At least in one respect, the Marxian dream has come true in India – the state has withered away. It’s an all-India phenomenon, not just in the blood-red villages of Bihar or West Bengal. What’s more, it’s given us the dictatorship of the proletariat. Some of us are now beginning to realize that this was never meant to be dictatorship by the proletariat; it all along meant dictatorship over the proletariat.
Two decades ago, a lonely but indomitable woman walked miles into the fields of little-known Belchi to express solidarity with the low caste victims of an outrage. The move was widely perceived as an act of sagacity that put Mrs. Indira Gandhi on the political comeback trail. No doubt it did that, but it had a much larger significance. It was the response of a true leader to the aspirations for justice and succour by those who had been trespassed upon. It was, above all, a powerful legitimation of the right of the poor and downtrodden to have dreams and aspirations. Throughout her long and troubled political innings, Mrs. Gandhi always retained this sensitivity towards the poor, particularly towards women. She would never have kept quiet had the scandalous purification of a Kerala temple following the marriage of the Hindu son of a Christian mother taken place in her tenure; she would make her displeasure known.
This aspect of nurturance by a tall leader has vanished with her demise. It is a trait that comes from within, and cannot be artificially created. That is why Signora Sonia Gandhi fell flat on her face when she tried to do an Indira amma by arriving at the site of a gruesome massacre in Bihar at the advice of her spin doctors, because she followed it up by propping up the very Rabri Devi government that she said had no moral right to rule.
Bihar, of course, has since gone from strength to strength as a metaphor for the rule of the goon and the gun. Massacres continue at village level, and private armies are establishing ‘spheres of influence’ with impunity. Girls have been abducted in broad daylight while fetching provisions from the market; anti-social elements have entered the school bus of the institution in which the Chief Minister’s own daughters study, and molested young students. Recently the inmates of a girls’ hostel in the state capital were held hostage at gunpoint for three hours one evening, and social activists insist a gang rape is being covered up.
Concerned citizens across the country now increasingly feel that the situation in Bihar can no longer be accepted with equanimity. But not a single political party or leader deems it fit to take note of the situation there. One appreciates that the Centre is shackled in the use of Article 356, but one cannot understand the continued silence of Mr. Vajpayee, his government or his party, especially when the Congress president feels obliged to remain mute. At the very least, an important woman leader of the party or alliance should have been deputed to talk to the girls.
In West Bengal, it is now an open secret that the government of Comrade Jyoti Basu wholeheartedly endorses the Maoist dictum that power flows through the barrel of a gun. Village after village is learning painful lessons in political compliance. Yet if the gutsy Ms. Mamata Banerjee had not spoken up so loudly, it is doubtful if Bengal would even exist in the Centre’s political geography. Of course, Defence Minister George Fernandes has since argued her case powerfully, and Mr. Basu has displayed his petulant bhadralok-fisherwoman tantrums. But as far as one can make out, there has been no attempt to engage the Congress about the situation in the state. It is shoddy diplomacy to throw an open challenge to Congress to endorse President’s rule across the front pages of newspapers. If the Centre means business, someone should call upon the Congress president. It cannot assume that she will agree, rest on imaginary laurels, and still talk of good governance!
In Karnataka, the Raj Kumar abduction saga continues to simmer with no end in sight. What is worse, in all these weeks, the governments of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have not seen fit to chalk out any alternative strategy, when it is clear that their journalist-emissary has failed to negotiate the film star’s freedom, and the Supreme Court has ruled out release of detenues. Nevertheless, Mr. S.M. Krishna continues to chant the surrender mantra, while Mr. M. Karunanidhi behaves as if there is no agenda other than the smooth succession of his favourite son to his political legacy. Now, with the veteran actor’s wife having taken ill, the situation has the potential to turn nasty, at least in Karnataka. Yet all through the prolonged melodrama, the Centre has not seen fit to even raise the issue with the state governments. Nor has the BJP or any NDA partner expressed an opinion; it is as though the states are outside Planet India.
Other publicity-conscious leaders have also maintained silence. It would be interesting to know the views of former Prime Minister V.P. Singh, who did not hesitate to release terrorists in exchange for Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s daughter, and had no qualms about retaining him as Home Minister after the sordid episode. One is also curious to know if there is any re-thinking in Congress in view of the prolonged stalemate on the issue, especially since the Supreme Court has overruled the abject surrender that the Chief Minister’s had in mind.
In the national capital, the situation is hardly any better with the sensational abduction of a jeweller’s daughter in broad daylight, and her release after payment of what is suspected to be a king’s ransom. According to some press reports, the release was negotiated by the son of a prominent city politician, who was otherwise unknown to the family. The reports did not identify the person, but hinted he was no honest broker. Again, the political elite cutting across party lines, maintained deafening silence; there are no assurances to the family or shocked citizenry that the guilty will be punished and the crime rate brought under control.
As for the telecommunication crisis, were it not for the newspapers, one would never have realized why the STD lines aren’t working. Even after the press berated the nation that is leading the world information technology revolution for not being able to maintain basic telephone services at home, the Government has been less than forthcoming about the extent of the problem. So much for transparency and freedom of information!
What is happening in India is a creeping callousness of the political class as a whole that makes it indifferent to the plight of the people when it feels securely ensconced in power. That is why there will be no genuine response to regressive attitudes towards depressed sections, as recently witnessed in a Rajasthan school where Dalit children were suspended for demanding access to the same (and solitary) source of water as upper caste students. Sometimes complacency becomes seductive that it holds parties in thrall even when the writing on the wall flashes neon lights. Yet it would be a mistake not to sense the tension simmering below the surface; it could break out with unpredictable consequences on an unsuspecting polity.
The Pioneer, 26 Sept 2000