Often
distance gives a different perspective. After what happened in the Indian Parliament on Thursday, I deliberately kept myself away from other colleagues at the place where I work. Some of them have links with India and others are
fascinated by the tremendous strides made by the country which was once ruled
by the British.
I was apprehensive
that someone would ask me uncomfortable questions about what happened in the
Indian Parliament. I didn’t want to be caught on the wrong foot on my country,
which incidentally is the largest democracy in the world.
On second
thought, it seemed that I was actually shying away from myself. The sheer shame
of facing the reality about the transformation of Indian polity. Often our
leaders and those of us who live away from home use words like pluralism,
diversity, empowerment – in one way or
the other they all are related to democracy. We take pride in the fact that
despite her deficits, India is a vibrant democracy. When Europeans, who are so
used to homogeneity, raise eyebrows on the chaos in India, we tell them India
is too complex a structure to be compared to Europe. At the end of a long discussion
on how diverse, multi-dimensional and colourful India is, we add a footnote
stating that despite all our problems India is united, proud and values its
pluralism, diversity and democracy.
I wonder
what some of my European friends having interests in India would say after what
happened in the Indian Parliament on Thursday. Frankly speaking, I started
feeling restless the very moment, an Indian television channel which beams here
in the UK informed me about the use of pepper spray and knives in the temple of
democracy, a term often used by Indians. To relieve me from the restlessness, I
posted on the social media: “Indian lawmakers act as insurgents in the land of Mahatma.”
It was an
instant reaction, but on reflection, I was swamped in depression. The
significant strides that India has made in the fields of science and
technology, software development, human resources, academia and services etc.
are rated even more highly as we have been able to achieve them despite
being a democracy where divergence of views and opinion are taken into
consideration. Despite the high growth rate of China, India is preferentially
treated because she is a democracy as compared to China being under a one-party
rule. We know where our strength lies and yet none other than the lawmakers
decided to tarnish India’s image. Our pride in democracy, pluralism and
tolerance has all fallen flat with one stroke of an action.
Twenty years
back as a young journalist, I had a chance to meet Hiren Mukherjee, the
celebrated parliamentarian of CPI. As expected, I was mesmerised by his
depth of knowledge and yet his patience to listen to somebody as inexperienced
and naïve as myself. Despite his unflinching faith in Communism, the late
parliamentarian told me that India’s strength lies in its multi-party
democracy. “Our strength lies in the power of our patience and our readiness to
absorb,” I remember him telling me.
Then he
narrated instances from his parliamentary life when Nehru would often make it a
point to listen to his speeches as well as those of other political adversaries
like Shyama Prasad Mukherjee. “We were
political adversaries but our friendship and respect for each other were still
intact,” he told me. On hindsight, it seems that is the novelty of democracy
and is now gradually disappearing from Indian polity.
Any sane
person would support social mobility, especially in a country as complex as
India and empowerment of people coming from different socio, cultural, ethnic
and regional groups augurs well for democracy. Unfortunately, that has also
contributed to the intolerance and impatience, and often the animosity between
different social elements was reflected on the floor of the house. Even live
telecast of the parliamentary proceedings couldn’t stop the lawmakers from
behaving inappropriately. They often take pride in the fact that such unruly behaviour
made them more popular among their constituents and ensured electoral gains.
Does it
imply that India as a nation is becoming impatient, intolerant and
argumentatively perilous. Nothing can be more unfortunate in a country which takes
pride in being the successor of great leaders like Nehru, Gandhi, Tagore,
Netaji, Abul Kalam Azad and many more. None can deny the political differences
between Tagore, Netaji, Nehru and the Mahatma, frankly they were quite
stark, and yet not for once did they fail in publicly acknowledging respect
towards their political opponents.
Tirthankar Bandyopadhyay is a journalist and media consultant.
He can be contacted at tirthankarb@hotmail.com All comments are personal.
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