The great Indian Tamasha … Screening April 7th

Finally its announced – Dates of 2014 General Election – Why am I even thinking about the Elections when I know it’s big ‘Nautanki’ or Tamashaa as it is commonly referred to, where people (not all but a good majority) who are known thugs/criminals/law breakers get elected to represent the ‘Aam Janata’ of India as Member of Parliament  … .. Why is that even though I feel like running away from this country(getting another chance I might do it as well), I still end up being here, end up standing in the queue and exercising my franchise every Electoral Year since 1998 and wish more of my friends and coworkers would cast their vote ?

Recently I picked up a book ‘India – From midnight to the Millennium and Beyond’ by Shashi Tharoor, nobody had recommended me reading this book, it was little out of curiosity (about Mr. Tharoor, for why he joined Indian politics when he could have continued being a UN official) and I did not have much expectation from the book; I thought I will give it a try … it turned out to be  not only a great read but many things I could identify and relate to, it broadened my views on many aspects of India and  reiterated that there are ‘My Kind of Indians’ too.

Excerpts  from ‘India – From Midnight to Millennium - Tharoor’  ‘ My kind of Indian… There are many of us, but among India’s multitude we are few. We have grown up in the cities of India, secure in National Identity rather than local one, which we express in English better than in any Indian language. We rejoice in the in the complexity and diversity of our India, of which we feel a conscious part; we have friends of every caste and religious community and we marry across such sectarian lines. We see the poverty, suffering and conflicting which a majority of our fellow citizens are mired, and we clamor for new solutions to these old problems, solution we believe can come from the skills and efficiency of the modern world. We are secular, not in the sense that we are irreligious or unaware of the forces of religion , but in that we believe religion should not determine the public policy or individual opportunity … and in Indian politics we are pretty much irrelevant …. ‘

On corruption and politicians, Tharoor quotes Rajiv Gandhi’s speech in the book  ‘ ….there can be no protection if the fence starts eating the crops. This is what has happened. The fence has started eating the crop. We have government servants who do not serve but oppress the poor and the helpless , police who do not uphold the law but shield the guilty , tax collectors who do not collect taxes but connive with those who cheats the state and whole legions whose only concern is their private welfare at the cost of society. They have no work ethics, no feeling for the public cause, no involvement in the future of the national goals, no commitment to the values of modern India. They have only a grasping mercenary outlook , devoid of competence, integrity and commitment …. Corruption is not only tolerated but even regarded as hallmark of the Leadership …’

And so we all get ready for another  great Tamasha next month …  Quoting Tharoor again from India – From M to M  ‘ .. the resultant alienation of the educated middle class means that fewer and fewer of them trouble to go to the polls on election day . …… …… Elections are a tool but the entire system needs an overhaul. There is little point in having a smooth running tractor if the field it is meant to plow is overflowing with refuse.. That is not too great a overstatement of public attitudes to Indian politics today……. ‘  ‘….the strength of the Indian democracy has always lain in its willingness to permit the expression of all varieties of political opinion … but this alone is not enough the institution of Indian democratic state must also be able to deliver what all democratic states are expected by their citizens to deliver – national security and economic prosperity …..’

Many observers of Indian Election in the past were overwhelmed to see the poor from rural India

turning out in huge numbers to vote , I hope this time the same numbers will turn out from the educated middle class urban Indians too . If the menace of corruption and criminalization of politics are not checked, and if the tainted candidates get elected every time , there is great danger that public at large will lose faith in democracy …. Though I agree Election is just one step in Democracy, but without participating in that one probably loses his/her right to keep blaming the ‘system’ the ‘Democratic System’ ….