Sorry Democracy, I will have to be harsh on you

Swatantra Singh Chauhan, Bhopal.

Every Indian’s heart bled when the bunch of jokers were pettifogging on the floors of parliament and held its upper house hostage during the winter session. However they can pragmatically justify their unethical deeds by saying that the present government also resorted to the same practice when it was on the other side of fence, in a way they are just following the Time honored practice for opposition parties of opposing everything and proposing nothing. The result is one more session wasted on trifles belittling the tax payer’s hard earned money. 
 

This shows why India punches far below its weight failing to achieve what it could and should be doing with vast potential of human resources and abundant natural resources. Lack of coherent policy across the board, red tapes, and playing fast and loose with investors sentiment had brought enough disrepute and chocked capital inflows for decades. The moot question arises till when? Is their a dead line for our under-performance? Just look at some interesting scenarios and we will find the answers of the mentioned questions.The principal opposition congress even after facing catastrophe is unable to take a cue and still wants to stick in mud with its rejected and outmoded Hammer and sickle school of thought. It was really very irritating to see congress’ vice president while campaigning in recently held state legislature elections blowing his own trumpet for all the right wings sops they had brought during their tenure which the western media termed as a lost decade. It reflects he is yet to feel the pulse of changing India.

Another example is coal India’s trade unions obstinacy against the coal sector reforms and their yearning for maintenance of status quo no matter how much our coal import bill gallops. Undeterred by the rich dividends of denationalization and deregulation's these unions are busy feathering their own nest under the garb of national interest.

Third example is banding together of fragile opposition against the land acquisition ordinance. Which if implemented in UPA’s version will let the Ambani’s, & The Adani’s appeasing the sarpanchs for acquiring lands even after paying fair compensation and rehabilitation. The UPA’s bill will provide elbow room for local governments to demand their pound of flesh making land acquisition a herculean task. This ordinance was panacea for all the loopholes but unfortunately it will bear the brunt of political remonstrations.

Political parties must have an amorphous ideology which changes with the demand of demography but unfortunately it seems to be a pipe dream in Indian context. Now again the moot question arises,

Should these rip van winkles be allowed hold our country’s progress at ransom?

SOLUTION

This rich, diverse, & variegated country has stretched its democratic values so far that it has started backfiring on its own development, like ordinances passed are thought as an assault on democracy but holding the parliament hostage is not an assault but a fundamental right of our honorable MPs. I think time is ripe for ushering in parliamentary reforms to increase the House’s efficiency such as allotting minimum number of hours for constructive discussion, and implementing code of conducts for our respectful members. Modi ji can take a leaf out of late Shri Rajiv Gandhi’s book that brought anti defection law a powerful tool to check cross fencing for vested interests. Modi ji has gigantic mass support and any such law will further augment his popularity charts, just like it did for Rajiv Gandhi till the Boforce specter came out.

We have enough seen democratic values desiccating the growth engine, but now the inexorable youths of this country wants development even at the cost of decaying its fruitless democracy .They want to capitalize their full potential and proportionalize it with their countries progress even at the cost of putting the ideas of liberalism and secularism at bay. So if our virile PM really has deep regards for the mandate he had been given then he must not shy away from acting like a constructive despot. Democracy must not become a fig leaf for our non achievements ,with a heavy heart we must have to accept that curbing the democracy is the need of the hour, otherwise you are going to dilapidate an aspirational generation of youths which is unforgivable.

Modi ji, If you can sense our voices then please understand that we are becoming impatient we urge you to bring out a Deng Xiaoping out of you not the Nehru’s & Gandhi’s. You are requested to kick out this democratic phantom and herald a new era of development.