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I think this is great coming from the
horse. Without going into details how much correct Mr Lyngdoh is, people should
try to get strength from such intellectual thinking. I bet many will now get
courage to come out and discuss and debate on such sensitive and vital subjects.
The bottom line, not how good or bad is the present system, but what to do and
how to do it. Definitely we cannot throw out 'democracy', desi or western,
overnight. We hope there will be many more such courageous
intellectuals who will try to come out to the open and show the
reality.
RB
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, December 23, 2005 12:51
AM
Subject: [Assam] DEMOCRACY HARMING INDIA:
LYNGDOH
Dear Netters
I reproduce the synopsis of the following talk as reported in the
Assam Tribune today. It is an eye-opener to all the right-thinking people of
India, I think. Hope there will be comment on it.
Bhuban
![The Assam Tribune online]()
Guwahati, Friday, December 23,
2005
![]() Democracy harming India:
Lyngdoh
By Ajit Patowary
GUWAHATI,
Dec 22 — The present rot in our polity is the result of the electoral politics
we are practising in our country. Elections have done great harm to the
country. The electoral interests of the politicians are dividing the people
more and more. Politicians are specialising in all ethnic and caste problems.
They don’t want to solve the problems. This may push one to surmise that
perhaps democracy has done more harm than good to the country.
This was
the observation of former Chief Election Commissioner of India James Michael
Lyngdoh, the recipient of the 2003 Ramon Magsaysay Award. He was talking to
The Assam Tribune here on December 18. He was on a three-day visit to
the State since December 18 to deliver the Dr Amitabh Chowdhury Annual
Memorial Lecture on ethics and good governance.
He said that it was
also important to note that more democracy, as has been suggested by some
leading intellectuals of the country, is not the cure to the ills afflicting
the country and its polity. Democracy has now been reduced into a disguise to
promote capitalism. Capitalism is what matters more in today’s
world.
When the authorities in the countries like America advocate
democracy, they in fact advocate capitalism— the interests of the big
companies of their countries. Love for the people always takes a back seat in
their schemes of things.
India is also treading the same path. The
western form of democracy has destroyed the Indian tradition of democracy. The
western system of democracy does not suit our society. The western way of
judicature is also not suitable to our people. Some of the institutions that
we have today are also not best suited to our life or people, he
said.
Modern technology does not create jobs. It rather cuts jobs. In
the United States of America also, the growth rate of the country has nothing
to do with the common people. The growth rate of eighth per cent that has been
often boasted of by the rulers of our country as their achievement, is rather
a product of the information technology. It has nothing to do with agriculture
with which majority of the Indians are involved. The American type of
development that has been sought to be pushed through is not suitable for our
country, he said.
But, for all the ills afflicting the country’s
polity today politicians are to be blamed first of all. For, they are put in
the helm of affairs by our Constitution. If they become corrupt, everyone
becomes corrupt. Politicians are the yardsticks in this matter. No doubt,
bureaucracy in our country is worst than the politicians in matters of
corruption, said Lyngdoh.
Politicians have also led to distortion of
human nature in regions like the NE region. One example may suffice to explain
this. In Ladakh, both the Muslims and the Buddhists do not practise family
planning. The desire to emerge as the decisive group in electing the lone MP
from the region is so dominating the psyche of these two communities that each
of them now wants to beat the other in the number game.
The situation
is such in the country today that on one-third of the country’s area, the
sovereignty of the country is not in effect. This part has gone either to the
militants or to the anti-social elements. We are very close to the time of
Robert Clive, when everyone in India wanted to be separate.
Commenting
on the genesis of the present rot that has affected the Indian society, he
said that the present insanity for placing the individual interests ahead of
the collective’s started quite some time after the death of Pandit Jawaharlal
Nehru.
Indira Gandhi spoilt all the institutions, including the Supreme
Court. Communalism also raised its ugly head during her rule. There is no
comparison between the father and the daughter.
After the death of
Nehru, we have a different type of politicians. Many of them were not even
properly educated. They made politics their profession. They were out to make
money and nothing else. There of course was and still there is, a number of
young educated and professional people in politics. Many of them had or have
their own businesses. But their interest lies in the corporate sector. Some of
them see the USA as the land of opportunities because of their education in
that country. Though they have come back from the USA, their hearts are still
there in that country.
With such people in the helm of affairs and
capitalism going mad and running wild, money is everything today. At the
expense of the group and community, it is now the glorification of the
individual, which is putting everything on the back burner, said the former
CEC.
And hence, there is no public investment practically in
agriculture, education and health. There is no emphasis also on these sectors
by the Government, he said.
Then what is the way out from this morass?
He said that with the corporate sector advancing and the state retreating in
recent times, days are not far when the corporate sector will discipline the
politicians of the country. But, that is in no way going to help the common
people of the country, he said assertively.
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