[Reader-list] Article on politics and its need

[Rakesh Iyer]

Dear all

With elections going on, I found this article quite good and actually
showing off the problem with our middle class, as well as the kind of
activity which may be actually required to secure our politics and also our
lives. Do read it, and I hope you will enjoy.

Regards

Rakesh

Article:

*Alternatives to politics vs alternative politics

*

Here is a paradox about political participation in this election. On the one
hand, the evidence on voter turnout suggests a mild decline in popular
participation. The final data for the first phase indicates a one percentage
point drop and the second phase a two percentage point drop compared to
figures in the same areas for 2004. On the other hand, the final list of
candidates released by the Election Commission shows a sharp jump compared
to the previous elections. After the EC introduced a vast range of measures
to curb ‘non-serious’ candidates in 1997, the average number of candidates
per constituency fell to a little less than nine in 1998 and 1999 and 10 in
2004. This time, the average number of candidates per constituency has risen
sharply to a little over 14.


What accounts for the decline and rise in these two forms of political
participation? We might think of specific but separate reasons to explain
them. Decline in turnout could be the result of the scorching heat, a dull
national-level campaign, and the increasingly strict requirements for voter
identification. The rise in the number of candidates could be a function of
a lower threshold of victory in multi-cornered contests. The success of
parties such as the Pattali Makkal Katchi has spawned many a hopeful. Also,
as political parties become closed to new entrants and lack democratic
avenues of upward mobility, the only way to register presence within a
political party is to go out and contest the election as an Independent.
These factors contribute to the increase in candidates as well as the rise
in ‘non-serious’ ones.


There is another way of resolving this paradox. Both sides of it can be
interpreted as different responses to the lack of political choices offered
in this election. Although the party system has opened up in the last two
decades, there has also been a convergence among political parties. Voters
get to choose from more of the same. The same phenomenon appears to have
contributed at least partly to the rise in the number of candidates.
Activist citizens and organisations respond to the lack of choice by trying
to forge alternatives. Some people decide to stand for elections and some
organisations put up candidates. Viewed in this light, the current election
represents an attempt to forge an alternative to mainstream politics. Never
before has an election witnessed so many attempts by individuals, movements
and organisations outside the mainstream to intervene in the political
process. Arguably, this development, more than the messy outcome of this
increasingly close electoral race, holds greater relevance for the future of
Indian politics.


The relevance of this seems to have escaped the media’s attention. Yes, the
media — print, radio, TV and internet — did highlight many high-profile
voter awareness campaigns. Yes, celebrity candidates such as Mallika
Sarabhai, Captain G. R. Gopinath and Meera Sanyal received considerable
media space. The media was also generous in highlighting how some of the
film stars, models and role models took voting very seriously. For once,
voting was made to appear ‘cool.’


But such things were the least significant aspect of the new phenomenon of
citizen involvement in electoral politics. The attention given to the
politics of anti-politics, in line with the anti-politician protests in
Mumbai after 26/11, led to high expectations and an inevitable
disappointment once the turnout figures were known. This is a reminder of a
basic lesson in politics: there are no short-cuts to building an alternative
politics. Those who engage in politician bashing for five years cannot
expect their all-too brief campaigns to yield an involved and committed
citizenry. The only route is to take politics seriously and painstakingly
build political organisations. For all their faults, this is what mainstream
political parties do, or at least did to begin with.


What the media missed completely were those initiatives that recognised the
nature of this challenge. This election witnessed at least two kinds of
organised and serious attempts at strengthening alternative politics. The
first relates to attempts to influence the agenda of political contestation
and the level of citizens’ involvement by organisations that did not contest
elections. Such attempts could be called non-party political initiatives.
These include several independent initiatives to influence the party agenda
and to develop people’s manifestos. Besides these, the National Election
Watch campaign has analysed all the affidavits filed by candidates and
alerted us to the presence of moneybags and those with criminal records.
Conducted by the Association for Democratic Reforms, this campaign is an
example of how a small group of dedicated citizens can make a difference to
the quality of democracy. Janagraha’s One Billion Votes campaign was an
example of how urban middle class-centred initiatives can play a valuable
role, if sustained and serious. The National Alliance for Peoples Movements
and many other groups came together in an unusual campaign ‘Chunav par
Nazar’, that travelled across the country, highlighting the real issues of
ordinary people. Supported by many leading intellectuals and activists, this
self-avowedly political campaign supported and opposed a few candidates.


Secondly, there were many organisations that took up the difficult task of
making a direct intervention, by putting up candidates. The boldest and best
known of these initiatives was that of the Lok Satta party in Andhra
Pradesh. Led by former bureaucrat Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan, the energy, the
organisational seriousness and public transparency of this party has set an
example for future attempts at alternative politics.


Some other attempts did not figure at all in the national and regional media
as they were more localised and did not have a media-savvy middle class
face. Karnataka Sarvodaya, an extraordinary political party that has emerged
from Dalit and farmers’ movements, put up four candidates in Karnataka. The
Samajwadi Jan Parishad, a political formation born from the grassroots,
fielded seven candidates in Kerala, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar
Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal. The performance of its candidate in Bargarh
Assembly constituency in Orissa merits close attention. The Tamil Nadu
Women’s Front and the Jharkhand Ulgoolan Party have put up two candidates
each. Several ‘lok ummeedvar’ (peoples’ candidates) have been fielded by
groups in U.P. and M.P. Many of these groups have come together under a
national umbrella called the Lok Rajniti Manch.


These parties and candidates may not appear ‘successful’ when votes are
counted on May 16. Their success or failure should be measured by the extent
to which they succeed in responding to the paradox of political
participation.


The growing lack of political choices cannot be countered by celebrity
candidates or high-profile media or NGO campaigns. Attempts to look in this
direction can only deepen a sense of frustration and helplessness. The real
challenge is to turn disenchantment with politics and politicians into a
creative force for an alternative kind of politics. Election 2009 is a small
but vital step in that direction.


[*Yogendra Yadav is a Senior Fellow at CSDS and is associated with the Lok
Rajniti Manch and the Samajwadi Jan Parishad mentioned in this article*]


Link: http://www.hindu.com/2009/05/04/stories/2009050455401200.htm