[Reader-list] Is Indian democracy turning into a farce now?

[Venugopalan K M]

Dear Rakesh,

This perspective as articulated here,though would become central to
any idea of egalitarian praxis in nation and  politics, our leading
players often miss it out.
Identities ought to occupy the central stage only to the extent of
being helpful  to locate the areas where things take wrong turns, by
design or by default.
Discourses on quotas,  on  (ending) communal profiling of terrorism,
on Women's Bill and such, otherwise  would not have originated at all
in an ideal scheme as suggested by you. Unfortunately, they not only
remain unsettled , but are also most likely to be elusive of answers
over a period of time ahead.

Regards,
Venu.




On Sat, Jun 20, 2009 at 3:07 PM, Rakesh Iyer <rakesh.rnbdj at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Dear Venugopal jee
>
> I think the assumption itself that people vote on basis of vote banks is somewhat wrong. This only takes place in extraordinary situations. Therefore, making such assumptions is quite wrong and detrimental to the Muslims or the Dalits itself.
>
> There are larger issues than identities. Even in this forum, we debate more on Indian, Muslim, Hindu, Christian and so on. It seems that Mandir-Masjid fight, Christian conversions, Valentine day and pub culture, and Mangalore attack are more important issues than say corruption in health and education sectors in the govt. machinery, the corruption in the NREGS, Mid Day Meal Scheme and other central govt. sponsored schemes, and so on. Forget all this. The law and order in all the cities is going from bad to worse since the past couple of years. We don't even debate that. Instead, all we can fight on is identity.
>
> Since SRK is in news now a days for a quote on the Prophet, may be it's time we remember what his character says in the film Swades:
>
> 'Hum sab kehte rehte hain ki humara desh barbaad hone wala hai. Agar sab aise hi chalta raha to ek din wakai yeh desh barbaad ho jayega. Aur hum sab iske liye zimmedaar honge'.
>
> Of course, there will be people saying that we shouldn't look at this problem from the eyes of a nation, it lies everywhere. I agree. But isn't it time that we now look at such issues rather than trivial issues like identity, which is what the terrorists, the mullahs, the swamis, the saints, the great messengers of god and their hoodlum followers would want us to focus upon?
>
> Or are we simply going to debate endlessly on identity, argue, fight and then pass comments on each other and thereby lose all sense of issues in the process? And of course, then state that education, health, unemployment are non-issues (Indian media said that 2009 General elections were issue-less. Probably Sarai should be given a mission to educate Indian media on reporting).
>
> Regards
>
> Rakesh



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