Beyond the politics of banality

Despite being one of the largest democracies in the world, aberrations in the political system of India have been put to question time and again. What we need today are changes in the political domain to make democracy thriving

Social activist Anna Hazare took on the government over corruption. Baba Ramdev followed. But ask the intellectual Indians and they have more to add beyond just corruption and black money that are taking a toll on democracy. No wonder, there is growing demand for making political representation more accurate, driving out the ‘politics of banality’, setting standards for party disciplines and more.    

For a nation like India, with a sixth of humanity living within its borders, one factor that binds all Indians to a single commitment is democracy. But, there are aberrations also. The present political system let people’s representatives get elected for five years, but with no workable mechanism to ensure or assess their accountability to their respective constituencies.

The existing electoral structure also follows a ‘first pass the post’ system. It allows contenders in an election winning the maximum number of votes, even by a small margin against their opponents, win majority seats in a House for a political party. This, apparently, leads to an inaccurate political representation.   

When I spoke to Prof Pradip Kumar Datta of Political Science Department, University of Delhi sometime back, he hinted at the need for closer correspondence between the number of seats and percentage of votes that goes into the making of a government. Parliamentary system of democracy is based on representation. And representation, in order to be effective, needs to be more accurate of people’s choices.

Political analysts also stress on getting rid of, what many say, the ‘politics of banality’. This has manifestations like de-institutionalisation through ‘pure politics’ (politics with an exclusive win-lose orientation), state terror, the composite process of communalisation, criminalisation, etc. The root cause of all these abnormalities is that India’s democratic politics is allegedly overrun with people who do not ‘live for’ politics, but ‘live off’ it.

Suggesting possible solutions, Prof Amartya Mukhopadhyay from department of Political Science, University of Calcutta, stresses on compelling political parties to be more broad-based in their recruitment of leaders. His suggestion: People who have decided to ‘live for’ politics must be given a chance, to help the transition from ‘formal’ democracy to ‘substantive’ democracy.

It’s also time for political parties to set standards of internal party discipline. While ruling parties tend to be unrestrained on different issues, oppositions try to lead a movement which ethically they are ineligible. Thus, to encounter and humiliate each other, political bigwigs from both sides are loosing sight of the real issue which is to work together and set the ship on sail for all-round prosperity. 

It is time political fraternity of the country listen to the voice of young India – inculcate a new type of ‘civil loyalty’ beyond divided interests, rejuvenate the pre-colonial Indian dream, and allow all communities in India – creedal and cultural – to feel ‘at home’.