The world’s largest democracy goes to its first phase of polls
on Monday 7th April. Thanks to the Press, Media and the world of the
Internet, all of us are exposed to unlimited information of what is happening
around us. Amongst tons of things, Good Governance is what all of us are
looking forward to.
Happened to come across this mind blowing passage, spoken by His
Holiness Sri Kanchi Paramacharya on Democracy, Administration, System of Voting,
Political Class, etc. This is only an
extract from the extensive speech by the Mahaswami decades ago (sometime in the
early 50’s) as given in Voice of God (Deivathin Kural in Tamil), Volume 4.
The Sage attained Mahasamadhi in January 1994. His foresight
in predicting the situation currently prevailing in our country is simply
amazing!
Request readers to read this with an open mind, irrespective
of religion, caste or sect that you may belong to. After all, we are all
Indians; sons and daughters of this Punya Bhoomi (except Bharath, no other
country in the world is known as Punya Bhoomi), and bringing about a change for
the better, is now in our hands (literally!) .
Read on…
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There is the general perception that democracy, which allows
the general public to have a share in the governance, is a concept that became
known to us only through the westerners. The reality, however, is that even
from the vedhic period onwards, the ruling
of a kingdom was conducted in such a way as to provide room for the opinions of
all of its subjects. Vedhas mention three kinds of organizations called
‘sabha’, ‘samithi’, and ‘vidhatha’. Under these auspices, learned people seemed
to have gathered together and made decisions after discussing the
administrative affairs, and only in accordance to these decisions did the king
rule. Even the western historians agree that these organizations did not seem
to be confined to the Brahmins or kshathriyas alone; instead, they seem to be
organized in such a way that all social divisions were represented.
Administration of a kingdom is a serious business and a
complex one, too. The task of managing a kingdom, providing security to a large
population, enacting laws for them, ensuring that these laws are obeyed, etc.,
requires a high level of education, analytical skills, cleverness in execution,
and worldly experience. Managing even a small household seems to be quite a
task. Imagine the complexity of managing a whole kingdom! If a large portion of
the general public seems to be lacking in the skill to run even a household,
what would happen if they were given direct responsibility for running the
country? Therefore, it is not prudent for everyone to take part directly in
ruling the country. It has to be conducted through a select few who possess the
necessary qualifications.
I have two fears; one is the fear that the voters might
create a blot for this entire nation by venturing to bribe the candidates after
being elected as members for receiving some favour or the other. This itself is
a terrible fault. However, something that is a lot worse, an enormous blemish,
has become possible now. That is my second fear. I am referring to the
possibility of vote buying. In our land, where ninety percent of the population
has modest means, people could be tempted by money flashed by the candidates
for votes. I get jitters thinking about this and wonder what will become of our
country that has been praised as ‘punya bhumi’ (meritorious land) so far.
Giving room for this one transgression of voting for money might open up room
for more breaches, and eventually, getting used to this, people might lose all
inhibitions about committing misdeeds. Generally good-natured people, when they
are subjected to the one blemish of receiving a bribe, might receive it from
opposing parties also. Then, betraying one of them, they could also be
subjected to a greater blemish of dishonesty. In place of some sporadic
incidents of bribing an officer here and tipping a peon there, the entire
nation, en masse, could be driven in to such adharmic ways of bribery,
dishonesty, etc from the exalted status of ‘punya bhumi’. It is very saddening
and it makes one wonder, ‘Is this what democracy is for?’
Just as water gushes out through opened floodgates, the
independence that has been finally won after a prolonged British rule has
created a climate for all the people to act with sudden outburst without proper
restraint, composure, and order. Under these circumstances, if no qualification
is mandated for either the candidate or the voter, I have a hunch that it might
lead to unimaginable levels of bribery, discord, lies and evils, involving all
these parties, tearing the nation asunder in the name of election. If we suffer
decline in dharma just for the sake of showing ourselves off as the biggest
democracy in the world, then the glitter of the garb of democracy would simply
be an embellishment for a lifeless body.
In those days, whatever was mentioned as ‘papa’ by the
sasthras were also treated as crimes by the law of the land. Currently, some of
these acts mentioned by the sasthras do not come under the category of crime in
the book of law. Actually, doing whatever has been prohibited in the sasthras
as ‘papa’ is indeed considered a sign of progress and adhering to some sasthric
injunctions is considered violation of the law. Such is the current trend. In
the olden days, both the Dharma sasthras given by the rishis as well as the
legislative process of the kingdom were one and the same. There was no
necessity for using the conjunction ‘and’ while referring to them together as
in ‘according to the law and according to the sasthras’. Sasthric rule was the
rule of law. Whatever the sasthras regarded as a crime was also specified as a
crime according to the law. If a process of atonement is specified in the
sasthra, the royal court also considered someone who underwent such atonement
as emancipated from that crime.
It is the Ramanaya, Mahabharata, and the other puranas
that have led numerous later generations into virtuous path. Even the present
day novels and movies draw their inspiration from these originals. Our nation
is now following the system of democracy which is the slogan of the western
countries. Currently, preparations are underway for conducting elections for
the village panchayat boards and other governing bodies all the way up to the
Delhi Parliament. The administrative affairs of the villages, districts,
states, and the entire nation are going to be conducted with these members
elected by such popular votes. We need to pay attention and examine this
carefully. Is it going to aid the common people in cultivating more noble
qualities and obtaining the grace of Iswara by following the path of dharma and
punya? Is it really conducive to the national well being and the society’s
benefit? Or, will it really corrupt the people and aid only in fostering the
well being of a small segment of the population? These reasons are only
external and do not have a direct bearing to the main purpose of the country’s
or the village’s pure and dharmic administration. Giving importance to them
might actually harm the main purpose, and it will not be a wise move at all.
Most of the aspects in the new system that we are aware of seem to be quite
worrisome. The motto of ‘The government of the people, by the people, and for
the people’, etc might end up becoming, ‘the government of the ignorant people,
by the ignorant people and for the ignorant people’. It is quite frightening to
think of this possibility.
Discipline is essential, especially when there is new
found independence. It is so disturbing to see how they are loosening the
controls with no restraints at this juncture and I am worried what kind of
catastrophe will follow. After getting over an illness, it is very important to
be cautious during the convalescence period and follow the dietary restrictions
strictly. Similarly, we are now in the intervening period, between the illness
of the British rule and a healthy recovery with the help of the power of
independence. At this stage, if we give room to any distorted diversions to the
people’s mind or the representatives’ minds, the independence that we have
obtained on paper will fail to become lively independence that will foster our
growth. Right now, this decision to let anyone above a certain age be given
responsibility in the administration and be placed on a seat of authority is a
cause for great concern. Considering the qualifications of education, property
ownership, experience, and conduct to be unnecessary might lead to a little – or
a huge – irregularity.
It is claimed, ‘Because no qualification is required,
this is true democracy, enabling any one to contest in the election’. But in
practice, since this calls for a lot of expenses, the people who have amassed
wealth are the only ones likely to be nominated. In every place and every
party, though several people exist who excel in sacrifice, skills and purity,
only the people with economic strength will become candidates. This being the
case, what will become of the democratic principles and good administration?
After the election, the candidate who squandered away his money during the
campaign might be inclined to recover it back and then accumulate even more for
spending again in the next election. Isn’t it quite natural from him to follow
this path? It is quite painful to elaborate like this. I am afraid what is
going to be ushered in might really be ‘dhana’ nayakam (money’s rule) rather
than ‘jana’ nayakam (people’s rule).
In the present voting system, is the government that is
to be set up after the election at least going to be a democratic body
comprised of the people and for the people? When several candidates contest,
votes are split among them and hence it makes it possible for someone who had
garnered only twenty-five to thirty percent of the votes to win and become a
member. Similarly, in a sabha with a total of about 500 seats, when it is split
up among several parties, even parties that have only hundred fifty to two
hundred seats, well below fifty percent, might form a government as the single
largest majority. So, the party that forms the government has only two hundred
seats with each of its members having only perhaps forty percent of the votes
can show itself off as the choice of the people. In reality, it might have garnered
only the support of about twenty-five percent of the people. Though my
calculation may not be accurate, even with the support of much less than half
of the actual voters (leaving out the people who hadn’t voted), a party could
come to power. There is yet another disparity here. The proportion of the seats
won by a party in the central government may not be compatible with that of the
various states. How is this democracy?
A sick person has to be cured before he is given
household responsibilities. A child has to be raised to attain maturity of
intellect, mind and body before it is assigned responsibilities. Would anyone
handover responsibilities of a household to such a sick person or child just
because they love them? The same applies to matters relating to food. Just out
of love, would you stuff these sick and tender ones with all kinds of rich
snacks? The majority of our general public is in the state of childhood as far
as political wisdom is concerned. The British rule has debilitated them and made
them sick intellectually. At this stage, if we give them responsibility in the
country’s administration, how can they handle it? The primary duty and job of
the leaders of independent India is to restore the people’s intellectual health
and prepare them to become mature and shed all their childlike tendencies. It
seems that only after developing the intellectual ability within a few years
should we even think of such schemes as the adult franchise, etc.
I see signs that portend even worse evils such as bribery,
dishonesty, and the rise of the party rivalry that I am afraid will ruin our
nation. On one side, social equality is hailed, disregarding caste and
religion. However, looking at the practical trend of caste-based parties,
town-based parties, street-based parties, and parties within parties, I wonder
if we have sown the seeds for people to switch from one party to another, drawn
by the money and the vile campaigns, followed by party members themselves
hopping from one party to another, thus doing everything solely for
self-interest without any other specific goal. I am elaborating on all this
only to demonstrate that we cannot claim to have a true democracy just because
all the people are participating in an election. I just wanted to show that a
fake democracy can make itself appear to be a true democracy.
The successors of the promoters of Ramarajya are now
framing the democracy. Rama didn’t invent a new raja nithi and rule the
kingdom. If there ever was one who acted without giving any weight to his own
opinion and his own purpose, and instead relied totally on the sasthras,
following the precedents of his ancestors, and carrying out everything
accordingly to the letter, it was none other than Ramachandramurthi. Rama
simple followed whatever was in practice right from the time of Manu and
Mandhatha up until Dasaratha Chakravarthi. When Dasaratha decided to crown him,
he was fully aware that his son had earned the total approval of all the people
and that he possessed all the qualifications to the fullest extent. Inspite of
this, he was supposed to have convened the sabha and sought the opinions of all
the representatives of all factions of the population. Now, that is true
democracy. In soliciting and listening to the opinions, no distinctions should
be made and all the representatives should be consulted regardless of
qualifications. Even here, note that only the representatives were listened to
and not all the people as in a referendum. We cannot ignore the fact that
bringing in the direct involvement of the enormous general population to the
royal affairs might lead to several misdeeds, deceits and wrongs. May
Ramachandramurthi bestow His grace for that one-thousand-year-old sasana to be
a guiding force for today’s sasana makers! Let it not end with being a mere
ancient glory.
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Jai Hind !
