Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Politics without principles is mockery' that was published in Newsband

Politics without principles is mockery
The ruling party will go to any extent to remain in power and the opposition party to snatch the power from the ruling party. We the public vote them to keep the sovereignity of the Country and the state in particular by upholding moral values but those who should be respecting law are found to be totally abandoning the same. This is not Democracy, but real madness in the name of democracy and fundamental rights. What happened in Kerala Assembly was akin to taking law into their own hands.
Why do we vote in elections? We vote because it is our democratic right. But our politicians need us just on the polling day; Next five years the MLAs/MPs/Ministers will be working on how to recover his poll expenses and how to covertly make money for his family/caste; the common people are being fooled and taken into the cage of poverty throughout their life with seemingly alluring baits of offers. There is a massive degradation in our political system.
Any solution, particularly in a democratic country like India, should be arrived at by discussions and peaceful talks! But unfortunately, views are expressed by damaging national property. Why don't our politicians follow the principle of Satyagraha for protests?
There was a time when our political leaders, ministers used to resign on moral ground. Now there is no morality in politics. So they are not resigning on moral ground. Even if they get convicted they will seek possibilities to continue in power. Now politics is not based on morality but it is based on power.
However, one must also acknowledge that India's political culture doesn't encourage politicians to resign from office and undergo the legal process to prove their innocence. Have we ever seen any high profile politician doing this? Resignation itself is seen as proof of guilt. One reason for this reluctance to resign is that the law is too slow in its functioning. It will take years if not decades before a criminal case is concluded.
Violence and indecorous behaviour in the Parliament and State Assemblies do not constitute news anymore. We will be surprised if our elected representatives behave in an orderly and responsible manner, befitting their new found status. This is the price we are paying for blindly electing candidates by ignoring their dubious background. Under the garb of democracy, crimes are committed and the criminals enjoy immunity from prosecution owing to their political clout. This has rendered the Legislature, one of the three pillars of democracy, (Legislature, Executive and Judiciary), very weak. No wonder, our democracy has become very wobbly.

When the edifice of democracy is unstable, it is bound to adversely affect the other two pillars also. Just as "Honesty is the best policy" has become a cliched adage, "Democracy is the best policy" has lost its virtue due to trampling of ethical values and righteousness by the elected members or representatives. Any policy bereft of principles becomes a mockery.

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