The American comedian Groucho Marx was not off the mark when he said, “Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies”. Even though his thoughts do hold water, but to brush politics as ‘the last refuge of scoundrels’ is also an unpardonable exaggeration. After all politicians are the ones who shape the destiny of the nation. United States of America reached the zenith of its glory by the hard work of politicians like John F.Kennedy, Franklin D.Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. Politicians are supposed to devise strategies to safeguard the borders of a sovereign state, to provide employment to the populace and to see that no citizen dies of hunger. Sometimes, politicians do resort to ‘out of the box’ ideas to prevent the interests of a nation. A politician is supposed to look beyond the length of his nose, be flexible to change and sacrifice his own interests in the interest of his people.
Democracy gave world a lot to celebrate. An undisguised commoner on the street now has the power to choose his leader. Leaders can no more bypass the genuine demands and aspirations of the citizens and take care not to hurt anyone. The two-party system is a perfect specimen of how a democracy should work. The British left India and many had thought they would broadcast seeds of democracy in the Indian sub-continent. Democracy did flourish but with perennial snags. Communalism, caste polity and economic-divide were the viruses which crippled the very concept of democracy in the Indian sub-continent. The final nail in the coffin was nailed by the multi-party system which nurtured safe havens for turncoats who switch from one party to another in a jiffy.
Turncoats have wreaked havoc with the very concept of democracy. We see members from the BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) who believes in Hindutva switch over to Congress if not given the desired mandate. The same leader is projected as an out-and-out secular person who till yesterday would swear by the right-wing ideology. It is a matter of great concern the Nawabs and former Maharajas still relish the prospect of lording over their former subjects. It hardly matters to the masses which party the scion of the former Maharaja joins. They will still vote for him despite knowing that he is an incorrigible turncoat unwilling to look beyond the length of his nose. The dynasty politics is also a blot on the face of the democracy. The scions of former leaders undoubtedly do have a right to contest the elections but at the same time the observations that it is only the scions of the leaders who have a say in the ‘National parties’ point to the contrary.
Coming to the state of Jammu and Kashmir we have countless examples of how people who have switched over from one ideology to another and still got the mandate from the people. A political observer at seminar recently rightly observed that in Kashmir the elections are not fought over ideologies but instead are fought over personalities. Mian Altaf, for example, would win the election no matter what party he contests from. At times we have witnessed that the key members of a political party are criminally unaware what their party stands for and often speak against the party manifesto. For example, Mustafa Kamal of the National Conference often assumes the role of a separatist by saying that the Instrument of accession was never signed and sometimes says that Kashmir cannot survive without India. The famous case however is of Saifuddin Soz. An ardent supporter of the National Conference jumped over to the Congress party one fine morning and since then has been giving headache to the leaders of Congress who have been party member for the last four to five decades. The case of Sajad Lone is also a peculiar one. The same man who till yesterday was a key member of the separatist lobby now believes in fighting elections and in fact has already lost one.
The case of Aslam Goni and Farooq Renzu Shah is also unusual. These members who have served National Conference for decades now think that the ideology of National conference is passé and has no takers in the valley. The duo has now decided that it is only Congress that can usher an era of prosperity in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
The bottom line is that in the Kashmir of today we lack leaders who can stand for a thought, an ideology, and a school. We only have turncoats who change favours at the drop of a hat. The citizens are also to be blamed. Somewhere down the line we will realize that the absence of a knowledge-based society is taking its toll. A voter should be made aware through media that his interests are of paramount interest in a democracy. A voter is the actual cornerstone of a democracy and not a leader. The ‘None of the Above’ addition to the list has promised to add a spark but the fact remains that it does not count.
The voters need to be educated that political turncoats cannot shape their destiny. Someone who cannot stand for something for some amount of time is a political nobody. This reality must dawn on the undisguised commoner on the streets. Then only can we loudly say that Democracy is the government of the people, by the people and for the people.