A “slap” that resounds with multiple meanings

I deeply respect Prashanth Bhushan. I was deeply disturbed, very deeply indeed, when he was attacked by some goons for expressing his views on Kashmir some weeks ago. This was a brutal attack against one's Right to Express.

I do not respect Sharad Pawar as a political leader at all. I believe he has worked largely in self interest and has abused his decades in power to advance his material and political profiteering. I believe we deserve a far better leader than Mr. Pawar heading the critical Agriculture Ministry, especially when official figures admit that over two lakhs of farmers have committed suicide due to farming distress over the past decade.  It is truly horrific to imagine that so many dignified farmers resorted to this extreme step merely to save their and their family's honour at not being able to repay really very small loans. ( I strongly feel that the thousands who have so died are victims of a crime, foisted  on the millions in rural areas by those who prepare farming polices that guarantee diminishing returns and cause irreversible hurt to families and society.)    

When some months ago Anna Hazare was preemptively arrested for his decision to go on an indefinite fast against the Union Government's lethargy on instituting a Lokpal (all ruling parties over the past four decades are indicted here for similarly not taking up this issue seriously), I was livid. Hazare's arrest had strong resonance with Emergency days, a comparison some perceive as needless exaggeration. I disagree.  I believe that we lose our fundamental rights and freedoms incrementally, and especially when we overlook or ignore instances of exigence and abuse, considering them to be incidental and minor. All these add up with mathematical accuracy and with disastrous consequences.  

To slap Pawar unprovoked is very wrong. In this context, I am very very disturbed with what Anna Hazare has said about this terrible incident: “Yek ee Maraa?” (Just one slap?). I believe Hazare expressed his honest feelings for the senior politician when he so retorted on learning of the slap Sharad Pawar received from a goon. That he later tried to make amends to live up to his “Gandhian” credentials, and actually condemned the “slap” was too little too late.  

What is surprising in such behaviour of Mr. Hazare anyway? Only a few days ago he unequivocally stated that alcoholics must be publicly flogged. Then justified it by saying alcoholics themselves begged for such harsh treatment as it reformed them. It is thus rather ironical that Anna Hazare has become an icon of morality, against corruption and for good citizen behaviour.  

Intolerance hurts. Whether it is in a school, an office, the Parliament or society, intolerant responses to a person's views are all fundamentally wrong and smacks of absolute disrespect and disinterest in humanism and humanistic discourse. Where divergence of views aren't celebrated and tolerated, condemnation and punishment follows: banishment, extermination, distancing in close relationships are some typical responses. All these are very hurting and gnaw at the very core and purpose of being human.  

To me, the Right to Express is, therefore, intertwined with the Right to Live. Without the former, the latter is meaningless - a sterile existence. Living in conformity with an intolerant society is an aberration to being human. For the freedom one experiences with free expression is absolutely more precious than the comfort one could draw materially and socially by not protesting intolerance; which could easily translate into tolerating harsh hegemony itself.  

A terrible void results in such situations. A deathly silence invades. Soon this void is filled with bitterness, fear and distrust. A very deep and aching feeling of hurt, despair and sadness follows. Sometimes this reality is masked by laughter and smiles. But such deception cannot cure these deep wounds.  

To give in to this void is to give up on living fully. More effort is needed to overcome this hurt. Resistance against intolerance is essential to overcome intolerance. Resistance draws its strength from a deep respect for humanity, while intolerance causes a cold, dreadful hurting.  

A “slap” be it against Bhushan, Pawar or an alcoholic, are equally condemnable. I prefer to be alert about such matters. I do not want to take lightly the fact that Prashant Bhushan was attacked for his views and that Sharad Pawar was attacked for whatever be the attacker's reasons. And thus, Hazare is to be condemned as well for his retort on both the Pawar “slap”, and promoting the brutal attack on alcoholics, without forgetting for a moment that he had even advocated capital punishment for the corrupt.

In such a climate of intolerance, I am distressed that Hazare is the hero of progressive reforms in governance. Can a society be happy if it is rid of monetary corruption alone? While it believes strongly that alcoholics and politicians, or progressive lawyers for that matter, can be slapped and beaten? What will this add up to?  

As Bob Dylan famously sang, “The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind. The answer is blowing in the wind”.

Beyond the Lokpal Bill

The recent success of the Anna Hazare led movement for legislating the much delayed Lokpal Bill, considered a major requirement to tackle corruption in public life, has energised public confidence in protests. The middle class that played a major role in this movement now believe protests work, this even in a country like India where democracy is "celebrated" mainly during elections.

An interesting feature of this movement has been that it was largely active in large metropolitan areas, was strongly driven by corporate workers and corporates too, and found resounding support of the growing Indian middle classes. Interesting to note is the fact that the large farming population and the informal working sectors were not so engaged with this movement, as were not trade unions and other large public interest networks.

The media's acute support for the movement, particularly the electronic media, was essentially based on the claim that the people of India had risen to tackle the spectre of corruption, and this had happened under the inspiring leadership of a "Gandhian". Suddenly, it was right to be a Gandhian, and to even fashionably dress as one.

Contrast this with the India of the 1990s, shining as it were, impatiently waiting to jump out of the sluggish Hindu rate of economic growth. The media that drummed up support for liberalisation of the Indian economy, found extraordinarily innovative ways to communicate to the wide public then, that the days of being Gandhian were passe. The consumer was king, and the culture this king produced was the new way forward. Clearly, therefore, it was time to hang up our desi boots and get used to the global way of walking and running, with Nike and Reebok to boot. Just do it! Never matter how!

A couple of decades later, we now have the spectre of corruption being tackled by the same classes that promoted and benefit from such economic liberalisation. And these influential classes widely believe that institutions such as the Lokpal and Lokayukta, can and will tackle the malaise of graft. A somewhat corporate solution has been discovered and is being aggressively promoted to sustain the belief that heroes can fix the maladies of the governance system crippled as it were by corruption.

True, it is possible to contain the damage done to our governance systems and public order by exposing and punishing the corrupt. After all, is this not the corollary purpose of enforcing the rule of law? But such measures ought to be perceived more as a remedy to attend to an injury, like a 'band aid' to a wound. For corruption, after all, is a mere symptom of the diabetes afflicting the body of governance. A festering, septic wound may be cured, by taking harsh measures when needed. But that will not prevent the next wound from occurring, and turning septic, sore and stinking. So just like a diabetes patient has to undergo a lifestyle change to restore balance of various chemicals in the human body, and adopt ways that will attack the core of the disease, similarly engaging systemically to affect positive change in governance is the real cure; to secure which the Lokpal and Lokayukta institutions are worthwhile, but small, beginnings.

True reform is only possible when the public everywhere systemically engage with all public decisions. Some examples of what it takes: each and every project decision must be based on deeply consultative mechanisms that practices the Principle of Prior and Informed consent; power must genuinely devolve to local governments without being remote controlled by State (para-statals) and Central (Eg. JNNURM) schemes; intransparency in decision making, except only when involving genuine defense and security issues, must become history; executive officials, elected representatives and judicial members must be personally accountable to their decisions; public projects must only be financed if they have been legitimately subscribed to in the proposal of the District Planning Committee as required in the Constitutional 73rd (Panchayat Raj) and 74th (Nagarpalika) Amendments (thus projects like Commonwealth Games, Metro, airport developments, etc. cannot be foisted on the public by surprise, as reactionary measures and as political legacy initiatives); implementation of public projects and schemes must mainly be undertaken by elected local governments, with State and Central agencies playing supportive and guiding roles; all departmental financing and expenditure details must be publicly accessible by regular quarterly reporting and made available suo moto online.

Similarly, all corporate bodies must become subject to the provisions of the Right to Information Act, a privilege now limited to shareholders and members under the applicable laws.

Now these are measures that cannot be implemented through popular uprisings and movements. Instead they can only be implemented through systemic engagement with public administration. This kind of change does not rely on an informed public (such as the ones trained in schools and colleges) but more on an involved public (those with an innate understanding of the true nature and moral underpinnings of public governance). What is more important is the need for deep rooted awareness that the exercise of adult franchise must be followed by systematic and regular engagement with all public officials and authorities to ensure promises are delivered and defined tasks are implemented genuinely.

Nothing less can work in ensuring the festering wounds of the maladies of governance in India, evident through the scandalous scale of corrupt practices being revealed almost everyday, will become a thing of the past. It is only with such deliberate and involved engagement with governance that we will be able to ensure that the need for "Swiss" accounts are unnecessary. For no bureaucrat, contractor, politician, corporate honcho, etc. can accumulate so much slush wealth and need to hide it overseas in secret and tax free havens.