali Dal) rule. At present,
three ex-ministers of the earlier SAD government, including the ex-Public Works
Minister and the Education minister, are in jail on criminal charges involving
crores of rupees. Badal himself is being accused of having stashed away
thousands of crores abroad.
In Andhra Pradesh the
‘mainstream’ while continuously asking the PW to join them, have been busy
minting crores from food taken away from the starving millions. Roughly, 40% of
the Rs3,500 crores gifted by the Centre for the food-for-work programme, has
been siphoned off, much of it being re-sold to the FCI at Rs.9 per kg. Added to
this Rs.1,400 crore scam has been the stationary scam where the Panchayati Raj
minister (now resigned) also siphoned off crores. Does Naidu also want the PW to
give up their service to the poor and join his ‘mainstream’, to loot money meant
for the poor and starving?
The list can go on
and on, but the common person would be wondering as to where such crores of
money comes from, when for themselves a few thousands is so difficult to come
by. After all, just Rs.1 crore would be equal to the yearly income of some 200
middle-class families, and these people are involved with hundreds, nay
thousands, of crores! Ours is supposed to be a poor country, but if we look at
the amounts they deal with, it would not seem so. Certainly there is much to
gain by joining the ‘mainstream’.
Then, it is from
scams to murders. In Delhi three Congress(I) leaders murdered in the course of
just one week — those involved are other Congress(I) leaders. Top BJP Central
minister, Pramod Mahajan, is accused for the murder of a young senior reporter
of the Indian Express. Obviously, this ‘mainstream’ is not a very safe place.
Who knows how many more are bumped off, and the issue hushed up because of their
power and influence at the top. The common man may think it is better to die
fighting for the country like Bhagat Singh or the large number of Naxalites,
rather than meet a death fighting over the spoils of money and power!! Anyhow,
for the moment he may join neither and just stay silent in the elections,
refusing to give legitimacy to a mafia that goes in the name of being part of
the political ‘mainstream’. If that too is not allowed, and he/she is forced to
vote at gun-point………..
Anyhow, before
deciding either way he/she will definitely turn from viewing the individual
politicians to look at the political scenario as a whole. After all they may
feel though the individuals may be bad the system may be good. But the situation
is not very encouraging there too. They see that all those of the ‘mainstream’
appear to have no difference on economic policy, and it is this that affects
their lives and future. All support economic reforms and seem unconcerned about
its disastrous outcome on their lives. So, the first thing that comes to the
mind, is why so many parties in the ‘mainstream’ when all, in essence, have a
common policy. And if there is a choice, it is only one that allows for choosing
different individuals of the ‘mainstream’ to implement a common policy. But, it
is quite obvious that the policy is flawed, and needs to be dumped into the sea.
What then of the ‘mainstream’?
At this the CPI/CPM
and Congress would yell: you are blind, you cannot see the difference between
us secular people and the communal elements of the ‘mainstream’. They say:
we do not ask you to join those elements, but vote for the secular part of
the ‘mainstream’ — nay, even join us and strengthen our hands. That is
indeed a point to ponder over for the common man. What do they see? First, the
disgusting holocaust at Gujarat, where men were butchered in their hundreds,
where women were raped, their fetuses cut open, full bastis burnt down,
their property looted, and thousands displaced. This butchery is clearly
sponsored by the BJP’s top leadership, with the Chief Minister, Modi, acting as
their hatchet man. Such brutalities on innocent people are only possible by
demented maniacs or Hitlerian fanatics — or both. You say you are different, but
your entire political class have really done nothing to bring those responsible
for these heinous crimes, to justice. On the contrary the prime conspirator,
Advani, is promoted to become deputy prime minister, and the chief executioner,
Modi, has become the chief mascot of the BJP’s present electoral plank. His ‘gaurav
rath yatra’ is flanked off by its top leaders, where Modi spouts poison
against Muslims, in a most vile, denigrating and gutter language.
And in this
environment what do we see of your ‘secular’ alternative. West Bengal Chief
Minister cosying up to a new relationship with none other than Advani. And as
for the Congress, being once the very initiators of this Hindutva trend, is
seeking to compete with the Sangh Parivar on their grounds. The head of the
Congress(I) in Gujarat, Shakarsinh Waghela, himself an ex RSS man, out-smarted
Modi by conducting the puja at the Bhatiji Maharaj temple, on the very day that
the rath yatra was to take off on Sept.3. While Modi postponed the yatra to the
eighth, Waghela, not only pushed the Hindu card by a hysterical speech against
cow slaughter (Bhatiji Maharaj was a kshatriya who fought for the protection of
cows), but used his upper caste status (Kshatriya) to denigrate the OBC Modi,
referring to him as "Ganchi saheb" — Ganchis are OBCs. Accusing
the BJP of planning to open 60,000 slaughter houses in the country, Waghela,
with all upper caste arrogance thundered " we will not allow a single
slaughter house in the State ………. do not allow the BJP leaders to enter the
temple of Bhathiji, who sacrificed his life for the protection of cows".
With such
‘secularists’, the Hindutva fanatics have a field day. No wonder the minorities
and dalits, who are at the receiving end, find it difficult to trust this
‘mainstream’, not knowing when they will be stabbed in the back, for political
gain. And with the BSP, not only forming a government in UP with these fascists,
but even legitimizing the Modi-types within it, the disgust for the ‘mainstream’
is getting even deeper.
Finally, the common
man is faced with one last quandary, if all are the same, why are they
continuously at loggerheads with each other. The fact of the matter is that it
is only a dog-fight over the spoils of money and power. As can be seen, not only
is the fight between the various parties sharpening even that within the parties
is reaching a crescendo. The exposures of frauds within the Sangh parivar is the
handiwork of none other than from members within their own gang — those who
failed to get a ‘rightful’ share in the booty. Within the Congress, it has
reached the level of murders. These VIPs hands are so bloodied, that their
hundreds of black-cats, are to protect them, not only from the anger of the
masses, but also from their own kin, with back-stabbing having reached
monumental proportions.
And as the crisis in
the economy deepens and imperialist contradictions sharpen, these infights will
only grow. They will not be allowed to enjoy their massive loot in peace. On the
one hand the contradictions between the vast masses, who will be reduced to even
further penury, and these robber-barons will get acute; on the other hand the
mad scramble for the dwindling cake amongst them, will sharpen. This will open
the doors to great new possibilities for advance of the genuine democratic and
revolutionary forces. No doubt, pushed to the wall, they will hit back with
blind fury, state terrorism will be stepped up; yet, the social base for the
growth of democratic forces will widen, cornering them in their isolated
enclaves.
The ‘mainstream’ is
already highly polluted; it is fast turning into a gutter-stream. Only goons,
robbers, gangsters, murderers, rapists, and their friends could think of joining
it. As the saying goes: birds of a feather flock together. For the
honest, justice-loving, genuine democrats there are definite alternatives.
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