Saturday 12 December 2020

Monarchy to Anarchy- Via democracy

 


Once upon a time there was a benevolent king who always had the state welfare in his mind and deeds, he firmly believed in wellbeing of all stakeholders in his kingdom and earnestly strived to fulfil the same thus was liked by majority, people were happy, and kingdom prospered.

Suddenly, one fine morning a tribal chieftain rebelled with his followers, stormed into the Kings palace with arms and ammunition to seek freedom from the King but was overpowered by the men of the King and brought in front of him for punishment. Being a conscious and a principled man, the King heard the grievances of the chieftain, realized that the region of these tribes was truly deprived of the progress due to administrative failure thus pardoned them all and took the chieftain on board for progress.

Thanks to the visionary King, the kingdom was prospering and the life of the people peaceful and enjoyable, four decades down the above incidence yet again a similar rebellion took place from the same region, the rebels captured, this time the King punished them all with a life imprisonment. The ombudsman in the kingdom was astonished and asked the King as to why he punished this chieftain while forty years back he had not only pardoned his father but even made him a regional satrap.

The King replied that forty years back the rebellion then was genuine, he could see the deprivation and hunger in  the rebels eyes thus it was he who had to make amends, take them into confidence, alleviate their problems to be inclusive thus he made amends to ensure the prosperity in that region but this time he could sense from the body language of the chieftain’s son greed for power and  filthy prosperity  for selfish gains and not the wellbeing of the people  thus had to be taught a lesson and punished.

Three decades back Mr. Mahendra singh Tikait had led a farmer’s agitation and succeeded in evolving a dialogue-based settlement to become a Mahatma for Kissans of India. History is now repeated with his son Rajesh Tikait trying to become one but the intent now it seems not a satyagraha (fight for truth) but svagraha (Selfish interests) deserving punishment. Of course, in democracy, he has right to protest but should not be at the cost of inconvenience, loss to property, wealth, lives and progress. The democratic king is helpless thus time for silent majority to stand up and teach them a lesson in their own dose.

The world moved from monarchy to democracy objectively to make the society participative and inclusive to give equal opportunities for all with constitutional guarantees in form of rights and their duties as principled guidelines. Sadly, the duties are forgotten, principles are hanging in the air, right has become might, democracy has become mobocracy, nepotism has replaced despotism, rich richer, poor poorer, north south divide wider, western materialism overpowers eastern values while disrespect, hate, violence, corruption has turned people against people.

The current deplorable political situation in USA, U.K., France and India all democratic societies can easily be attributed to vote-Bank politics over a period of time which has demeaned the voter’s intellect and exploited the gullible Janata. It is high time that the responsible citizenry which has remained silent majority to the ever-deteriorating situation rises to the occasion and raise the voices in a democratic fashion to bring all culprits to books and save ourselves from anarchy.

Initiate a dialogue to evolve a consensus towards developing a vote-bank free society which respects the law, their own as well as rights of other citizens along with full understanding of their own duties, value of their vote with an effective “Just “system to ensure fair play, equal opportunities and freedom to thrive and prosper.

Satish Shitut

Jai Bharat

 

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