Democracy
Democracy as it we see it is, a process of evolution which is still continuing. The system of Kings and Queens, which preceded democracy was called feudal system.
Feudalism
Feudalism is defined as "dominant social system in medieval Europe, in which the nobility held lands from the Crown in exchange for military service, and vassals were in turn tenants of the nobles, while the peasants (villeins or serfs) were obliged to live on their lord's land and give him homage, labour, and a share of the produce, notionally in exchange for military protection."
This is the system which arose from tribal system in which might was right and the most powerful (alpha male) had natural right to lead the tribe till someone comes forward and defeat the tribal leader in a fight.
Feudalism was different from Tribal system as it involved the resources in addition to personal physical strength of the leader. It was a kind of association based on mutual advantage by exchanging produce with military protection. It was a system of payment of protection money to gang lord but with better name. The former is said to have honour, whatever that means.
Democracy
And then came democracy, which in USA, was called "Government by and of the people but also for the people". But democracy is never considered most efficient way of governance but is chosen as it is least hostile to people.
But are we really there? Are we truly democratic? My guess is that democracy is a work in progress and there is and will always be scope for improvement.
Presently most countries following indirect democracy which means that people select their representatives and it is presumed that actions of the representative is that of the people. The people can change the representative after a fixed term but can not interfere with the actions of representative before the end of term.
Often feudalism of a different kind resurface within the democracy and it does not happen in India alone. Recent elections in USA, affirmed it. Democracy means the Government on the basis of agenda. The elected representatives seek votes to be elected on the basis of promises which they undertake to deliver. At least that is how it is supposed to work in democracy. Thus the elections have to be issue based on "problems and solutions".
Feudalism in democracy means seeking votes on the basis other than the issues. Concept of personal loyalties is an anathema to democracy. Feudalism is a kind of political alliance in which the governor promise the governed that he will act for their welfare. What the welfare means, is something which is never explained. In other cases the alliance is made for other factors like religion or race or something similarly statistical but practically useless.
The formation of parties for a particular community/caste, ethnicity, religion etc. is a back door entry of feudalism in democracy. But it is permissible in India. Any attempt to curtail it would result in mass protests and Satyagraha. This has not helped the India and certainly hampered it's progress. It was noted by USA, state department in 1990's as under:
"…...When populist political appeals stir the passions of the masses, government institutions appear less capable than ever before of accommodating conflicts in a society mobilized along competing ethnic and religious lines. In addition, law and order have become increasingly tenuous because of the growing inability of the police to curb criminal activities and quell communal disturbances. Indeed, many observers bemoan the "criminalization" of Indian politics at a time when politicians routinely hire "muscle power" to improve their electoral prospects, and criminals themselves successfully run for public office. These circumstances have led some observers to conclude that India has entered into a growing crisis of governability…."
However, the feudal, caste based rule in the state of Uttar Pradesh continued till 2017 by which time the crises of governance was a major issue and people voted out Yadav Raj. As it did in Bihar, a decade earlier.
Leadership
There is a crises of leadership in the world. India is no different. Rather India had the worst leadership crises which exposed it to be ruled by invaders whose biggest asset was ruthlessness if not the barbarism. Terrorism is no different from barbarism. It is a feudal mind set arising from the notion of 'might is right'.
Now what we are witnessing is a movement for revival of feudalism. Instead of pointing out deficiency in the schemes of Government or putting forth an agenda for development, the cadre less and charisma less leaders of the parties are seeking alliances on the basis of caste, religion, race or language or whatever they can think of. It seriously undermines democracy.
Crime in politics
In a democracy, the leadership should rise from the common people. The leaders who help people. Communists call them:
"….. 'naya netas', or new leaders, who are usually younger, educated enough to read newspapers and have experience in dealing with the government bureaucracy and other local institutions. 'Naya netas help facilitate villagers' access to powerful actors with influence over diverse aspects of social welfare, including policemen, political party organizers, doctors, health and education bureaucrats, bankers and insurance agents,'clxxxiiiA Feast of Vultures: The Hidden Business of Democratic Business in India by Josy Joseph.
The same author in the same book explains the grass root or village leadership as under:
"….The naya netas, Krishna told me during a meeting, have another role to play: that of being the crucial link between the voters and major national parties. 'In addition to rising education, intensified electoral competition over the past twenty-five years has assisted the rise of the new village leaders. Neither of the two major political parties in the region, the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has developed any permanent organization at the grass-roots level, and party offices are located mostly at state and district capitals. Parties rely upon suitable local intermediaries for creating support among villagers. Naya netas (along with other local intermediaries) have stepped into this organizational vacuum,' Krishna told me…."clxxxivA Feast ibid.
The above explanation means that these grass root leaders are floating stock in the parties. The leader who is in one party can be in another. There are two exceptions to this rule. The Communist Party and RSS. These two organisations do not admit members without proof of commitment to the cause. But that is another matter. The above picture of grass root leadership, as drawn above is much rosy when compared to ground reality in crime prone areas.
P.V. Narsimha Rao may have eliminated the big ticket licence Raj in 1991-96 in Central Government, but situation has not changed much at the ground level. As I am giving final touches to this book, on the night 12-13 February 2018 a fire broke out in a hotel in Central Delhi less than 3 km from the abode of President of India. 17 people died. All because the hotel design was illegal. Fire escape was locked to prevent theft. The hotels in Delhi are governed by a law called 'Sarais Act' which was enacted in 1867 in Bengal and later adopted in Delhi.clxxxvRead the Sarais Act: https://indiankanoon.org/doc/73871485/ Sarai is an Urdu word which means 'place to stay at night'. Why there is not an adequate law to govern hotels?
In New Delhi, every single building, barring few niche localities is illegal, one way or the other. Property dealers and municipal councillors or their lackeys (Naya Neta?) arrange protections of construction for different considerations. If enforcement is tough or if there is transparency, the whole billion rupee business would disappear. It is an organised racket running right under the nose of Government. If this is the position in New Delhi, what will be the position in remote towns of India? It is no different.
This knowledge may sadden people but need not be. The great United State America was exactly same about 100 years back. There is a Hollywood TV show called 'Board Walk Empire". It shows what people of Bihar would immediately recognize as the Lalu Prasad Yadav's "Jungle Raj"in their state a few decades back. Do watch it. This means we have progressed and are now the level of corruption is less than the level that existed in USA in 1918. But not really. The liquor tragedy in which hundred people died in Roorkee (in February 2019) tells us that we are living in the era of Board Walk Empire, in India. Why this tragedy not attain headlines? Due to the religion of perpetrators?
Lack of transparency in local businesses and it's licences give rise to a class of Dons who control or manipulate the system. They move in luxury cars accompanied with several armed guards. They choose to join party politics in order to achieve social status, to run their illegal businesses and seek political power. Many of them are stealing electricity, sand, coal, ores or other local natural resource. My atheist friendclxxxviDr. Ajay Kansal author of The Evolution of the Gods. Read his atheist views about religion here: http://www.bookpleasures.com/websitepublisher/articles/6296/1/A-Conversation-With-Dr-Ajay-Kansal-Author-of-The-Evolution-of-Gods/Page1.html for over 32 years and who reside in a smaller town in western U.P., shared with me this knowledge:
"…. Most of them are connected to many local people and have capacity to oblige them by money, muscle-power, employment, police protection, etc. Many of them belong to the local dominating caste or religion. Their employees, relatives and friends also wish to cooperate with them, considering their money and political power. Thus, most have a capacity to command around one to several thousand voters. They persuade voters in the name of their desired candidate with the help of caste-religion-equation, money, power and blackmails. Furthermore, many of them are so much organised that they have procured hundreds to thousands of fake voter cards with the help of officers. They have several paid workers who caste more votes than their own vote on the fake voter cards…………..The battery of several such local mafia and hand full of social workers supporting a candidate is called his team. They begin to support the candidates from the day they wish to procure tickets. As we all know that each party wishes to give ticket to a local popular person who can win. And that is accessed by the magnitude of his team: bigger the team higher the chances of winning. The size of the team is the core ability for a candidate to seek the ticket of even major parties. And that is the reason they do not hesitate to give ticket to a tainted leader supported by a big team, considering his winning power."
No wonder that Election Commission wants to link voter Ids to Aadhar. Digital India mission may change this and lot of work of intermediaries posing as leaders may not exist in the future. Elimination of political patronage of criminals may end their leadership stint. Will it ever happen? Will this create a vacuum?
This is a crises of leadership. There is also a disfunctional upper house of Parliament which has become a parking space for unelectable people. There could be more nominated members on merits on the basis of performance in profession.
Should nation consider to reform the Upper House of Parliament of India, on the model of Senate of USA? But USA senate has a problem that all states, irrespective of it's population, have equal votes. It makes smaller states in American Senate more powerful. My suggestion would be that each state, in certain proportion to its population, should directly elect few representatives without making large populous states too powerful or smaller, insignificant. It could add a layer of leadership. Would it be debated?
Salt
Salt has special place in Indian society. One can not betray salt. It means if a person has eaten food from someone, he should remain loyal to the feeder. This loyalty concept also extends to the relationship of employer and employee. Gandhi's salt march was as much emotional as it was political.
These grass root leadership of dons and mafia or other wise have this loyalty of salt which serves as binding force. There is no ideology involved to keep the association intact. Just Salt.
However in the meanwhile, in 2017, BJP won state elections in Uttar Pradesh and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in his first address to his MLAs he issued following ten commandments of professional ethics:
"1. Do not ask for Vehicle gunner or Bangalow.
2. MLAs have to work and not to become Government contractor.
3. Live with simplicity and modesty (shaleenta)
4. Family members of MLAs will not influence Government officials.
5. MLAs must talk to officials on phone with curtsey and decency.
6. MLAs must be accessible on social media
7. MLAs must remain accessible to people and to come up to their expectations
8. MLAs must ensure that Government has a positive image.
9. No discrimination must be made on the ground of caste, creed or religion.
10. MLAs can meet Chief Minister and Ministers for development work anytime."
He cautioned that All MLAs are under observation of Chief Minister. The above commandments pretty much sums up what was going on under the leadership of his predecessor Akhilesh Yadav.
Factor M
In India there are about 17.22 crore Muslims who constitute about 14.2% of the population in IndiaclxxxviiSee https://www.census2011.co.in/religion.php . Of these about 87%, generally follow Hanafi School, which has sub-sects like Deobandi, Barelvi, and Ahl-E-Hadith etc. This difference is such deep rooted that every sect has their own mosques, and avoid performing prayer in 'others' on the notion of 'purity' and 'impurity'. Every sect has it'sown interpretation of Islam and consider themselves as the only rightly guided ones, and all others as deviance. Moreover, they pass verdict (fatwa) who's true believer and who'snot, and goes on witch-hunting for other'sin the name of being Gustakh-E-Rasool (Non-compliant) and Qabar Parast (grave worshipper).
While theologically they are not supposed to have, they also have caste system and they use surnames like Syed, Khan, Pasha, Mirza, Sheikh, Siddiqui, Farooqui, Qureshi etc. and often practice endogamy as well. They call their caste people as Biradari which is the Urdu word for Community.
Qureshi surname in India is different from Quraysh which was a mercantile Arab tribe that historically inhabited and controlled Mecca and its Ka'aba. The Islamic prophet Muhammad was born into the Banu Hashim clan of the Quraysh tribe. A hadith holding that the Caliph must be from Quraysh is now universally accepted by the Muslims, with the exception of the Kharijites. Indeed, control of the Islamic state essentially devolved into a struggle between various factions of the Quraysh. The terrorist group "ISIS", "ISIL", "Daish", "Daesh", and "Islamic State group" as it is also called, seeks to establish a theological Islamic State within. It's Caliph Abū Bakr al-Baghdadi also claims to be Qurayesh but it is disputed by others.
MO Mathai, the secretary of Nehru had written a biography called Reminiscences of the Nehru Age which recalls Nehru. At the end of book a picture of note hand written by Nehru is annexed. In this note Nehru has scribbled something like:
1 Sikh, 1 Jew, 1 Muslim, …….
This is how Nehru would select his cabinet on the lines of religion to give equal opportunity to all. It may be a good thing but I can't say that it is a universally good principle. But it led to a formulae to win elections which is called 'Dog Whistle Politics'. A tacit appeal is made to one section of society to vote for a particular party. It is similar to whistle of a master in a certain way and dog follows the master. The State department of USA explained the problem in 1990 in these words:
"….Backward Classes, the Dalits, and tribal peoples increasingly have refused to rest content with the patronage and populism characteristic of the "Congress system." Mobilization of these groups has provided a viable base for the political opposition and unraveled the fabric of the Congress. Since the late 1970s, there has been a proliferation of nongovernmental organizations. These groups made new demands on the political system that required a substantial redistribution of political power, economic resources, and social status. ………. …….Whether or not developments in Indian politics exacerbate the continuing problems or give birth to greater democracy broadly hinges on efforts to resolve three key issues. How will India's political system, now more than ever based on egalitarian democratic values, accommodate the changes taking place in its hierarchical social system? How will the state balance the need to recognize the interests of the country's remarkably heterogeneous society with the imperatives of national unity?.."clxxxviiiSee http://countrystudies.us/india/108.htm
Divide the society on caste and religion and then ensure votes from a few factions to win. But why Muslims act as vote bank? Why even the rich and successful Muslims actors like Aamir Khan and Naseeruddin or Javed Akhtar keep peddling that Muslims are in some "fear' ? Is it true? It appears that the fear is true and justified but the nature of fear is not violence or annihilation but assimilation. It has been deftly explained by Late Abraham EralyclxxxixHis biography: https://everipedia.org/wiki/lang_en/Abraham_Eraly/ :
"….Basically, while Hindu society could have possibly accommodated Islamic religious beliefs and social practices within it by assigning to them particular religious and socio-cultural spaces, as it had done over the centuries with numerous Indian tribal cults and the cults of migrants and invaders, Muslim society could not possibly have accommodated Hindu religious beliefs and social practices within it without totally compromising its socio-religious identity—without ceasing to be Islam, in fact. …………... Timur also decided against occupying India—although he swept through a good part of North India, plundering its wealth and slaughtering its people, he remained in India only for about six months, and quickly sped back to his home in Central Asia, heeding the advice of one his top nobles, who warned him: 'If we establish ourselves permanently therein, our race will degenerate and our children will become like the natives of those regions, and in a few generations their strength and valour will diminish.'….."cxce-ISBN: 978-9-351-18658-8: The age of wrath: A History of the Delhi Sultanate by Abraham Eraly (2013) Penguin Books India.
To ensure they may not be assimilated, the leaders of the community keep spreading the discord to create mistrust, lest they may lose the community leadership. For human mind needs no external help unless it is in trouble. Best is to keep fermenting trouble. In the same book Eraly has explained the closeness of Muslim Sufi and Hindu Yogi:
"….The beliefs and practices of Sufis were in many ways similar to those of the Bhakti cults of Hinduism, but while the Bhakti sages usually functioned within society, Sufis usually functioned outside society. In that they were rather like yogis. And yogis evidently did have some influence on some Sufi sects in India, whose members took to performing yogic exercises, particularly controlled breathing. Some Indian Sufi leaders even called themselves rishis, as the Hindu sages did. And some of them took Hindus as disciples…."
It would be interesting to note that above class of sufi existed during the rule of Muslim invaders. However look at present day Sufis and decide for your self, who assimilated whom?
The total percentage of vote actually cast, is rising. Three decades back it was around 60% which has risen to 80% and more. At most places there were triangular contest. BJP, Congress and a regional party. Thus in a triangular contest the winning party had to garner about 30% votes. Now Muslims votes are about 15% or more in some places. They used to vote en mass to any party other than BJP. The winning combination was to woo muslims and two more large groups either on the basis of caste, language or any other basis and ensure to get 30% votes and win. To keep the vote bank intact, the so called leaders (Naya Neta) would call political shots. Of course these leaders were least concerned with the welfare of the group they lead. It was simple and it worked.
By the way 'M' in the title stands for minoritism. India has a system of governance by minority not majority.
Vote Bank
The story of Muslims becoming vote banks of Clergy is very succinctly explained by Hasan SaroorcxcieISBN: 9788129131645: India's Muslim Spring: Why Nobody is Talking About It (2014) by Hasan Saroor, published by Rupa Publications, New Delhi. as under:
"...the Muslims who migrated to Pakistan represented the cream of undivided India's Muslim society—feudal gentry, civil servants, diplomats, top army brass, businessmen, bankers and other professionals whose skills would be in demand in a new country. The Muslims who were left in India either by choice or circumstances were mostly the 'rump'—petty shopkeepers, self-employed daily wagers like rickshaw pullers, tonga drivers, masons, carpenters, and low-rung government employees like peons, clerks, drivers. They were mostly conservative, lacking social or political awareness, and led miserable insular lives with little or no aspiration. The flight of the Muslim middle class, the engine of upward mobility and progress in any society, to Pakistan, left a big hole at the heart of the Indian Muslim community. The ranks of tall Muslim leaders who could inspire and motivate the community were also hugely depleted. In fact, there was no credible Muslim political leadership left in large parts of India. A few ministers at the centre, which was ruled by the Congress until well into the 1970s, were seen as 'show pieces' whom the rest of the community did not see as their true representatives. They were largely perceived as crumbs thrown to the community in the name of Muslim representation. …… It was this vacuum that allowed local mullahs and provincial political operators to take over the reins of a leaderless and demoralised community mired in poverty and illiteracy. They played on its fears and insecurities to emerge as its 'protectors' developing, in the process, a vested interest in keeping it backward..."
In the same book, Saroor has pointed out, more and more educated Muslims are moving away from dictates of clergy and now vote on their own. There is some evidence of this statement on the ground.
Reservation for Muslims
It is a debateable issue but the BJP has different reasoning to deny reservation to Muslims in jobs. However the real reasoning it that it is felt that reservation was one of the factors responsible for partition. Read:
"...Muslims in India definitely need a leader who could do what Mian Fazli Hussain, the Education Minister in Dyarchy System did. He managed to get some quota reserved for Muslims in educational institutions which benefited the community greatly. Later when he became the member of the executive council of the viceroy, he again managed to get some quota for Muslims in the Imperial service (Indian Civil Services). Most of the civil servants who had joined imperial services through the quota left for Pakistan in 1947, and Indian Muslims could never get such a benefit again; and as far the business class is concerned, their balance sheet could never become enviable…."cxciieISBN: 9788129131645: India's Muslim Spring: Why Nobody is Talking About It (2014) by Hasan Saroor, published by Rupa Publications, New Delhi.
Samajwadi Party leader Shakir Ali, who lost his seat to BJP, said there was "polarisation of non-Yadav OBCs and non-Jatav Dalits in favour of the BJP and against the Yadavs and Muslims". "This was an election of Yadav-Muslim vs others. This is how it was made to be. This is how the BJP managed to mislead the non-Yadav backward castes," Ali said.cxciiiSee https://indianexpress.com/elections/uttar-pradesh-assembly-elections-2017/uttar-pradesh-assembly-election-results-2017-bjp-sp-samajwadi-party-bsp-bahujan-samaj-party-lose-strongholds-too-4565984/ It is a candid admission of Dog Whistle politics.
His apparent caste and religion based ideology, for him, is "Socialism". India has it'sown version of Socialists.
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