Maryland politics

THE POLITICIANS AND THE POLITICS OF INDIA

THE POLITICIANS AND THE POLITICS OF INDIA

I have been wanting to write about our country’s political system for quite some times but could not bring myself to do it until I got an email just the other day which was like a slap in my face, and would be a slap on every Indian’s face. That email made me think that we as a population, we as citizens of this huge country are just as much a stooge as the politicians are. We are absolutely responsible for the despicable life that we lead. Then came the decision of the ruling Congress government to break Andhra Pradesh into two naming the other state as Telangana. By doing this the government actually opened the Pandora’s Box and now as of date the Mayavati government of Uttarpradesh wants a separate state by the name of Poorvanchal. The Gorkha Mukti morcha in the north West Bengal has renewed their demand for a separate state, and God only knows how many will follow suit. It seems that all the problems of our country has been solved and now only such things are left to handle and spend upon whereas the basic amenities like food clothing and shelter are yet to reach the masses. I thought I should pen my thoughts now.

The email is about the Last assembly election that was held in the month of April 2009 and went on to the month of May 2009 The details of the dates and the phases I reproduce below just to impress upon my readers that this process of conducting the assembly election is a gargantuan task undertaken every five years and to conduct this process yours and my hard earned money is spent. Crores and crores of money is spent, taxpayers money is spent to elect a representative who will sit in the highest office of the country and promulgate decisions and law that will see the effective functioning of our huge country. They will represent you and me in the .

The election schedule of the 16th assembly election 2009

1st phase: April 16, 2009 (124 seats)

2nd phase: April 23, 2009(141 seats)

3rd phase: April 30, 2009 (107 seats)

4th Phase: May 7, 2009 (85 seats)

5th phase: May 13, 2009 (86 seats

1st phase: April16 :

Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshwadeep. March 23: Issue of notification. March 30: Last date of filing nominations. March 31: Scrutiny of nomination. April 2: Last date of withdrawal of nomination

2nd phase: (A) April 22 :

Manipur. March 28: Issue of notification. April 4: Last date of filing of nomination. April 6: Scrutiny of nomination. April 8: Last date of withdrawal of nomination.

2nd phase: (B) April 23 :

Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Goa, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand. March 28: Issue of notification. April 4: Last date of filing of nomination. April 6: Scrutiny of nomination. April 8: Last date of withdrawal of nomination

3rd phase: April 30 :

Bihar, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Jammu and Kashmir, Gujarat, Sikkim, Dadar and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu.

4th Phase: May 7 :

Bihar, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Delhi. April 11: Issue of notification. April 18: Last date of filing of nomination. April 20: Scrutiny of nomination. April 22: Last date of withdrawal of nomination

5th phase: May 13 :

Himachal Pradesh,  Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Uttaranchal, Chandigarh, Pondicherry, Uttar Pradesh.

Such grueling was the schedule of this election.

It is the that works for you and me. The same group cranks out hundreds upon hundreds of Laws design , takes decisions that changes our lives in a second,to keep the rest of us in line……”

India is the world’s largest democracy. When the constitution was made, all that was put forth as the qualification to become a member of the parliament, was just the basic three things 1.should be a citizen of India 2.should be at least 25 years of age 3. Should be a registered voter. All Indian citizens above the age of 18 have the right to vote. May 2009 the world largest Democracy concluded the gigantic exercise of electing their leaders to the 16th Lok sabha term.

The difficulty in conducting this gargantuan exercise was compounded by the fact that just few months before this election in the late hours of 26th November Mumbai was attacked by terrorists and it was a nightmare for all of the residents of Mumbai. There were intelligent bureau inputs that terrorists from Pakistan would try their utmost to disrupt this election process at various locations. Nearly hundreds of terrorists from SWAT valley in the North Western frontier Province of Pakistan actually crossed the borders braving the snow and the adverse weather conditions that were prevailing during that period to give shape to their evil design. BUT the election process went on smoothly with no incidence of violence being reported from anywhere.

New York Times came out with an excellent observation which I reproduce here bellow: “True this is the place where Gandhi, Buddha, Mahavir, Guru Govind Singh were born and preached their religion. True India has the second largest population of Muslim. India truly is a picture of Unity in Diversity. India truly is a picture of the bouquet of colored flowers. In such a backdrop one would expect all the citizens to come out in force and vote for their next leaders to lead. The disappointing fact remains that there has been a very low turnout of voters, about 41% which conversely means that 59% did not cast their votes.  59% of the eligible voters stayed away from this gigantic process.”

]]>

Six months before the start of the election process campaigns were launched. There were umpteen numbers of television commercials urging each and every eligible voter to come out and vote. Famous personalities urged everyone to come out and vote. The voters ignored the commercials and the famous personalities and they did not come out to vote.

I have been delving into the psyche of each of the voters trying to think in the way they would have thought before going to cast their valuable vote, just to find an explanation for such apathy towards this huge process. The reasons that I have are not many but each of them are very pertinent.

Few years before we got the Independence, in the year 1947, the National movement had gathered a lot of steam all the political parties in India namely Congress led By Jawarharlal Nehru, The communist Party led by one of the stalwart of the freedom movement Sri Harkishen Singh surjeet, The Muslim league led by Mohammed Ali Jinnah all these leaders and the Parties had but one agenda and that was to free India from the bloody clutches of the British. The British government then realized that they will not be able to rule India further. Just before granting India the Independence the politics of separatism started and the then Stalwarts of Indian politics failed to see the implications. They failed to perceive the dubious politics of divide and rule injected by the British. The riots between Hindus and Muslim took place on both sides. Thousands and thousands of innocent people were killed on both sides. Families were separated, loved ones had to reconcile to the fate of leaving each other, and thousands were maimed. This was only because the two pillars of the then political system Jawaharlal Nehru and Mohammed Ali Jinnah The two stooges both wanted power to rule free India, neither wanting to reconcile. Mahatma Gandhi could not broker peace between them; he went on a fast but to no avail and ultimately Pakistan was created and Mohammed Ali Jinnah was its premier where as Jawarharlal Nehru became the prime minister of free India.

From then till today the politics of separatism has continued and we the gullible and not so intelligent citizens of India time and again fell into the traps of this politics of separatism. We have always failed to realized that these politicians have but one agenda in todays free India and that is to seat in the chair of power by hook or by crook, mainly by crook. We are used as pawn in the game of numbers  where we are the vote bank and to garner our support the bloody politicians can go to any extent. Look at the latest inclusion in the history of politics of separatism. Raj Thakare. His MNS, Maharashtra Nirman Sena. The word nirman is synonymous with progress and here he is brutally attacking the youngsters who came to give entrance examination of the railway recruitment board. Constitution of India has given the right to every citizen of India to go anywhere in India in search of job ,a citizen can work anywhere in India and here Mr Raj thakare is used his political clout to stop Indians ,who had come from Uttarpradesh and Bihar, from sitting in this exams. Supreme court guarantees the freedoms as prescribed in the constitution. Raj Thakare’s men and goons assaulted the candidates and vandalized the exam center forcing the authorities to cancel the exam. For such dastardly act Raj Thakare should have been behind bars but today he is free man and on the contrary he is at times a guest of honor in some stupid functions. Seeing this, the citizens of India will have a total aversion to go in the hot April sun to vote for someone like a goon named Raj Thakare . Politicians try to divide us on the basis of Language, on the basis of caste, on the basis of class and on the basis of Religion only to garner a sufficient number of voters by virtue of which they might come to power. In doing so none of the Political leader in this country has actually thought about the country and its people. Crores and Crores of rupees were spent in changing the names of the cities like Mumbai from Bombay, like Kolkata from Calcutta, Like Bangaluru from Bangalore. Question is what is the need to do these changes?  Have the politicians solved every problem that the country is facing? Even after sixty two years of Independence the election manifesto is the same. Housing for all, Food for all and medical for all. There is no change in the manifesto of any political party in India because the root problems have never been dealt with. Every Party that was in the fray for this election had their agenda printed in glossy prints and each party promised electricity to the rural India, water good road etc etc. Come to think of it, from 1947 till date 2009 the agenda is the same which means that any party that comes to the power does practically nothing for the masses once they come in power. Before election they are epitome of humbleness but soon after they come in power they forget whatever they promised to the masses and the agenda that they printed on the glossy pages remains in the glossy pages for ever. Hence we find that even after 62 years of independence good roads, electricity to the rural areas, water, shelter and illiteracy still finds place in the agendas after agenda and the population has to fend for themselves for the basics. Year after Year funds are allocated to implement the agenda and the funds mysteriously disappear.

Politicians like Raj Thakare should have been punished in the strongest possible manner but the lackadaisical attitude of our judiciary when it comes to the question of punishing the politicians raise lots of doubt in the psyche of the common Indians. Nothing is going to happen to these goons. The law, the police, The judiciary is all for the common Man. The law of the land does not apply to people like Raj Thakare, like Papu Yadav and the likes who blatantly defile the Constitution of India. Such politicians are actually the terrorist that India as a country should be aware of, as these breeds of politicians are breaking the country from within. We do not need a foreign hand our own hand is doing the work of the foreign hand.

Therefore the psyche of the voters is that all the politicians are the same , they are basically the opposite sides of the same coin, anybody and everybody is the same and nothing is going to change. The low turnout in the election shows resignation among the voters.

Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar when he made the constitution he basically compiled the constitution from the various constitution of the world. He took the best points from various constitutions and made into one. No doubt this was a mountainous job and very well executed, but this constitution has one basic flaw. There is no restriction to the number of political parties that can be formed in this country. Anybody who is a citizen of India can launch a political party of his own with even a handful of supporters. There is no cap on the minimum qualification of the political aspirant. With the constitutional right and with no cap on qualification any criminal today is a political aspirant and he or she is accepted in the political system without any question. Politics therefore in India has become a haven of criminals of all types. From rapist to smugglers, from murderers to petty crimes the political parties cutting across all ideology has only them as their candidates. Such people only join the political system to escape from the law as they very well know that as long as they are in power or once they are in power they will get immunity from all the crimes that they have committed and will have total sanction of the government to perpetrate more crimes. We the people of India have to caste our votes to bring one of them in power. Why should we? The statistics of the parliament profile which I stated in the beginning of this article precisely shows that.

Again the psyche of the voters refrains them from going out in the April sun to cast their vote. Whom to vote for? Every politician irrespective of the Party is a goon, a rapist, a criminal, a murderer and cutting across every political party the politician is the most corrupt person in India and No law can do anything to them.

There is a phrase very common in India, “A politician can even sell his mother if he can get some money out of it”. If all the black money that these politicians have stashed away is brought to the country there would be no deficit financing. All the loans that India has taken would be mitigated, all the projects that are stuck due to paucity of funds would be completed, and even after this there would be surplus which would then be utilized in the R & D in all scientific fields. That would be UTOPIA.  So whom do we vote for? We don’t want a stupid, illiterate, murderer, rapist, burglar and a corrupt person to be our leader and sit in the highest office –THE PARLIAMENT. This is the general sentiment among all Indians. This shows that by far the most the population of India has resigned to its fate of being ruled by a bunch of idiots and criminals.

Is there any answer to all these? When I was in my school way back in 1977 I was given a topic of debate which was, “Dictatorship is the only answer to India’s misery” and I spoke for the topic. Today I feel that it is the answer to India’s misery. During Indira Gandhi’s time when she was the prime minister of our country she had declared emergency in the country. During that period the country showed tremendous growth, crime rates came down, corruption came down drastically and everything seemed to be running smoothly.

We as country we are not ready for democracy. We still do not understand the value of democracy. Pre Independence we all had but one issue and that was to drive away the British. Then one midnight in the year 1947 India was declared independent and we from then on have not understood the value of independence and democracy. Some say that India is heading towards civil war but violence is not the answer to India’s misery. Violence begets violence. The answer lies in the Total overhaul of the system.

Let me enumerate the steps that should be taken to bring about a radical change in the lives of us Indians.

1. The minimum qualification for all political aspirants should be at least a master’s degree in any field as this will bring about an analytical approach to all the issues.

2. There should be a cap on the total number of political parties that India can have.

3. No political aspirant who has any brush with the law should be allowed to stand in the election. The maximum age of all the politicians serving the country should be 65 year only. Post 65 they should retire and make way for younger and more dynamic persons to come in. today most of our politicians are septuagenarians who cannot even take care of themselves how will they take care of the nation and its aspiration?

4. There should be total accountability in the functioning of the government.  A step in this direction has begun recently with the RTI act which is note worthy.

5. The law order situation should go under the knife and have a total overhaul. Police should be autonomous delinked from the political parties and the politicians. Judiciary should be able to discharge justice in the shortest possible time, it is a common adage, “justice delayed is Justice denied” Law and order should be same for everybody irrespective of their position. Politicians should have no control on the Police.

6. Every citizen from the age of 18 to the age of 20 should have compulsory military training as this will instill a sense of discipline and a love for our country.

We as a power can make the government act according to our requirement and make them implement the above we can at least give our future generation a better India of which they can be proud of.

Source: ArticlesBase.com

The Upcoming Memoirs of The Doyen of Krio Politicians: SAJ Pratt’s Political Legacy !

Following recent press publications that a “soon to be published” memoir of Hon. S.A.J Pratt was imminent, I have since remained cautiously hopeful that just by its publication, one critical disservice by most of Sierra Leone’s politicians to our nation is at last being put to pasture. The paucity of the memoir genre in the political history of the country reflects poorly on the political elite, whose penchant for unaccountability only partly explains this status quo. The failure by political leaders and elites generally to provide a written accounting to the citizens and posterity, of the reasons and meaning for political events and decisions undertaken on their behalf, has been a long standing vexing concern among political scientists, commentators and historians in understanding the political culture and practice of our country.

As a piece of autobiographical writing, a memoir generally embraces the full breath of the writer’s career and relevant national events that require contemplation, reflection and meaning. Thus, the publication of the memoirs of a politician once dubbed by the celebrated historian, Christopher Fyfe as “the doyen of Krio politicians”; a learned technocrat and leading politician with service to our country spanning over decades, both nationally and internationally cannot be more timely in bringing about some perspective and meaning to most of the decisions of both the SLPP, under whom he served as a senior economic policy adviser and the APC administration under which he served in senior cabinet positions.

For our nation is only placed in a position of learning and understanding, both the positive and negative aspects from the past, with a view of forestalling and preventing repetition of prior mistakes; when the decision makers or parties privy to the decision making process objectively critique their decisions and those of their contemporaries through such written media as the political memoir.

As a student of Sierra Leone politics and history from an early age, one memoir of a Sierra Leone politician that I have always yearned to read is that of Mr. S.A.J Pratt, whose political experiences spanning the period from independence, the SLLP administrations of both Sir Milton Margai and Sir Albert Margai and the prominent ministerial positions and roles played by him in the APC administration of President Siaka Stevens, must help elucidate on decisions and events that have largely shaped the development, or lack thereof of our nation.

Memoirs by President Tejan-Kabbah and other members of the erstwhile SLPP government, especially Dr. Sama Banya, who also served in high cabinet positions under both the APC and SLPP and former vice-president, Solomon Berewa would also greatly help in shedding scholarship on some of the nation’s recent history, economic strategies and the civil war period. Political and historical scholarship, that by and large continues to remain largely in the domain of newspaper articles, mostly devoid of analytical depth and contributions by the major participants.  These politicians would be providing our nation an invaluable service by penning memoirs of their experiences in government, how and why monumental policy decisions were made during the civil war and subsequent decisions pertaining to events surrounding the path of development, executions of people perceived as collaborators, implementation of various peace accords and the decision relative to the arrest of Chief Hinga Norman, among just a few.

]]>

Political discourse among Sierra Leone’s active and retired political elite has remained relatively barren as participants have remained largely mute in discussing and publishing policy positions, while running for offices and memoirs of their experiences in government, after they leave or retire from politics.  The written historical accounts of our political leaders’ participation in major socio-economic and political events have thus largely remained non-existent.

The absence of archival records into how, who and why in governmental deliberations and policy formulation by governance institutions, especially as relates to the presidency and executive arm of government, remains a cause for grave concern. For example, since independence there has existed a cabinet secretariat, which even with the change in administrations stubbornly refuses to divulge the participation of our highest political leaders in decisions that have shaped the country. A legal mechanism, such as the proposed Freedom of Information Act, being currently lobbied by civil society groups in Sierra Leone will help ease such constraints both on intellectual discourse of policy decisions and or a reassessment of historical decisions.

One such historical decision that I hope the S.A.J Pratt memoir can shed a greater light on is the decision by the Siaka Stevens government to close the railway system in Sierra Leone by 1974. A national railway system, which initially started operations in 1897, at the time the first in British West Africa, that by 1907 had traversed through Waterloo into the hinterland of Songo, Rotifunk, Bo, Baiima, Kenema and down to the eastern most reaches of Pendembu. This railway network which by 1914 had reached Makeni and subsequently Kamabai was rather brought to an ignoramus closing, not only by having the company ceasing operations, but with all railway tracks being uprooted throughout the entire 311 mile stretch, remains one of Sierra Leone’s dumbest political decisions for which no politician has adequately explained their role to the people and or taken responsibility.

As a former general manager of the Sierra Leone Railways, Minister Pratt’s policy positions on the closing and sale of the locomotives, coaches, rail tracks and property of the railways during the Siaka Stevens regime will be highly anticipated. What national policy reasons were adduced by the proponents of such a proposal that to all intents and purposes must be seen now, even by the original proponents, as a major catalyst for Sierra Leone’s underdevelopment? Some have even postulated that the absence of the railways greatly inhibited the government’s response to the RUF rebel attacks and the resultant prolongation of the war. Glaringly, the demise of productive commerce in the country can be attributed largely to the closing of the only reliable transportation network in the country, resulting in our transformation of producers and exporters of various agricultural commodities into a nation of importers of even our staple food, rice.

Another area of keen review will be the establishment of the one-party state and the driving force behind such mass disenfranchisement of political dissent in the country during the 1978 to 2001 period. This period also saw the rampant “cross-carpeting” from the opposition to the APC, as is again being manifested, through coercive and other unconstitutional measures culminating into opposition party leaders nearly all assuming positions in the APC government.

Does he sense any similarity in the reported push by the new-APC to absorb opposition political parties and thus ultimately weaken and establish a new one-party state? What lessons can be learnt from the above two political currents of which he was confronted while a senior cabinet member in all of Siaka Stevens APC administrations from 1968 through his retirement from elective office. Aside of the principle of collective responsibility for cabinet decisions, it would be worthy to have Mr. Pratt’s take on the debates and protagonists that shaped our nation’s

Finally, as the memoir of Professor S.A.J Pratt is slated to be released, we wish to encourage other historical political figures privy to decision making processes on behalf of our nation since independence, to avail of themselves the written memoir genre to explain, reflect on and offer perspectives of their participation in events that for good or ill has shaped the course of our history.  The archives of socio-political and economic policy decisions by successive governments, especially in the cabinet secretariat and in ministries, departments and agencies (MDA) must be made available to scholars so posterity can learn from mistakes and accurately apportion responsibilities.

Source: ArticlesBase.com