Patricia Mukhim
For hundreds of years we have lived with the idea that there is no alternative to democracy and therefore think highly of this system of governance although we are increasingly realizing even here in our own state that we are actually promoting oligarchy. Look at the composition of the Assembly today. There are three families that are dominating the politics of Meghalaya and some more families are plotting how to get as many relatives in by the next election -2023. But in the ancient Athens where democracy took shape Socrates the great Greek thinker was very pessimistic about this system. If he was alive today, Socrates would have said, “I told you so,” after what happened in Capitol Hill yesterday.
In Plato’s ‘The Republic,’ Socrates has a conversation with someone called Adeimantus and points out to him the many flaws of democracy. He uses the metaphor of a ship and asks Adeimantus if he would board a ship whose captain has no idea of how to steer it or would he look for an experienced sailor? Adeimantus naturally says he would only trust a seafarer who has seen and navigated many a storm. Socrates then asks Adeimantus why is it that people believe that just about anyone should be fit to rule a country?
Socrates wanted to drive home the point that voting in an election is a skill, not a random intuition. To allow an illiterate citizenry to vote is like putting them in charge of a ship and asking them to steer it through stormy weather. Socrates became the first victim of democracy when he was tried with trumped up charges of corrupting the minds of the youth of Athens then. Athens being a democracy, the trial was decided by a jury of 500 Athenians and a slim majority decided he was guilty. Socrates died by drinking hemlock – a poison.
To say that India was not ready for democracy in 1947 is an understatement. Democracy requires an informed citizenry that is not so impoverished as to be bought with a Rs 500 or Rs 2000 note once in five years and be happy with that bribe.
Democracy requires a certain ability to judge a candidate and vote the one that comes closest to expectations of fairness, empathy, ability to govern and responsiveness. But all these qualities have been subsumed by both greed and need for money. The electorate knows that it is pointless expecting anything from the MLA/MP/MDC in the next five years after he/she is elected. The only time they can exploit the person is before elections. Even if the amount received is a measly one time bribe of Rs 2000 or 5000, the elector today is so impoverished that he/she would take that amount to vote the bribe giver. About 85 % of the electorate don’t care whether the MLA is able to provide good roads, drinking water, healthcare, education, sanitation etc., – the key elements of governance. In my visit to the rural areas of Meghalaya I see roads that are mostly eaten away by rain water because the mix at the time of construction did not pass the crucial test.
There is something that the Greeks called intellectual democracy which they believed is the kind of democracy needed. It means that both the elector and the elected are intellectually inclined; can debate on issues and are able to make a rational decision at the polling booth. In this country and in our state, people vote on several considerations barring the right ones. People make emotional decisions based on religious affinity, personal relationships, the ability of the candidate to throw money around and to make promises that are never fulfilled. This system of democracy that we have given birth to in Meghalaya has produced a set of demagogues who can sweet talk the electorate but whose unspoken intention is to get into politics to further their business interests.
In a democracy people are expected to give voice to their concerns and not to outsource those concerns to pressure and interest groups. In my interface with people in rural Meghalaya there are many that wish to speak up but have no platform. The problem is that all such public platforms have been hijacked by the demagogues within and outside politics. When pressure groups claim to speak for “the people,” they are lying. The word “people” is itself a misleading idiom. Who are those people? Have the pressure groups been authorized to speak on my behalf? I never gave away my right to be spoken for. I can speak for myself.
In a democracy, the elected representatives are supposed to talk to their people from time to time and ask them if they agree on the policies implemented and decisions taken on their behalf. Without that, the elected are co-opting peoples’ voices and that amounts to subterfuge.
Meghalaya has had several examples of demagogues that have made it to politics merely with rhetoric and noise. When people are disillusioned by a failed system they tend to invest their faith on demagogues. Sadly people don’t learn lessons and this is repeated every five years. Every five-year term produces new demagogues. Once inside the assembly they lose all their bluster and begin to make excuses for what they cannot deliver. Now we have another demagogue who recently stated that he wants to start a revolution in Meghalaya. He has not spelt out what the revolution intends to achieve and if it is something along the lines of the French Revolution where the rulers would be brought to their nemesis or whether that revolution is simply to create space for his political revival.
Politicians know how easily people seek easy answers to the most obstinate problems. I recall a politician who claimed he was going to create 10,000 jobs (I cannot recall if he said 10k annually or in his 5-year term) but he never as much as created 500 jobs. Most of the people appointed were in the department/s he held and they were mostly fourth grade jobs. If that is the idea of job creation then we can imagine the breadth of thinking that the person has. It begins and ends with his constituency and he cares a damn about the growth and progress of the state.
Look at Meghalaya today and the subversion of the rule of law vis a vis coal mining and transportation. All of us have accepted that this is kosher. None of us care that we have slowly but surely undermined the rule of law which is the basis of democracy. Without the rule of law we are a faux democracy. The principal beneficiaries of the coal trade are those in government and their relatives. The proscribed HNLC who seem to know more about these trade secrets than journalists, have let out all they know about the money made from check gates and who the money goes to apart from other serious allegations. These are causes of concern because the money is to ensure the continued win of a set of politicians who will continue to bleed the state dry. It’s a very frightening thought that Meghalaya will have dwindling opportunities for our young generation in the years to come because the ruling conglomerate just does not care to think of a future beyond five years.
And here we are – the thinking elite – all silent and watching idly while Meghalaya is mortgaged to opportunists. There is nothing that is of public interest here. What is public interest anyway? It is a fig leaf for hopelessly corrupt bureaucrats and politicians to shield themselves from scrutiny and accountability.
No apologies for the dystopia expressed in these columns week after week. After all one sees nothing to be hopeful about!