This election is a litmus test of our collective wisdom
WITH the conclusion of the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections on May 13, the electoral fate of contestants from 379 of the 543 seats seeking election to the highest forum of Indian democracy is sealed in ballot boxes. The election, seen as transformative of the nation’s political landscape, is witnessing a spirited pushback to the Modi regime from the INDIA bloc, even as the ruling dispensation led by the PM has had a clear head start in scripting its campaign theme.
The Opposition’s counter narrative, focused on the defence of constitutional democracy and its concomitant values, is premised on the authoritarian impulses of a muscular state that negate the first principles of liberal democracy and accountability of power encased in the nation’s republican charter. The unprecedented arrests across India of the ruling regime’s key political adversaries, a demonstrable decline of constitutional institutions, a captive bureaucracy and a generally obsequious media, are cited in support. Ensuring a national resonance for its inspirational narrative is the principal challenge for the Opposition.
Regrettably, the diminishing and debilitating tone of a cacophonic campaign on both sides seems to have drowned out the real issues, with abuse and calumny substituting for reason and contestation. The perversion of democratic discourse helmed by leaders unable to rise above themselves attests to a flailing democracy. The pursuit of power for its appellations alone, with scant regard for its ends and a cynical deriding of political idealism as a utopian dream to be argued out of consciousness, presents the electoral exercise as clothing the pursuit of personal ambitions with a semblance of democratic legitimacy.
If indeed the BJP and the Opposition consider this election a watershed moment that will determine the future of the country, they must continue to focus public attention on core national issues.
The INDIA bloc, speaking in multiple voices, cannot forget “the plain lesson of history, that the wants of men will only secure recognition to the point that they are forcibly articulate…,” as Harold Laski put it. The power of a clear statement is critical for the success of the Opposition’s campaign. Apart from an unrelenting focus on its core campaign theme, communicated and made intelligible to each voter, the alliance cannot shirk the critical question of an alternative leadership of the nation. The Congress, as the principal Opposition party, has advisedly chosen not to formally present its chief campaigner, Rahul Gandhi, as the prime ministerial candidate. Whatever the limitations and logic of the situation, the question of leadership will be critical to the outcome of the campaign, flawed comparisons with the past notwithstanding. As a necessary condition of revitalising itself to serve as the fulcrum of Opposition unity, the grand old party must recognise the distinction between servility and loyalty of its members. Only then can it reclaim the willing allegiance of its alienated cadres. In its internal functioning, it must listen magnanimously to ‘the hidden silences’.
Evidently, self-effacing humility and generosity of heart to heal the erasure of conscience are critical attributes of leadership needed for national renewal.
The PM, as the chief campaigner and torchbearer of his party’s ideology, has demonstrated an exceptional tenacity of purpose and will to prevail against the combined opposition of 26 parties. He has strategically anchored his party’s campaign in an appealing sense of national glory, hope for the people in their future and emotional sensitivities, and he may well win a third consecutive term in office. But he would, in his wisdom, know that the ideas of justice, dignity and freedom outlive the seduction of power. As the leader of a nation defined by its diversity, he must accept that his primary obligation is to nurture a unifying politics to sustain national unity and bridge the myriad socio-political divides. Electoral victory must mean more than an arithmetical majority.
Irrespective of who forms the government, victory must belong to those whose politics and votes sustain and strengthen a democracy founded on justice and human dignity, in which all of us can hold our heads high as empowered citizens of an enlightened nation that aspires to be the vishwaguru.
In this aspirational view of our common future, there is no scope for narrowness of mind, wilfulness or transient responses to political exigencies at the cost of the nation’s foundational principles. In this moment of test, those who stand on the side of freedom will find themselves on the right side of history. This election, seen as a historic milestone in the life of the nation, will test our collective wisdom on how we establish justice as the first virtue of social and political institutions and the basis of a just state.
The election is about reinforcing the liberties of equal citizenship and ensuring that the power sought in the name of the people is used in furtherance of their inherent rights. It will define the land and its people, who alone must mediate their future, remembering that the inviolability of freedom depends on the moral courage, fearlessness and magnanimity of its defenders. This election cannot be about one’s victimhood. It must instead heal the deepening fissures in our social fabric so that we can claim that Indian democracy is not a beguiling dream.
Views are personal
