SUNDAY, JUNE 30, 2024
Plastino D’Costa
2024 general election results in India have thrown a lifeline to the country as far as democracy in the country is concerned. But it is not going to be a cakewalk, because every authoritarian government aim will always be to try everything in its power not to lose the excessive control it has over its citizens. They are going to try using the carrot and stick policy in dealing with the opposition and engineer splits which might force some corrupt elected members to switch sides and join the government in return for free dry cleaning of their corrupt deeds in the government sponsored washing machine.
The onus is now on the opposition parties in particular and citizens in general, in not only strengthening its gains, but to make sure no mockery take place of the given mandate.
History is going to conveniently forget a section of the population who made sure the new government does not get a full majority. Due to less numbers in the Parliament, the government will be forced to talk to their partners in government before taking big calls for the country. It seems the poor and the youth of the country especially from the big states of Uttar Pradesh etc. made sure the new government should be a coalition government.
The poor because they were hit the most with inflation and in this ambitious phase the country is witnessing, nobody would want to be at the mercy of the government and depend on their free ration.
The youth because they cannot be manipulated easily, unemployment has taken a toll on their finances and they are prepared to shed the slave mentality their parents and grand-parents possessed. They speak fearlessly, are knowledgeable and are prepared to take risks, so why not take a small risk in changing the Member of Parliament.
The ones who have been risk averse and bane to democracy of the country by remaining selectively silent on issues that are plaguing the nation or the goof ups the government does, has been India’s corporate world and people with influence such as sportsmen and film actors. For example has anybody opened their mouth or posted on their twitter handle anything on the exam fiasco. Agreed the present government is allergic to criticism, but by keeping quiet on important matters that affect the future of the nation, do they deserve the love the country showers on them.
Many might argue that successful people are busy with their own business and cannot be forced to speak on each and every issue. Absolutely, and nobody is talking of those people who keep a dignified silence in all matters here, we are talking of people that regularly applaud each and every task the government completes, but choose to remain silent on the big blunders the government commits.
Many don’t want to risk their businesses or invite scrutiny from government agencies fearing they might get punished for opening their mouth, if that is the case then it means we are still far away from being a democracy. Jeff Bezos has been critical of their President in the past and he owns a big company Amazon.
Elon Musk openly criticizes the present President of his migration policies without any fear that his companies will be hassled for speaking out. The idea in criticizing or expressing your opinion is to make the country a better place. No wonder the United States of America is miles ahead even when it is going through a rough time, because everybody is working for the betterment of the nation and they value freedom of speech and back it up to the hilt.
For the country to make big strides and if the goal is to be a developed nation, it needs all hands on deck. We cannot and should not depend on one person because that usually arises into unnecessary bottle necks and moreover puts pressure on the one person to run the show. Every arm of the country’s institutions are designed to play a role in the development of the country, if their independence and freedom of thought is controlled we might run the risk of taking bad decisions with nobody to warn us of the consequences, because we shut them up in the first place.
A lot will depend on how the opposition will perform, the mandate this time has been that the parliament needs a strong opposition, therefore the opposition should focus more on substance and less on theatrics. If the opposition wants to get the country’s vote, then they will have to expose each and every government’s mistake on the ground and not take the easy way of just posting comments on social media and treat the matter closed.
The citizens also need to shed their slave mentality and stop treating politicians as some heroes. Remember they are spending our money collected through exorbitant taxes, which by the way have gone out of control now. This writer has written enough on taxes but to no avail as we the citizens have become habituated to meekly surrender to the tax terrorism committed by politicians on us.
Nobody is suggesting stopping tax payment, but can we open our mouth and say so that taxes are high in the country. Even the opposition is to be blamed here; did they promise in these elections that they will review the tax mechanism? Remember be it opposition or government, their basic aim is to control and rule the citizens in a way that suits them. Everybody needs to be watched.
The opposition might look nicer now because they are at the receiving end, but how will they perform once they form the government is another matter. Democracy is not easy, it sometimes creates confusion, delays decision making, turns out to be very noisy and stressful but is still the best option because it takes everybody on board. The youth and the poor have thrown us that lifeline in this election, how we use it will entirely depend on us.
(The author is a business consultant)
