We can, and
we must, bring the change in India
Democracy means Government “for the people” but
unfortunately, today, the people chosen by us to form the Government have
forgotten that they exist to serve the people.
The people chosen by us and who are part of the government have become so
arrogant, stubborn and defiant that they are concerned only about themselves
rather than concerned for the public. On one hand they say ‘no one is above law’
but when it comes to them, they change the law !
The Hon’ble Supreme Court of India did a very good
thing to cleanse the Indian politics by passing Judgment on 10th
July 2013 that those politicians who have been convicted by a competent court will
automatically cease to be MP or MLA and they will not be able to contest the
elections unless acquitted in appeal. This order would have wiped out hundreds
of politicians of dubious character and criminal background from the mainstream
which would have ushered in a new India free of corruption, crime and violence.
However, unfortunately, our politicians have stooped so low that instead of
appreciating such a step, they are passing law in Parliament to undo this judgment
of the Supreme Court ! Surprisingly, almost all political parties and politicians
have consented to undo the Supreme court judgment. By doing so, they are infact
endorsing, promoting and encouraging the criminals and their activities. For
passing laws concerning welfare for the people, they take years but for passing
such laws which are against the interest of the nation and in their own
personal interest, they take just few days !
Similarly, a judgment was passed by the Central Information
Commission (CIC) on 3rd June 2013 under the RTI Act that all political parties
are discharging public functions and are covered under RTI Act and are
therefore liable to disclose their source of funding. This order was a milestone
in the direction of bringing transparency in public dealings and workings of political
parties, which would have gone a long way in cleansing our political system. However,
the people sitting in the parliament, though bringing to different political
parties, came together in passing law to undone this judgment also. What an
irony ! The Government on one hand claims RTI to be its one of biggest
achievement and on other hand, takes no time in killing its very spirit when it
comes to harm their personal interests and aspirations.
Such people, clearly, do not deserve any mercy from us.
They are self centered and are concerned for themselves alone. They are not
concerned for the country or its citizens. They are busy in filling their own
pockets at the cost of robbing the public. They have forgotten that they were
chosen and elected to serve the people and they exist to serve the public. If
they are not able to provide service to the public, they have no right to be in
the job. The public has a right to change the service provider – one who cares
for the public and does not default in his duty.
The concept of governance in a democracy emerged from
the need of the people for a body of specialized persons to manage their
affairs in an orderly manner. This led to the concept of Government where
public elects some persons from amongst the public and arm them with certain
powers and provide money to them in the form of taxes to undertake works of
public utility. Today, what is happening is that these politicians and leaders
have started behaving like autocrats and kings and think that they are the
masters. The money collected from the public for public’s welfare is being
squandered and plundered and misused by these leaders in self-glorification,
foreign trips, unnecessary expenses and facilities for themselves. While the
public struggles hard to earn livelihood and pay hefty electricity bills, these
leaders pass laws and policies in their own favour to unilaterally raise their own
salaries and enjoy sprawling accommodation at public’s expense without paying
any electricity bill from their pocket. The funds provided to the MPs and MLAs
by the public remain unspent for most of the tenure of 5 years and these are
spent deliberately in the last year so that people can see works going on and
the people vote them for the next term also.
The people sitting in the opposition, who are party to
Government’s decisions to undone the Supreme Court’s order and CIC’s order and
many such anti-nationalist decisions of the Government, are also to be equally blamed.
The people of this country, particularly the youth,
have become fed up with the present state of affairs in the governance. Even many
of the bureaucrats want to take measures for the benefit of the public but are pressurized
by the political leaders, who in our present governance set up, control the
bureaucrats. Many a times, the illiterate politician gives orders to a learned bureaucrat
! The people elected by us were supposed to be our servants (sewaks) (that is
why they are called ‘public servants’) but instead they have become our rulers (masters)
!
Have you ever applied thought as to where we are
heading to. The day is not far when our children will curse us for doing
nothing for replacing such self centered people with honest, educated and
selfless people. If nothing is not done immediately, the criminals and corrupt
persons would overshadow the entire governance and there would be total chaos
and our very existence would be endangered. Before that happens, let us wake up
to the reality and do something to protect our future generations from becoming
victim of crime and corruption.
The easiest thing which we can do is to exercise our
right to vote and then to vote for those persons and parties who have clean
image. People of integrity and honesty and who are sensitive towards the needs
and grievances of the public and who can render selfless service should be
chosen. We should not be carried away or swayed by the populist measures
adopted by some parties to buy out the voters. We should not blindly give vote
to anybody merely because he belongs to a particular party or because he has
given financial help to us. We should always analyse and assess the background and
intellectual content of the candidate before making final decision as this is ultimately
going to impact our State and our country. I may add that to err is human and nobody is perfect but our endeavour should be
to choose the right person from amongst various persons or in other words, a
less bad person from the bad persons.
I personally believe that people like Arvind Kejriwal and
his ‘Aam Aadmi Party’ can make a difference to our existing political system.
He appears to be a man of principles and integrity. He is an IITian turned
social activist. He lives very simple and he gave up his job of Income Tax commissioner
to do public service by raising his voice against the exploitation of the
public. It is expected that people selected by him to stand as candidates in
the forthcoming Delhi elections will be people of honesty and integrity and
they will wholeheartedly work for the welfare of the public once voted to
power. I feel we should at least give one chance to Arvind Kejriwal to improve
the system.
So, let us resolve that from now onwards, wherever the
elections take place in any part of India, we will vote for only those persons who
are educated, honest, intellectual, people friendly, selfless service doer and for
whom country comes ahead of anything else and who have the necessary zeal and
vision to make India the true world leader.
Jai Hind...
Sunil Goel advocate B.Sc. L.Lb L.Lm
