Democracy and Emergency
Last week Narayanan sir had given his views on Democracy in India.
Cho Ramaswamy, the name brings smiles and evokes curiosity to every thinking, conscientious Tamilian. His magazine “Thuglaq” till date stands testimony to the fact that you can provide clean political satire and still be in the media business. The kind of crowd that gathers for him every Pongal eve in Chennai is to be seen to be believed. This has been the case for the past 30 years. I have lot of respect for his literary and intellectual contributions to the Tamil society.
Cho is a political analyst and commentator nonpareil.That’s his domain and he is a king in his domain. He is to politics what Subbudu is to music. Though unlike Subbudu he does not have the luxury of writing good things about his domain.
When was the last time Cho got a chance to heartily appreciate a politican?
But sometimes commentators try offering solutions. Like Sanjay Manjrekar trying to offer advice to Sachin Tendulkar on how to attack Glenn Mcgrath. For those of you who were not old enough to see Manjrekar’s brand of attacking cricket, well you did not miss anything actually. Criticizing Sachin is different because that’s a critic’s job. But actually trying to offer solutions?
India is a land mired in problems. Problems North, East, West and South. Except that its not news here. That has been the way of life. Nothing works the way it should. Corruption is rampant. Honesty is rare.
Cho’s speciality is his ability to reflect all this through his magazine, articles and other forms and convey this to the masses which might prompt them to think. In my opinion that is his role in this society. A very honorable role mind you and he has been quite phenomenal at that.
But what happens when Cho, the commentator becomes a solution provider? Its like Subbudu teaching Unnikrishnan on how to preserve his voice and the ways to practice.
I think these things are best left to the performers, however bad they are.
2004 Parliamentary elections.
Cho was interviewed by a TV Channel - Vijay TV I think.
He was asked a question on the misuse of POTA and hence the need to scrap it. And he quipped in his characteristic pungent style ” Ama, India la Constitution kooda dhaan misuse panraanga, appa Constitutionaye thookidalama? ”
(Even the Constitutional provisions has been violated and misused in India, So shall we scrap that as well?)
I was stumped. I never did think in that angle. If we go on removing things which were or are misused, what institution or law will remain in India?
Now this view really made sense to me. It is simple enough for every student of Indian politics to understand that there was no need to dismantle POTA but its implementation has to be reviewed.
And two weeks back comes a bombshell in his interview. “India is not fit for democracy. So we should go for emergency”.
Apparently what applies for POTA does not apply for democracy.
Now when you are offering an opinion on an idea as big as that, one would have thought Cho would come up with some compelling reasons for the same. Nopes. I did not find any. The only view offered is “Indians are unfit for democracy. So lets not provide Indians that privilege”
There is no explanation offered on why India’s discipline will happen only through emergency and not through any other means. There’s no analysis on what will be achieved during Emergency. “Trains will run in time” is the only scenario given.
Actually there was another,”The middle-class welcomed emerency during ‘75”. How Profound! Have you ever seen the middle class objecting to anything and taking to the street?. The middle-class will welcome anything so long as their monthly budgets remain unaffected.
Ok. lets assume Cho is right and Emergency is to be invoked. Who should lead India during that time? His choice is Advani or Vajpayee. On what basis? What makes them so good and trustworthy? What if they prove that they are not to be trusted with so much power after invoking emergency? What is the exit route then?
Is not an idea of a sweet, kind hearted, benevolent dictator as lofty as that of a sweet, kind hearted, benevolent Musharaff?
When we suggest something as radical as this, do we not provide an explanation which at least tries to address the concerns inherent in that solution?
Granted Indira Gandhi was a wrong person who invoked emergency for the wrong reason. Granted the guys Cho sees as right are in fact right and sensible. Assume they are at the helm. Will Cho provide answers to questions like emergency for how long”. Or is it the sole discretion of Advani and Vajpayee?
And since there is evidence to suggest that Indians become indisciplined once emergency is lifted, does it translate India will be under emergency for ever?
“Look at China” is another fancy slogan. As if China was a democracy till last tuesday and which showed no signs of improvement and then the citizens voluntarily renounced their freedom and today China is a super power.
In a manner not very different from a Manjrekar’s specific advice to Tendulkar on how to attack Glenn Mcgrath, I find a whole lot of gaps in Cho’s arguments. China and Singapore are not to be compared with India. What is China’s population per square kilometer? Which is bigger, Singapore or Tamil Nadu?
My take is simple. And am not even remotely suggesting it as a solution to a complex issue.
Emergency is not the answer to India’s development.
India’s Unique Selling Proposition is its human resources. India’s Unique Headache Proposition is also its human resources. Any solution which does not address this aspect but which simply tries to strangle the people’s freedom is just trying to activate a time bomb.
July 15th, 2005 at 10:32 pm
Thought provoking write-up!
Every one who wants good things to happen to india is looking for this answer.. Actually, there is no answer.. We are just floating with the time..
I think the root cause of all this trouble is that our foundation was the weak. Though, the guys who tried to have a foundation had some genuine interest. They just left it like that.. thinking in a noble sense that it will be carried forward in a nice way. Day dreams.
“India is not fit for democracy. So we should go for emergency”
CHO is right. But is that emergency which fills the space is not a question. But the first part is right!Totally!
July 15th, 2005 at 11:54 pm
A very complex issue, too many complicated solutions.
Let me tell you something, not only did the trains run in time during emergency, a good lot of those lazy Govt. officials..were are work on time. Files moved and the machinery called the Govt..worked. Please ask anyone who went thru it…who can see it without a pair of dark shades and they’ll tell you the answer.
Subbudu is a music critic and so is Sanjay and so is CHO. Let’s not go too deep into what he said and how he bailed out. Let’s enjoy his writings and take what sounds right. That’s MHO.
Why Emergency - Why doesn’t democracy work today.? Does it work? Can we call India truly democratic.? These are all questions to be answered..atleast to be thought very clearly.
How to achieve it.? How many years now from Independence. Where are we? Are we happy? Do we have the basic Infrastructure? Do we have the basic amenities….we meaning the people from cities to the smallest Hamlets.!
Choosing Advani/Vajpayee/Sonia …let’s leave that out. We need a collective handshake to decide how to handle the hopelessnesses in our society today, that is crippling our growth..and our very own ‘ Biggest democracy on Earth’.
July 16th, 2005 at 1:47 am
Very well written post. I think Cho is just a critic and I am not sure whether critisism will help us in acheiving anything at all. All I think what India requires is some education which raises self-confidence in people to face the world bravely.
July 16th, 2005 at 3:14 am
I am a die-hard fan of Cho. I have been reading his writtings since I was 10 yrs old. Any statement has its situations. I vaguely remeber he saying something like this in his “Kelvi-Pathil” few weeks ago. Not exactly as u have said. I think it was like “Yes, I admit some things were better during emergency” or something like that. If it were different please let us know the resource. Please read Cho’s “Adhirshtam thantha anubavangal” for his actions during emergency. Contrary to what kasturi says, he has played so many active roles.
July 16th, 2005 at 6:02 am
@Muthukumar
http://us.rediff.com/news/2005/jul/04spec.htm
check this URL.
This is not an attempt to apply some black Tar on Cho.
But i guess i ‘agree to disagree’ on certain aspects.
July 16th, 2005 at 6:04 am
This post has been removed by the author.
July 16th, 2005 at 6:05 am
@prabz
my only point is, if not democracy, what else? if something like democracy cannot alleviate India from its pain what else?
July 16th, 2005 at 6:13 am
@Narayanan Sir
what makes us so sure that India
(delevoping or third world country)will go only the way of Singapore and China and not the way of Pol Pot’s Cambodia?
Which is better? India or Cambodia? or some African country for that matter?
its not my argument that everything is great in India. what makes Cho so sure that he will not be arrested when emergency is invoked?
Tomorrow if Advani or Vajpayee is PM and emergency is invoked and first things first Cho is arrested what does that translate to?
That Cho is arrested by people he recommended and that means he has done soemthing bad or that Cho was wrong in advocating emergency?
oru sila problems kaaga veetaye koluthi podaradhu simple solution not a better one MHO
July 16th, 2005 at 6:15 am
@Kasthuri
thanks man:)
July 16th, 2005 at 9:08 pm
emergency is not the answer, military rule, where the govt decides wat is gud?
but mayb chos tots were motivated by bihar under pres rule when there was a crack down on mafia and criminals, no interference frm politicians u c.
wat can imporve india?
fairl simple, rather than sitting and bloggin, we shud take the plung and enter politics, ive spoken bout it in my blog,
http://srivatsanmurali.blogspot.com/2005/05/social-responsiblitytime-to-deliver.html
July 16th, 2005 at 9:21 pm
Vatsan
Cho’s thoughts are motivated by good intentions. illainu sollalai.
why should heharbour bad intentions?
President’s rule in Bihar? Evlo Naal? For ever?
Anyway see my latest post
July 16th, 2005 at 9:25 pm
Vatsan
i appreciate your boldness.
But try to go into details and see if your chances of making into politics is viable.
i salute your guts again.
Me, i have a standing admission in one univ and am not sure if i will make it coming march.
OR la varume? Adhu madhiri. too many constraints:)
Ennamo oru pozhaippu.
But ennai vida kashtathile evlavo per irukaanga:)
I am lucky i shud say…
July 16th, 2005 at 10:58 pm
Prabhu…quick question
do you think
Veedu koluthuthal = Emergency?
July 16th, 2005 at 11:11 pm
Vatsan,
Military rule in INdia.?
No chance…!
I wish.! Nothing wrong in experimenting..it good comes out of it.!
I am not sure…why people s**t in their pants..when the word Emergency is spoken.
Not sure why ‘national pride’ Kicks up when Emergency is brought up.
I am clueless.!
July 17th, 2005 at 3:41 pm
Form of a governance a country needs or best suited depends on its people and their history. Being heterogeneous nation, we need to have wider representation to understand common people’s concerns. We can’t expect to have totalitarian government just because we don’t need to consider n number of opinions before making a decision and this form can not be sustained for a long period. When people talk about china, we need to understand that they had some what stable history than us and moreover their government is officially atheist and condemn any spiritual practices. Can we afford to do the same and take away freedom of people, specially when our forefathers fought so hard for it?
Being democratic government we didn’t achieve result which we intended because of leaders we produced to lead this nation and they are reflection of our society. These leaders have carried petty differences in our societies at the political level and we cast our vote on this differences rather than on development issues. I believe we need to have good education system with strong moral & cultural values without any bias towards any ideology, so people at grass roots level can take part in democracy and seek accountability from our politicians. We can not have fruits of democracy without a nation being complete literate. I agree with prabu’s view that in current world our merit is our human resources.
July 17th, 2005 at 3:46 pm
Narayanan,
“Not sure why ‘national pride’ Kicks up when Emergency is brought up.”
Because various methods used to subjugate ones own people to suppress their freedom and their views.
“why people s**t in their pants”
Because of forceful sterilizations done during emergency, i suppose
Shuuro
July 17th, 2005 at 4:04 pm
Shuuro
thanks man. wonderful comments:)