Most people in the west have been led into believing that India is a functioning democracy as good as any other. This, despite the fact that the reality on the ground is altogether different. Mere holding of elections does not mean much. The common people do not enjoy any meaningful democratic rights. All institutions that prop up a democracy in India are almost defunct and the effective power is in the hands of a small coterie of officers in the prime minister’s “house” backed by a vast array of vested interests mostly belonging to upper castes. The judiciary is corrupt and cannot be relied upon to deliver justice when a group or an individual has a dispute with the Indian state. The press is effectively controlled by certain castes and corporations that regard being on the right side of the establishment as a means of survival and prosperity. Most editors and journalists have been cither coerced into toeing the pro government line or have been “won over.” Indian parliament is a debating club and has been so regarded traditionally but of late has been less than even a debating club, Most political parties are relevant only in limited areas, All these pillars of democracy have cracked up in practice leaving the edifice on the verge of collapse. What has been happening in Kashmir and Punjab should put any democracy to shame.
The deaths of an advocate of Ropar, his wife and their 18monthold baby while in the custody of the police was not an isolated incident. Thousands of advocates of the high court of Punjab and Haryana went on a total strike for more than 50 days demanding an enquiry into the deaths but neither the Indian authorities nor the judges of the court heeded the demand and finally the advocates had to give up the strike in utter frustration. A constable of the Jammu and Kashmir police this week was killed in the custody of the Indian army and the entire police force went on a strike merely seeking registration of a criminal case against the S.P. responsible for the crime. Instead of conceding the just demand, the Indian authorities imposed a curfew. Banned the assembly of policemen and disarmed them.
In other words, India protects a criminal in the garb of its security agencies and is willing to alienate the entire police force of the state. What else could the advocates of Punjab and Haryana or the policemen of Jammu and Kashmir expect from a party cum government that does not permit even senior leaders of the ruling party itself to express their views?
This is what happened at the Surajkund A.I.C.C.(1) session last month, The dissident leaders, among them former central government ministers, had to sit in a“dhama”1o lodge their protest. And why talk of former ministers? This week the most important minister in the Rao government, Arjun Singh, had to go back from Punjab without being permitted to speak at a seminar, The stage and the chairs meant for the invitees were occupied by men close to the Punjab chief minister while the Ludhiana district administration where the seminar was organized looked the other way. Those who engineered the disruption of the seminar were promptly rewarded by the chief minister who tacitly supported the action of his supporters.
If a senior central minister like Arjun Singh is not free to speak at a public platform, what will be the plight of the common people? And what about the political opponents of the Indian central government? Not long ago, Arjun Singh had complained of his telephone being tapped by the Indian intelligence agencies. In fact, tapping of telephones of the political opponents in India by its intelligence agencies is a routine affair. All said and done, India is not much of a democracy. It is a state that is fast shedding its democratic pretensions also and is moving towards fascism.
Article extracted from this publication >> April 30, 1993
