Large amount of time is spent on personal attacks, on dress code of members, on the bag one carries, on the names, on the certificates, on verbal expressions and what not.
GERRY LOBO OFM
“Modality of total politics,” is how Yogendra Yadav, prominent political critique and socio-political activist, accurately characterizes the political governance in the country without mincing words. Anyone who has vigilantly perceived the flow of politics in India will agree with Yadav, without reserve. What does he mean? In recent times no space is given for an independent media or for any creative thinking, by the ruling demagogues. The sovereign body at the helm of affairs determines all truth posing as it were the sole criteria for deciphering and discerning matters that concern the citizens. If any organization or think-tank critiques and questions the veracity of facts, it will invariably face penal threats. A thinking citizen has been observing the slow process of “total politics” leading to a centralized autocracy in the country. Retribution method is meted out to any opposing voice that does not incense and pay homage to policy statements aired from the seat of power.
It is in this sort of environment of “total politics” the former Chief Justice of India, N. V. Ramana, as a concerned and responsible citizen had been quite straightforward in several of his public interventions stating: “opposition space is diminishing,” “political opposition is translating into hostility,” “politics has become acrimonious,” “mutual respect between the government and the opposition is diminishing,” and that “this trend is not a sign of healthy democracy.” Ramana believes in a strong opposition which is vibrant and active for the furtherance of good governance. Will it ever be a reality when more and more intolerance of dissent is taking place in our nation? Instead one witnesses the so called “operation Kamala” every now and then in order to destabilize the legitimately voted in governments by offering huge money, the aim being the elimination of the opposition. According to Yeshwanth Sinha money was even used in the election to the highest office of the Republic in the recent past. One gets the impression that the ruling regime is almost scared to face the truth made plain by the opposition in the legislative institutions, and shying away from responsibilities towards the welfare of the citizens as laid down by the Constitution. It is also possible that a slow elimination of the opposition could pave the way for the establishment of an autocratically ruled empire. This process could eventually bend citizens to the practice of one religion favourable to the emperor at large. In every way, today the modality of total politics does work at all levels and spheres of life. When mutual respect and a decent exchange between individuals are lost, everything else is lost. Total politics, however, pierces through ones bone and the marrow!
In the words of Kapil Sibal, “Vendetta politics has reached a new low.” As a result we know the Investigating Agencies are actively immersed these days in harassing political leaders. These Agencies, pressurized by the government, from out of the blue as it were, are loyally executing the orders from on high, as if the biggest crime is committed by concerned persons because of which the country is under threat by external forces or the country is on the brink of economic depression and on the verge of total collapse. Today the Investigating Agencies have “become the long arm of the government,” remarks Sibal. The attempt at large is to eliminate as much opposition as possible so that “total politics” can govern the populace with an iron fist. Clever modalities as ploys are put in action by the rulers of an Independent nation to demean political oppositions and individuals who are reluctant to curry favour with the government. In this manner the Indian mainstream media is grabbed by the government, the human right activists are closely policed and those who languish in the prisons for the sake of right are denied a new breathing space. So large is the fear of the opposition that the rulers think no end of their “total politics.” Indeed, politics without limits, politics that has hardly any concern for humans is certainly threatening humanity today with grave insecurity, depression and death as witnessed in Sri Lanka these months. The malaise of “total politics” by the top leader rulers in that Island nation has sadly enough brought in dreary darkness not only over the human lives but also over the charming mother earth.
“Politics is more about social change rather than about seeking power,” believes Nithin Gadkari, who himself is part of the incumbent government as the Union Minister of Roadways and Transportation. Perhaps such a belief of a member of the same political ideology might sound quite inimical to the heads of that family. If so it only indicates that there are wise and discerning leaders who go with the opposition shunning the “modality of total politics” for the sake of social change rather than the benefit of a power place. The exercise of “total politics” benefits only those who crave for power and those who can establish camaraderie with the crony capitalists in the country but not with the intellectual critiques and academic visionaries who go beyond the “narrow domestic walls” (R. Tagore). Total politics rises only from petty minded leaders who align with anything that favours their pockets. Such ones create furor over insignificant remarks in the Parliament or it is a clever tactic to divert ones attention from the existential national issues. Sadly enough, these are positioned in the honorable places only to swallow the bread of the poor widows! Large amount of time is spent on personal attacks, on dress code of members, on the bag one carries, on the names, on the certificates, on verbal expressions and what not, while in the mean time, down the lane a hungry needy person is in search of his daily bread as he or she relentlessly hunts from pillar to post for a job that could keep his family alive. This is the irony and scandal of the modality of total politics. Total politics is indeed, a deaf, a dumb, a blind and heart-less philosophy. Those who run after it are murdering democracy and diminishing a renowned nation.
The sweet platitudes which are routinely sung by our honorable Prime Minister, particularly from the soil of other nations on his visits there to soothe the conscience of people and leaders are: importance of free speech, Gandhian values, robust nature of Indian democracy… Is it, however, the ground reality? All we experience today is “majoritarian authoritarianism” in the words of Raguram Rajan. In an address he states: “We need a learning government, not that says, ‘I know.’” He fears that the Indian democracy is “marching towards authoritarianism under the garb of pluralism.” Total politics is “turning minorities into second class citizens,” (Rajan). This will also divide the country and create internal resentment. What happened in Sri Lanka, according to Rajan, is that by targeting the minorities, the country brought in itself deep economic and human crisis. Hence it is not the “total politics” that will save the nation but a liberal democracy where the opposition plays an outstanding role in shaping its numerous institutions and the people they serve.
Romila Thapar, an outstanding Historian, who was fifteen year old when India gained Independence, in her recent interview on Wire says that “Modi’s India is too narrow and too limited.” And that India does not represent today the fulfillment of the dreams and expectations people had when they embraced freedom then. “Modality of total politics” serves hungry politicians, not the hungry mother on our street!
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