DailyPost 2528
DEMOCRATIC POWER IMBROGLIO
The written word can take you only to one level, beyond that is your attitude, will and what you visualize the prospective world should shape, emanating out of the written. What we are referring to here, is the constitution of India and the framework of democratic polity and governance that it has created for us. And what we have made out it. It is this context that we talk about in law as the word and the spirit. Often, we talk about democratic conventions and traditions, that are shaped by the practice of democracy and how then later it starts shaping the very functioning of democracy itself.
At the core of democracy is the democratic devolution of power, if the power equilibrium is achieved, democracy can be declared to have been established. Human minds, wants and aspirations, does not seem to have anything democratic about it. So, it takes superhuman effort to bring it to a democratic mindset and then practice it with success. Sharing power is democracy. How many times have you seen it happening? Sharing means giving from what you have, in the power and influence game, even that is not expected, you just allow every functionary, constitutional and governmental to use his powers, the way it is mandated to be.
How many times the CM is decided by vote of the legislature party in the real sense of the term? How many times a Deputy Secretary exercises powers that is legally mandated to him? Does the power equilibrium run fine between the top echelons of bureaucracy and the political executive? The crux of the matter is that these things are not even discussed. Get into a position of power and then start flexing your muscles and keep doing it till the time, a stronger person, flexes his muscle over you. You can find only physically existing ministers with now power and friends and relatives of powers that be exercising much greater powers. Extra-constitutional power has been the order of the day, for quite sometime now.
Power without responsibility has become a truism of our democratic existence. Even accountability is completely wished away. In case of scams etc the most difficult task is to fix responsibility. The actual doers escape the long arm of the law, which the second and third rung face the music. Power also means luxury, all at the taxpayer’s cost, best of accommodation, travel and perks unimaginable. Democratic monarchy you may call it. What about the power to the people? Are we living in an empowered society? Or is it a world of democratic sovereigns. But for the electoral franchise have we disenfranchised them of everything. Power is a zero-sum game; one gains at the expense of the other.
CAN VULGUR DISPLAY OF POWER BE CALLED DEMOCRACY?
Sanjay Sahay
Have a nice evening.