There is no running away from the polls

PUCL Bulletin, May 2004 24th JP Memorial Lecture JP’s Quest - By Kuldip Nayar

JP’s movement was for cleansing. Although the target was Mrs. Indira Gandhi’s autocratic and corrupt rule, JP raised the larger question of propriety and morality in public life. Ultimately, the movement developed into people’s wrath against the mode of governance. Strange, the elite remained distant. Cocooned in its own way of living and thinking, it did not participate in what looked risky. The elite was simply afraid. Others too caved in. Even the press which was asked to bend began to crawl. The JP movement was a failure because it evoked very little response when the time came. As Mrs. Gandhi put it, not even a dog barked. People were not inspired with lofty ideals of liberty and fair play to rise against Mrs. Indira Gandhi’s dictatorial ways. They were where they were: cowards.

We, human rights activists and civil liberty workers, cannot run away from the blame. We have failed to stall the advancement of saffronisation. Even the areas where we have worked for years are not free from communalism. In Rajasthan where human rights activists successfully won the right to information, the BJP has captured two-third of state assembly seats. The places where we claim to have the deepened influence at the grassroots went totally to the BJP.The point which we must consider is where we have gone wrong. Why the saffronisation is reaching places where we are in touch with people all the time. Are we short in our commitment?

In fact, the larger question which all human rights activists and civil liberty workers must face is why communalism is raising its ugly head once when we gained some strength.The obvious inference is that it is Mahatma Gandhi’s sacrifice which saved us for more than four decades. The Sangh Parivar could not cross even the double digit figure in the Lok Sabha. Is it because of the contamination of the educated middle class? Is it the defeat of secular ideology at the hands of communal entities?

Whatever the reason, we cannot minimise our failure. We must analyse why we have not been able to convince the people among whom we have worked that parochialism and sectarianism come in the way of their own welfare and that of the country’s development. I hope that our own ranks are free from the taint of communalism and casteism.While taking stock of our work and approach, we should ask ourselves: is it sufficient to confine ourselves to the filed work? Why have we been shunning elections? Is it because of fear to loss? Still at the time of polling we have taken interest in elections and voted for non-BJP forces because they, we believe, are a lesser evil.

Let us admit that there is no running away from the polls in a democratic setup. If we want a peaceful transition in the country, Parivartan, we have to get into Parliament and state assemblies. We cannot sit back and see the misuse of power by those who have no faith in the ideals we pursue or the changes we want to bring about. I concede that it may take us a long time to win a majority but even then the presence of some of us in Parliament and the state assemblies will make the difference. At present we run after MPs and MLAs to ensure that our voice is heard at the places where the decisions are taken. While in Rajya Sabha, I recall that the briefing by Aruna Roy from Rajasthan helped me in the Parliamentary committee on Home Affairs to have amendments made in the legislation on the Right to information.

Although JP favoured a party-less government, he conceded that there had to be a government which would need to be captured through election. He proved it after the emergency by sweeping the polls. Mahatma Gandhi used the Congress party as his instrument for the struggle to oust the British. We should have some platform, some forum, which people come to identify with clean and credible alternative. It will be tough going but we should be prepared for failures in the beginning. In the process we may initiate some thinking among the naxalite and other similar groups that power will not come through the mouth of cannons but through the elected bodies which wield power.

Many may find such efforts confusing and feel that elections may divert our attention from the real problem. There is no more pressing problem than making people free from poverty. The state power is necessary for any meaningful effort to do so. If the nation is to preserve the fundamental values of a democratic society, there is no option. The JP movement ultimately had to capture power. But, how do we ensure that the people sent to the Parliament and the state assemblies do not behave the way in which the Janata party did. There will have to be two wings - one consisting of those who are engaged in legislative business and the other of those who do constructive work. Both should be answerable to a central body. Mahatma pursued the same line when leading the struggle for independence.

JP said he would invite some more people, especially economists, to think afresh. Ideologies, he said, had failed to find an answer to the country’s problems. Something new had to be done and soon. He admitted that neither socialism, nor any other ism, would bring the desired result. There should be a new economic policy to give priority to the basic problems of people. JP wanted real social and economic progress to usher in and believed that it would not happen until the opportunity was given to an ordinary man and woman to develop. The touchstone was how far any political or social theory made the individual to rise above his petty self and think in terms of the good of all. Home Index What's new