Thought for the day
“The thing about
democracy, beloveds, is that it is not neat, orderly, or quiet. It requires a
certain relish for confusion.”
-
Molly Ivins (American, 1944-2007)
Word for the day
Sciamachy (n)
An act or instance of
fighting a shadow or an imaginary enemy.
(Source: Dictionary.com)
Teaser for the day
Heard Sanjay Nirupam talk about secularism!
Utopia: The political solution
“It
is Swaraj when we learn to rule ourselves. It is, therefore, in the palm of our
hands. But such Swaraj has to be experienced, by each one for himself. One
drowning man will never save another.”
“I
believe that you want the millions of India to be happy, not that you want the
reins of government in your hands. If that be so, we have to consider only one
thing: how can the millions obtain self-rule?”
[M. K. Gandhi, Hind Swaraj]
I have been highlighting since ever that one of the best things
India has got in past 150years is Mahatma
Gandhi. And the most unfortunate thing to occur since independence from
British rule in 1947 is brazen desertion of Mahatma
Gandhi by Indian politicians. To my mind hanging his pictures in government
offices or currency notes and naming roads after him is even more contemptuous
given the complete ignominy for his principles and ideas.
If that not be so, how the political class could have so
insolently ignored the model of Swaraj conceived and proposed by him. The
Gandhian idea of Swaraj could have been proposed only by a person like him who
had experienced India so intimately.
It may be pertinent to recall here that in my view Arvind
Kejriwal’s idea of Swaraj is at best a perversion of Gandhian concept of Swaraj
and deserves to be rejected with due contempt.
“Although the word swaraj means self-rule, Gandhi gave it the
content of an integral revolution that encompasses all spheres of life. “At the individual level swaraj is vitally
connected with the capacity for dispassionate self-assessment, ceaseless
self-purification and growing swadeshi or self-reliance". Politically
swaraj is self-government and not good government (for Gandhi, good government
is no substitute for self-government) and it means continuous effort to be
independent of government control, whether it is foreign government or whether
it is national. In the other words, it is sovereignty of the people based on
pure moral authority. Economically, poorna swaraj means full economic freedom
for the toiling millions. For Gandhi, swaraj of the people meant the sum total
of the swaraj (self-rule) of individuals and so he clarified that for him swaraj
meant freedom for the meanest of his countrymen. And in its fullest sense,
swaraj is much more than freedom from all restraints, it is self-rule,
self-restraint and could be equated with moksha or salvation."
In one of his letters to Leo Tolstoy Gandhi explained Swaraj as
follows:
“Independence begins at the bottom. A
society must be built in which every village has to be self sustained and
capable of managing its own affairs. It will be trained and prepared to perish
in the attempt to defend itself against any onslaught from without. This does
not exclude dependence on and willing help from neighbours or from the world.
It will be a free and voluntary play of mutual forces. In this structure
composed of innumerable villages, there will be ever widening, never ascending
circles.
Growth will not be a pyramid with the apex sustained by the
bottom. But it will be an oceanic circle whose center will be the individual.
Therefore the outermost circumference will not wield power to crush the inner
circle but will give strength to all within and derive its own strength from
it.” (as cited in Wikipedia)
Thus, the individual is the sole basis of Swaraj. Swaraj is
unfathomable without dispassionate self-assessment, ceaseless self-purification
and growing self-reliance at individual level; and sovereignty of moral
authority, as against the political authority.
Swaraj encompasses fiercely competitive free market, moral duty
to be free, fearless, truthful, fair, just, self reliant, nationalist, and
religious.
This Swaraj, many argue is Utopian in current context. Some
argue that it is desirable but we have traveled too far down the road we took
post independence from British rule; and it is too late to go back and begin again.
In my view, this defeatist and fatigued attitude is unwarranted.
What we need is a zero base discussion on the subject and solutions will emerge
that would lead us to the desired goal of making 1.3bn people free, fearless
and happy. An incremental approach howsoever sincere might not yield the
desired results.
With this in mind I dream of a free, fearless and fair
socio-political organization for the country.
During my “Discover India” trip last summer, I found strong
evidence of numerous democratic assemblies within various communities and
localities. From my experience I know for certain that most Indians not only
feel comfortable working with the members of their own community, but are
usually most productive when operating within the network of their “Own
people”.
This “communalism” is
arguably a key strength of Indian society. Therefore, in my view, the social
ecology model suggested by author and activist Murray Bookchin which advocates
a “stateless, classless, decentralized society consisting of a network of
directly democratic citizens' assemblies in individual communities/cities
organized in a confederal fashion” appears relevant in our context.
Unfortunately, our politicians and social activists have
dissipated the term “communalism” to
mean intolerance and hatred towards other religions, especially amongst Hindus
and Muslims. This debauchery has introduced many distortions in our
socio-political order. In my view this needs to be corrected as pre-condition
before we begin working on any course correction.
Religious fundamentalism (which is usually referred to as “communalism” in Indian context), is
mostly a political problem in India. A secular political system, as envisaged
by Mahatma Gandhi and incorporated in the soul of our Constitution, would
automatically weaken these miniscule elements leading to their eventual
extinction.
My Utopian state is thus based on our
ability to build and nurture strong communities and live in harmony with the
nature.
The key features of my Utopian political organization are as
follows:
(a) The
primary unit of the country should be a democratic assembly of people in a town
or village (Town or village council).
(b) Each
such town or village should directly elect a suitable number of representatives
on a periodic basis. The winning candidate must score at least 51% of the
eligible votes (not just the casted votes).
(c) Every
adult citizen of that town/village should have equal opportunity to get elected
for a term of three years.
(d) The
local council shall be a permanent body with 1/3rd members retiring
by rotation each year. No person shall be elected for more than 2 terms.
(e) The
performance of each local council member should be evaluated on annual basis by
an independent agency. A member failing to score the passing grade should be
barred from politics for a period of 6yrs.
(f) The
chairman of the local council should be elected with minimum 51% members
supporting him/her.
(g) Town
and villages with largely homogeneous characteristics could be grouped in
various districts. Each district should have a governing council.
(h) Local
councils falling within the districts should nominate from their best members
who have served 2 complete terms to the district council.
(i) The
number of members to be nominated by each local council should be in proportion
to the population, area and social indicators.
(j) The
district council should have a fixed term of 6years, with 1/3rd
members retiring by rotation every 2years.
(k) No
member should be nominated to district council more than once.
(l) The
performance of each district council member should be evaluated on annual basis
by an independent agency. A member failing to score the passing grade should be
barred from politics for a minimum period of 10yrs.
(m) The
chairman of the District council should be elected with minimum 51% members
supporting him/her.
(n) Each
district council should nominate members to the national council, in proportion
to population, area and social indicators.
(o) Districts
council should nominate from their best performing members who have served
their complete term on the district council.
(p) The
chairman of the National council should be elected with minimum 51% members
supporting him/her.
Tomorrow I shall
present my Utopian economic model to go with this political model.
Earlier
in this series:
