Rantings about Civil society and Political parties

This is a top of mind flow of thoughts regarding the state of our democracy. Despite being a regular voter in Pune, my name didn't feature in the voters list - just like thousands of citizens. Yes, its partly my fault that i didn't check the list before. But since i am a existing voter, i thought there is no reason for my name to be dropped. The entire Form 6 thing is for first time voters...

Much has been said about the agitation at the Collector office last week. On 18th April morning, i went to Council hall where other voters (who were dropped without any notice) and concerned citizens had gathered to get an audience with the EC or Dist Collector. It was a regular gathering of regular folks like you and me who don't have party allegiance had gathered to make some headway to exercise their right to vote. Citizens, breadwinners, day wage workers, activists, people from NGOs, housewives, tax payers, political workers - a motley crew of people who had one thing in common: Get the Right to Vote for those who were unfairly deleted, and have re-elections in Pune latest by 13 May (which is the last voting date).

Between all the cool conspiracy theories and wild allegations, one thing that came out strongly was, everyone wanted to say something. There was so much anger and disappointment. I myself was feeling terrible for being unable to vote in what possibly are the MOST critical elections of our times. Everyone was charged and motivated to be part of this much anticipated "change".

As more and more time passed at this agitation / demonstration, i realised that no civil society movement can happen in India. What the civil society members can do is, sit on hunger strike, file a PIL, form societies and create atmosphere that will create pressure on the authorities to take cognizance. Common folk who assemble to voice their concerns, who come from far and wide to right some wrongs, have no clue about these protest / agitations. I want you to picture your next door neighbour - the regular guy - who comes with some sort of idealism in his heart, hoping to get some "justice" by baring the "truth". The regular folk do not have the muscle or the pull to get attention of the high and mighty.


Where political parties score, is their organisational ability. They can conjure up durries to sit, megaphones to communicate instructions / speeches to the protesters, get water for those who are braving the summer sun. At a basic dialog level, they bring in lawyers who can suggest the legal way ahead. Since political parties interface between the bureaucracy and citizens on a regular basis - they have a comfort level of interacting with the administration. They have access to media channels and reporters, who can really make it a topic of discussion.

Another realisation was, if a concerned citizen or a group of citizens have been wronged and they are creating some noise about it, it is very easy for political parties to come and hijack the agenda. Once the gathering turns to a political party discourse, where does the apolitical, non-aligned, common man go!? 

How will any civil movement ever happen in India? How was the anti-corruption protest done? How did people come down to Rashtrapati bhavan during the Nirbhaya protests? I understand both these examples are very different, but it has to be beyond social media.

I would like to know how.

A Repetitive History

After the Sanjay Baru book “The Accidental Prime Minister” hit the stands and revealed(!?) the dual-power structure in the UPA government, i immediately thought of the only other such political arrangement in my memory – the Shiv Sena-BJP combine of 1995-99 in Maharashtra.

I thought to myself, “Why not think of more similarities between these two governments?”, and came up with the following list. It’s not very elaborate and i am not equating one with the other. The similarity ends with these comparisons, as the ethos and brand DNA of both parties ( and coalitions) are drastically different.

SS-BJP COMBINE (1995-1999)	UPA (2004-2014)
Maharashtra was the most prosperous state when this combine got to power. Didn’t leave it that way...	UPA got reins to power when India was poised to be a global superpower. A decade later, the sentiment is missing.
Their victory can partly be credited to the feud and infighting among the Congress (Late Sudhakar Naik vs Sharad Pawar).	The India Shining campaign by NDA boomeranged. That played a vital role in propelling UPA to power, as the shine was limited to select citizens.
The previous Congress government couldn’t control the 1992-93 riots. The votes were polarised on religious / communal basis.	Latent anger against the NDA for not taking action against the unapologetic CM of Gujarat for the 2002 riots. That translated for Congress in votes.
Remote controlled, as famously confessed by Late Bal Thackrey.	Authority with zero accountability for Ms Sonia Gandhi, as published in the book.
Zunka bhakar centres to create livelihood for its volunteers. And unemployed youth.	Populist measures – rural employment guarantee scheme, rural health bill, FSB.
Went on to rename everything after Shiv Sena icons. And, Bombay became Mumbai.	The government schemes and initiatives were named after icons of the ruling dynasty.
Most critical contribution are the 56 flyovers in Mumbai.	Will be known for the revamp and rebirth of Delhi.
Were in too much of a hurry.	Criticised for “policy paralysis”.
Known for threats and aggressive attacks on media for any unfavourable coverage. Used theory of intimidation instead of dialog most times.	Treats the main stream media like their own fiefdom, throwing them crumbs to divert attention of the masses from one topic to the next.
ENRON	CAG
In the years leading up to the coalition coming to power, political careers of leaders like Sudhir Joshi, were over.	Top leaders like Madhav Scindia and Rajesh Pilot died in unfortunate accidents before UPA came to power.
The memorable event was the Michael Jackson concert.	The biggest party everyone had a good time were the CWG.

Clearly i am no political expert, and this is not an exhaustive list. These are top of mind things, and political keedas can think of more similarities or completely trash my little adventure.  

The point is, history repeats itself. And those who don’t learn from past mistakes have to go through the same mistakes again and again... And again...

Someone once told me, or i read somewhere... “The more things change, the more they stay same”... And right now, we are at the cusp of something special. We have an opportunity to show that we are more than data points and demographics. The educated, urban, employed, tax-paying population needs to be less cynical and be part of the change! Let’s make it count. We need to be part of the change, instead of venting it out on FB updates for the next 5 years. You need to show if you are an armchair activist or really are the harbinger of change.

Please go out and vote. Make yours count.

PS: I must acknowledge the help and inputs from my friends Satish and Hyder for their common man insights to Bombay / Mumbai politics.

How Taxing!!

If there is a minority that never gets represented in the election scheme of things, it is the tax paying population. As per various reports, the tax payers in our country range from 2.35% to 2.99% of population - which is roughly 3 to 5cr tax payers for 115 to 120cr total population!! That makes us tax payers a minority that literally runs the machinery.

Well, to begin with, TDS is cut even before we get money in hand. Then we are taxed several times over when we shop for groceries, clothes, essentials, electronic items and almost everything else. We shop at malls, eat in A/C restaurants, watch movies at a multiplex and get taxed some more. When we fly, we are choked with insane opportunity pricing, and lesser said about the road toll, the better it is. 

So basically, despite paying the direct and indirect taxes, this 3% population has zero say in any policy related matters. These are the people who are parting with 10% to 30% of their salaries. These are the people who are spending money and living a good life. They are also "victims of a good life" and cannot scale down their standard of living.

Yes, i believe in what goes around, comes around. All the employees in these restaurants and malls and spa's and other service industries have a cause-effect relationship on our incomes and so-on and so-forth... 

There has to be a limit to this insane taxation. Yes, we are a country of poor people. A lot of subsidies have been given to make education affordable, and petrol cheaper, and creating opportunities for us. For once, i would like this money being put to good use. Why are our government offices is such poor shape? Isn't that an asset bought / rented / acquired from our tax money? Why are there no pubic loos? Why dont we have footpaths every where? Why dont our city planners develop separate highways and service roads? Why is there little or no communication between government agencies, when new roads are dug up multiple times for cabling and plumbing and god only knows what else. Why can't we have affordable and reliable public transport?  

I really would like to see the tax money put to good use - considering we are paying it twice!! We need these funds to be used for prosperity of this nation. For betterment of everyone. 

Let us not be invisible in our own country. Let us make sure that the money we pay as tax goes in for development - and not in some mattress or Swiss account. This time, keep the thieves out!! Vote for the non-corrupt candidate - no matter how inexperienced he / she is.