7/13/2014

I Protest

I Protest | Khelo India

Posted on December 29, 2012 by THESUPERMANRETURNS

4 Comments

Its amazing how in the last two years the phenomenon of spontaneous
protests has caught on, specially in our cities. Just last year it began when
Anna was sent to the jail and then now over Damini the girl. Although no
Tahrir Square moments for India, these protests are an entirely new
phenomenon, baffling the politicians and the pundits alike. Though protests
are no new to our democracy, what is new this time is that common people,
used to watching such protests from the comfort of their dining rooms on
the television, are now the part of what is being shown on the television.
And no sir (/ mam) no, not on the call of any political party, but acting on the
voice of their own consciences, giving expression to the deep resentment
towards a British Raj like administration, these people have come out on
the streets. They are not any political workers but are students, you, me,
our mums and pups and our family members. And they came out when
they sensed that gross injustice had been committed. Earlier the injustice
was committed when Anna was jailed and his freedom of speech was
brazenly violated while this time its for the brave girl who became a symbol
for the thousands others whose right to life is being so violently denied as
our insensitive administration sleeps.
Wihout flowing into any more emotions, lets calmly ask ourselves what
purpose? To what end? Do such protests carry any meaning? As one of
my friend told me today, kuch nahi hoga in sab se? Comon we all know
some lip service, monetary concession to the family of the victim and
arrests for the accused and then calm until the next time. Such
experience is nothing new. Afterall we still await the Lokpal. The questions
then is that what is the point behind protesting?
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Apart from the above apparant pointlessness, many political pundits have
questioned the method of protests itself. It is argued that such protests
illegitimately put pressure on the government and have contributed to the
thought that one can now bulldoze a legitimately elected government and
make laws on the street. They think that yielding to such demands will set a
wrong precedent. Some others dismiss the gravity of these protests by
calling the protestors either painted and dented or middle class frustrated
youth.
These arguments carry weight. Ours is an indirect democracy and for it to
function properly laws must be made by the parliament only and cases
should be tried in courts. For if we were to delegate these jobs to the
streets, very soon the days of anarchy shall arrive. But there is another
angle as well. In a democracy like ours, representatives are elected. These
elections are fought on many issues like the candidate, the party, caste,
religion, a set of policies and so on and by their very nature cannot be
fought on a single issue like say rapes. Once the representatives have
been elected, we are supposed to express our opinion to them on
individual issues. Remember expressing opinion and putting pressure on
the government to accept it is a legitimate part of democracy. Corporates
spend huge money on it and call it lobbying. Most ministers including the
home minister delightfully welcome such corporate lobbyists and in case
of some like Ambanis, they even go out of the way to accommodate them.
They even have a nice term for it called participative policy making (12th
Five Year Plan Approach Paper Montek Singh Ahluwalia urges the
government to indulge more into it).
But what happens when we, the ordinary citizens, have to express our
opinion on some matter say rape? We are simply too heterogenous and
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I Protest | Khelo India

scattered to form lobby groups and dedicate substantial sums toward it. So
what is left for us to perform this absolutely essential duty of democracy
i.e. of expressing our opinion? Simple, we protest. Thus protests are a
legitimate part of democracy and the argument that it contributes to illegally
exert pressure on the government is hollow.
But unlike the corporate lobbyists, what is the treatment met out to this
public lobbying? Like in the British Raj, our current rulers resort to police
violence to break the protests. They shut down metro stations and close
down the roads. Not a single elected representative has cared to even
send somebody meet the protestors. Gone are the days when politicians
were supposed to be sensitive to the public opinion, the now home
minister feels that he is the high mighty and how can he go and meet the
mango people.
Why, then, this difference in treatment to lobbying and public protests
when both are essentially performing the same thing? Similarly whats
wrong if those who are protesting this time belong to the middle class?
Whats wrong if they are educated and came out hearing their own voices
for a change? Whats wrong if the issue here is neither a religious one, nor
a caste based one and hence out of bounds for most of our politicians? If
anything, isnt this a welcome sign of maturity arriving in our democracy?
Anyways, coming to kya hoga in sab se Maybe not today Not
tomorrow. Rapes may continue to happen. In this case the poor
investigation and legal structure which contributes to abysmally low
conviction rates and hence more rapes may remain unchanged. The
government may this time again take the easy steps while avoiding the
tough one which really matter to wriggle out of the situation. But maybe all
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this is not in vain. Maybe after the hundredth protest things meaningfully
change. Maybe in the times of our kids But still the importance of the first
step taken by us remains. We are taking our democracy in the right
direction Kuch to hoga is se..

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