Politics is no more what it used to be here. Ideology has taken a back seat and personal gains are upper-most in the minds of leaders across the spectrum. As politicians jump ship, find sanctuary in rival camps and win positions, the people – the central core of democracy — are fooled to their bones. Ruefully, such turncoats get elected again and keep serving their own causes. This is why there are those who say Indians vote with their feet.
CPI’s national executive member and the Communists’ poster-boy Kanhaiya Kumar has joined the Congress; Captain Amarinder Singh who lost the CM’s post is reportedly negotiating with the BJP to let down the Congress party that gave him power and positions for many years. Navjot Singh Sidhu is reportedly seeking to ditch the Congress and join the AAP if a CM’s post is assured to him. Communists in West Bengal joined hands with the Congress that they fought against for decades, so as to upset the BJP applecart in the last assembly polls. Leaders left Trinamool Congress to join the BJP and returned to Mamata Banerjee with the same ease for a re-entry into TMC if only to share the spoils of power in the state. Top Congress leaders were welcomed into the CPI-M in Kerala in similar circumstances. Mamata Banerjee is seeking out disgruntled Congress leaders to set up her party’s units in Goa and the North-East to gain a wider national party status for TMC and win the PM’s post. BJP is happy getting anyone to its side. Ideology, thus, is the casualty while pragmatism and personal benefits rule the roost. Regional satraps are engagingly promoting family rule; and this is the case even in a politically enlightened state like West Bengal. Corruption and loot of public money are the bane of all regional political entities. Bureaucrats taking a cue from politicians, are having a whale of a time.
This shameful scenario raises question marks on the sustainability of democracy as a political system. Trust in politicians is eroding fast. Yet, India is a nation where 37 per cent of the globe’s total illiterate adults exist and exercise their franchise. While most people are leading a hand-to-mouth existence, just 10 per cent of the people appropriate 75 per cent of the national wealth, hold a matching clout in public life and are the real movers and shakers. There is no serious attempt at top levels of governance to change the scenario for the better; short-cuts are rather the norm for them to grab or retain power.
