Politics as I see it

This note has been pre-empted by a comment by my good friend Shri Siju Kuriyedam Sreekumar on my facebook post on the effect of the total lockdown on my routine (those interested can read the post here). He said nobody knows my political views because I do not reveal them in my posts. I have wanted to write something on this for a while, and his comment acted as the spark. Thank you, Siju.

I have no particular political views. I am no political activist. I do not support or oppose any political party. I always try to keep a comfortable 'social distance' (a very popular term these days) from politics. I see them, hear them, but do not touch them. Nor do I allow them to touch me. My parents, too, didn’t support or oppose any particular political party. One of my maternal uncles was a staunch CPM activist and his elder brother was a Congress supporter (supporter, not worker). I remember the younger uncle used to visit our home to canvas votes before every election and my parents used to vote for CPM. I also remember when my father joked on an election day, “Every time we vote for CPM, but the candidate never wins. Let us vote for Congress this time.”

I think every party, like every human being, is grey, none black, none white. The ideals are good, obviously, but the implementation gets twisted or biased most of the time. Or should I say, all the time? The party’s activities are biased towards its own members, their relatives or friends. If they do anything wrong, the party does not see it. And if the opposition sees it, the party tries to save him, thus indirectly promoting crime and corruption. Every party turns a blind eye to the wrong-doings, civil or criminal, by their fund-givers. No party can function without huge funds, and not all of it is received through the front door. Not only that, the party managers support them, too, most of the time and the public suffer. But who bothers about the public or public money? The Mallyas and Neerav Modys and several others are examples. And what about the huge amount of money stashed in foreign banks?  Is not all these money ours? Is it not our tax money? Does anyone bother about these?

I do not disagree that there are a few people, or groups of people who do excellent work for the society, regardless of their political affiliation. In my village, there are two temples, both of which were managed by separate groups of RSS supporters. At one place, they used the opportunity to develop themselves at the peril of the temple, and they were forced out. In the other case, however, they did an excellent job and the temple has progressed tremendously and devotees are very happy. The bad or good things done by a person or a group of persons cannot be attributed to the party as a whole.

I feel democracy is a bygone word in today’s political situation. In India, everything is decided by a leader or a small group of leaders at the national level – the Polit Bureau, the High Command, or the President, and so on. Let us call this person or group ‘Head’ for convenience. Even when a state legislature has a comfortable majority, it is the Head, sitting far away, that decides who becomes the chief minister. We have seen this on several, if not all, occasions. Well, sometimes the Head considers the opinion of the legislators, but it is ultimately its decision which is final, and the legislators fall in line. They have no option. Do they? Do you call that democracy?

There is no democracy or freedom of speech within the (read any) party. If a member praises a person or a programme of the opposition, he is considered a renegade. He should always, and only, praise his party or leader. There is this case of a CPM MLA in Kerala who praised the development brought about in Gujarat (loosely referred to as the ‘Gujarat Model’) by the then BJP government. He was immediately removed from the party. This is not an isolated case. Similar incidents have happened with other parties, too. But if you are someone with a considerable following within the party, and if your exit may weaken the party, then you may be given another chance. Didn’t it happen in Maharashtra a few months ago?

It is a very popular saying that there is no permanent friend or foe in politics. This is a polished way of saying there is absolutely no morality left in politics at all. Any party, or leader, can support or oppose any party according to their whims and fancies. A leader who has been eagerly shouting slogans against a party one day, can be seen joining the very same party the next day. Reason? He has been offered better position and perks. We have been seeing this since long. We have seen this quite recently, too, haven’t we? It is a very well known ‘secret’ that MLAs and MPs are often paid crores of rupees to support or join another party.  Ideals? Ethics? Well, let them go to winds.

Once you become member of a political party, you surrender your views, thoughts, words, individuality, and your soul, to the party. You become a non-entity. You have to think as the party (read party Head) thinks, you have to spit the party’s words, you have to see what the party sees, and so on and so forth. You have to support everything the party does. Even one dissenting opinion makes you a renegade. Do you call that democracy?

I would like to recall here another instance. This is related to the Sabarimala women’s entry issue. After the Supreme Court verdict allowing entry of women (between 10 and 55 years) into the temple, against the prevailing tradition, large-scale protests took place all over Kerala and in other parts of India where Ayyappa devotees lived. Several organizations and associations sprang up overnight which supported the tradition of not letting women into the temple. Surprisingly, women of the forbidden age group were in the forefront of the protests. The protesters included members of various political parties, religious organizations, caste-based organizations and those not related to any of these, but were devotees. A WhatsApp group was created in Delhi NCR to support the agitations and I was added to it. The group disseminated the latest information on the agitation both in Kerala and in Delhi NCR. But as the Parliament Elections came closer, the tone and focus of the group drastically changed. It openly began to support a political party and acted as its propaganda machine. Some of them openly said that it was that party that led the Sabarimala agitation and that all the protesters belonged to the party. I felt it annoying. It was a completely false and foolhardy statement. The party wanted to hijack the Sabarimala agitations to its own credit without realizing that the agitators belonged to several other groups or people without any group. I exited from the group. The results of the election in Kerala proved them wrong.

I took membership of political organizations, not political parties, twice.

The first was when I was studying in 8^th or 9^th class. A friend of mine had borrowed a small amount of money from me. After a few days I requested him to return it. He immediately took out a receipt book and gave me two membership coupons of KSF (Kerala Students’ Federation) and said, “Now you are a proud member of KSF”. (KSF [Kerala Students' Federation] was the forerunner of SFI [Students' Federation of India] and AISF [All India Students' Federation], the students’ wing of the undivided Communist Party of India.) He continued, “Now I don’t owe you anything.” (The two memberships matched the exact amount he owed me!) I did not know whether I was ‘proud’ to be a member of KSF or not. I kept the receipts with me for a few days, and then threw them away. Maybe in the annals of KSF, I may still be a member, who knows! 

The second instance was when I willingly and eagerly took membership of the Aam Admi Party (AAP) in 2013. A detailed account of the reasons for my doing so, my expectations, and so on, have been detailed in my blog post of 26 January 2014. Those interested may please click here to read the piece.

I would, however, regret to say that I am quite disappointed with AAP. The party had initially boasted to be apolitical and promised to root out corruption from Indian politics. It also promised to keep equal distance from Congress and BJP because according to them, both were corrupt parties. But slowly it slanted towards the former so much so that it even sought to have an alignment with the party during the 2019 Delhi assembly elections! Remember, this is the same party that promised the public that it would, if elected to power, file cases against several Congress leaders for the alleged corruption in the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Once elected to power, in a few months, they forgot about the Games, the corruption, and their promise. The party stooped like any other political party that does anything and everything possible to cling to power. I no more support the party as such. But I do support some of its activities and initiatives (eg. free electricity, water) and do not support some others (eg. half/full-page advertisements in newspapers for any activity it does in a colony).

I am sure I have not said anything that all of you do not know. Even workers and supporters of parties know these things but do not want to admit it. This is like the eternal problem with the one who pretends to sleep. You can’t wake him/her up. I know many of you would not openly agree with my views expressed above. You are free to disagree, and I shall listen to your arguments. I am, however,  just a layman and am ignorant.