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Orissa Review * January - 2004

Democracy with universal adult franchisedespite mass illiteracy and ignorance has beena great achievement of the people in the post-independence era. But the building of a unifiednation on the basis of ideals of democracy,secularism, social justice, economicdevelopment and distributive equity has beenbeset with many pitfalls. In practice, it has notbeen possible to assimilate "regionally diverseand linguistically plural religious communities,which are further divided in terms of class,income-cum-professional strata and politicalloyalties into a pattern of national integration."

The democratic polity in India has beenconfronted with challenges like communalism(majority as well as minority), religiousfundamentalism, casteism, ethnic problem,regional imbalance, regionalism, separatism,secession, linguistic problem and politicalinstability.

Three brands of communalism - Hindu,Muslim and Sikh - have come out prominentlyin the national life of India. Hindu communalismin its extreme form contemplates theestablishment of a Hindu State (a Hindutheocracy in which the non-Hindus will betreated as second grade citizens). Muslimcommunalism aims at separate identity ofMuslims through Muslim Personal Law,obedience to Shariat and opposition to uniformcivil code. Sikh communalism in its extreme

form went to the extent of demanding asovereign state of Khalistan. Communalism isdistinct from attachment to a religion orreligiosity. It is a negative ideology, aiming atpoliticising a religious community, opposed toother communities and unity of nation. It isopposed to the nationally accepted ideal ofsecularism which seeks to separate religionfrom politics while allowing every individual'sreligious freedom in private life and givingequal regard to all religions. Communalismweakens the nation, causes disharmony insocial life and diverts the attention of peoplefrom basic problems like poverty, illiteracy anddisease.

Communalism as an ideology withdefinite goals has not originated from themasses - Hindu, Muslim or Sikh - who can,however, be communally mobilised by theconvinced communalists. Our past experiencesof Shah Bano Case, attacks on a secular Muslimacademician Mushirul Hasan in Jamia MiliaIslamia University and the opposition ofMuslim fundamentalists to Taslima Nasreen inBangladesh, show that certain interest groupsnourish and nurture communalism; they wantto make capital out of their religious identitywithout judging issues impartially.

M. Aslam, a Muslim intellectual holdsthat the integration of Muslims into secularfabric has been hampered by the role of the

Threats to Indian Polity

Dr. Atul Chandra Pradhan

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traditional Muslim leaders and the influenceof Muslim fundamentalists. The politicalparties with secular credentials have wooedthe Muslim fundamentalists for getting supportof the Muslim voters in elections, as has beenfound in Shah Bano Case. Shah Bano, an oldMuslim woman and mother of five children,had been deserted by her husband MohammedAhmed Khan who went for a younger woman.She sued her husband for alimony. The lowerCourts gave judgement in her favour. But herhusband pleaded that the case was within thepurview of Muslim Personal Law and beyondthe jurisdiction of Civil Courts. He carried thelegal battle to the Supreme Court. The SupremeCourt finally ruled that maintenance to adivorced wife was governed by Section-125of the Criminal Procedure Code (Cr.P.C.),according to which a divorced wife wasentitled to financial relief regardless of herreligion. The orthodox Muslims saw in thisjudgement a prelude to uniform civil code andurged the Muslims to protest against thejudgement and even slandered Shah Bano asun-Islamic. The then Government got theMuslim Women's (Protection of Rights- onDivorce) Act passed, which placed the Muslimwomen beyond the purview of Section-125,and rendered the Supreme Court's ruling inShah Bano Case untenable. Shah Bano's losswas a loss for Muslim women, and a victoryfor the Muslim orthodoxy. Impartial Muslimsare aware of the game that is being played onthem by the "Secular" political parties andMuslim religio-feudal leadership. In the 1996and 1998 Lok Sabha elections, the Congressand the Janata Dal (the leading partner of UnitedFront) leaders raised their slogan of secularismagainst the Hindutva ideology. The secularistpropaganda does not appear to havesignificantly influenced the electorate. In the1996 elections, Bharatiya Janata Party emergedas the largest single party and formed

government which soon fell after 13 daysbecause of the defeat on confidence vote.There-after, the United Front formedgovernment with the support of Congress fromoutside. Bharatiya Janata Party again came outas the largest single party in the elections of1998 and formed government with the supportof regional parties.

Just as communalism is politicisationof religion and religious identity, casteism ispoliticisation of caste. Casteism owes its originto the policy of reservation, introduced by thecolonial government. During colonial era,reservation had been introduced for ScheduledCastes, backward tribes and intermediarybackward castes (in South India). TheConstitution of the Indian Union provides forreservation in case of Scheduled Castes,Scheduled Tribes and other socially andeducationally backward classes. Sinceindependence various South Indian States haveintroduced reservation in case of all these threecategories. During his tenure as Prime Ministerin the Janata Government in 1989, V.P. Singhtook steps to implement reservation for otherbackward castes on a national scale on the basisof Mandal Commission's recommendation.Against this step, there was a bitter reactionfrom certain sections of the population.Casteism has played an important role in theelectoral politics. Political parties such asBahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Partyhave been formed along caste lines bybackward castes for gaining political power.Some have viewed casteism as an evil, as ittends to perpetuate caste system, which isbased on inequality, discrimination andoppression - a system which our socialreformers have all along been trying to abolish.The way V.P. Singh and Janata Governmentgave a national character to caste-basedpolitics, it has converted all-India castedivision into two hostile groups. According to

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V.P. Singh, caste-based politics has enabledbackward castes to achieve social justicethrough political power. Rajni Kothari, apolitical scientist, supports politicisation ofcaste in the following words : "Considerablechange is involved in all this with caste gettingpoliticised and politics being inhabited by casteidentities and animosities that are expressingthemselves following the growing challengefrom the bottom of the caste system to thehegemonistic structures at the top and atintermediate levels. I had, more than twentyyears ago, summed this all up thus; casteism inpolitics is no more and no less thanpoliticisation of caste. Today with the fargreater quickening of the process ofpoliticisation, transforming the very functioningof the caste system, pushing out its ritual andhierarchical dimensions and replacing them bystruggles for ascendancy and equality throughstaking claim to power I would like to repeatthat summation with still greater confidence.Then I was reading into our social reality, whatappeared to be immanent in it. Today it isalready happening - the transformation of casteand caste consciousness under the impact ofdemocratic politics and class conflict."

"Caste, in short, designed in one age to be acustodian of tradition can become a harbingerof change in another. This depends on thegrowth of the politicisation of a politicalstrategy aimed at social transformation. To meit seems that this process has already begunand is under way."

The politicisation of caste may lead todisharmony and tension in social life and indistorted form may hamper national integration.

Integration of tribals, who constituteseventeen percent of the population of thecountry inhabiting different regions, in themainstream of national life poses a seriousproblem. They have been exploited in the past

by non-tribals through moneylending, bondedlabour and land alienation. The process ofdevelopment, political and economic, hashardly reached the tribal masses. Moreover,at various levels there is absence of meaningfulcommunication between the Government andthe tribal people. Of late, some articulatedpeople have emerged among the tribals. Theyare keen on maintaining the political identityof tribals. Jharkhand agitation has finallyresulted in the creation of Jharkhand State.

Growth of regionalism and regionalimbalances have posed obstacles toharmonious nation-building. From thebeginning of the present century, regionalfeelings have developed along linguistic lines.Formation of linguistic provinces has led tointer-state boundary conflicts. There is inter-state inequality in the spheres of industrialdevelopment. Balanced regional developmenthas been difficult because some states are beingallocated larger amounts in per capita terms atthe cost of others.

Dissatisfied with the present status ofCentre-State relations, some state governmentslike the DMK Government in Tamil Nadu,Marxist Government in West Bengal, and theAkali Party of Punjab have demanded greaterautonomy for the states. A number of regionalpolitical parties such as DMK, NationalConference (Kashmir), Telugu Desam, Akali,Assam Gana Parishad, Tamil Manila Congress,Shiv Sena, Haryana Vikas Party have come up.In the 1996 Lok Sabha elections, they faredbetter than national political parties. The CPM,though an ideology-based party, has remainedconfined to West Bengal. Marginalisation ofnational parties threatens the government at thecentre with political instability, as has beenfound after the Lok Sabha elections of 1996and 1998. In the 1998 Lok Sabha elections,the regional parties more or less maintained

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their earlier hold on the electorate, theCongress Party managed to retrieve itself fromtotal collapse, the United Front was thoroughlymarginalised and crippled and BharatiyaJanata Party emerged as the largest party, butshort of absolute majority. In April 1999 theVajpayee government had to seek a Vote ofConfidence in Lok Sabha as a result ofwithdrawal of support by AIADMK ofTamilnadu, headed by Jayalalitha. Thegovernment lost the vote of confidence by onevote and had to resign. In the elections ofSeptember-October 1999 BJP and its alliesformed the National Democratic Alliancewhich got absolute majority and formedgovernment. This coalition, now faced with thethreat of DMK withdrawal is going to completefull term. No single party has been able tosecure absolute majority since 1989. Coalitionpolitics has become the order of the day. TheBJP-led coalition is viewed by some as aturning point, signalling the break-up of oldconsensus and emergence of a new one.Coalition politics is yet to provide a credibleand stable framework of governance.

Terrorist activities, based on separatistor secessionist plans, went on for years inPunjab and are continuing in Kashmir andAssam. In Kashmir for years elections forParliament as well as for the State Legislaturecould not be conducted owing to the lawlesssituation caused by terrorist activities. Bombexplosions have taken place even in cities likeNew Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta and Ahmedabadthrough terrorist plans.

If terrorism and violence triumph, theoperation of secular democracy will bejeopardised. The empowerment of the peoplewhich is the essence of democracy can be

realised only through a non-violent socialorder. A lot of violence is seen at the time ofelections. It is alleged that some politiciansare themselves criminals or parties to criminalactivities.

There is a deplorable condition aspeople's participation in the political anddevelopmental processes recedes day by day.Lack of public spirit among the masses and theapathy of intelligentsia have made the politicalsystem a handmade of the corrupt politiciansand vested interests. People's participation inthe political process is seen only at the time ofelections. People do not vote by assessing thepolicies, programmes and performance ofpolitical parties. They vote either for a changeor for an issue, aroused by public hysteria. Theway political parties and politicians aremaking alliances for victory at polls and forcapturing power and the way people areexpressing their anti-incumbency sentiments inthe elections show the absence of ideologicalcommitment among the politicians as well asthe electorate. There is a growing cynicismabout the political system which has failed tocommand moral authority among the people.

Corruption and money power havegripped the political system. Numerous scamsand deals involving bribery, indicate theinvolvement of top politicians and theirrelations in illicit financial transactions. Thereis no work culture, because people are lethargicand those who are at the helm of affairs valuesycophancy and compliance and not actualwork.

Dr. Atul Chandra Pradhan is a Professor of History inthe Utkal University, Vanivihar, Bhubaneswar - 751004.