11

Orissa Review * January - 2004

Democracy with universal adult franchise
despite mass illiteracy and ignorance has been
a great achievement of the people in the post-
independence era. But the building of a unified
nation on the basis of ideals of democracy,
secularism, social justice, economic
development and distributive equity has been
beset with many pitfalls. In practice, it has not
been possible to assimilate "regionally diverse
and linguistically plural religious communities,
which are further divided in terms of class,
income-cum-professional strata and political
loyalties into a pattern of national integration."
The democratic polity in India has been
confronted with challenges like communalism
(majority as well as minority), religious
fundamentalism, casteism, ethnic problem,
regional imbalance, regionalism, separatism,
secession, linguistic problem and political
instability.
Three brands of communalism - Hindu,
Muslim and Sikh - have come out prominently
in the national life of India. Hindu communalism
in its extreme form contemplates the
establishment of a Hindu State (a Hindu
theocracy in which the non-Hindus will be
treated as second grade citizens). Muslim
communalism aims at separate identity of
Muslims through Muslim Personal Law,
obedience to Shariat and opposition to uniform
civil code. Sikh communalism in its extreme
form went to the extent of demanding a
sovereign state of Khalistan. Communalism is
distinct from attachment to a religion or
religiosity. It is a negative ideology, aiming at
politicising a religious community, opposed to
other communities and unity of nation. It is
opposed to the nationally accepted ideal of
secularism which seeks to separate religion
from politics while allowing every individual's
religious freedom in private life and giving
equal regard to all religions. Communalism
weakens the nation, causes disharmony in
social life and diverts the attention of people
from basic problems like poverty, illiteracy and
disease.
Communalism as an ideology with
definite goals has not originated from the
masses - Hindu, Muslim or Sikh - who can,
however, be communally mobilised by the
convinced communalists. Our past experiences
of Shah Bano Case, attacks on a secular Muslim
academician Mushirul Hasan in Jamia Milia
Islamia University and the opposition of
Muslim fundamentalists to Taslima Nasreen in
Bangladesh, show that certain interest groups
nourish and nurture communalism; they want
to make capital out of their religious identity
without judging issues impartially.
M. Aslam, a Muslim intellectual holds
that the integration of Muslims into secular
fabric has been hampered by the role of the
Threats to Indian Polity
Dr. Atul Chandra Pradhan
12
Orissa Review * January - 2004
traditional Muslim leaders and the influence
of Muslim fundamentalists. The political
parties with secular credentials have wooed
the Muslim fundamentalists for getting support
of the Muslim voters in elections, as has been
found in Shah Bano Case. Shah Bano, an old
Muslim woman and mother of five children,
had been deserted by her husband Mohammed
Ahmed Khan who went for a younger woman.
She sued her husband for alimony. The lower
Courts gave judgement in her favour. But her
husband pleaded that the case was within the
purview of Muslim Personal Law and beyond
the jurisdiction of Civil Courts. He carried the
legal battle to the Supreme Court. The Supreme
Court finally ruled that maintenance to a
divorced wife was governed by Section-125
of the Criminal Procedure Code (Cr.P.C.),
according to which a divorced wife was
entitled to financial relief regardless of her
religion. The orthodox Muslims saw in this
judgement a prelude to uniform civil code and
urged the Muslims to protest against the
judgement and even slandered Shah Bano as
un-Islamic. The then Government got the
Muslim Women's (Protection of Rights- on
Divorce) Act passed, which placed the Muslim
women beyond the purview of Section-125,
and rendered the Supreme Court's ruling in
Shah Bano Case untenable. Shah Bano's loss
was a loss for Muslim women, and a victory
for the Muslim orthodoxy. Impartial Muslims
are aware of the game that is being played on
them by the "Secular" political parties and
Muslim religio-feudal leadership. In the 1996
and 1998 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress
and the Janata Dal (the leading partner of United
Front) leaders raised their slogan of secularism
against the Hindutva ideology. The secularist
propaganda does not appear to have
significantly influenced the electorate. In the
1996 elections, Bharatiya Janata Party emerged
as the largest single party and formed
government which soon fell after 13 days
because of the defeat on confidence vote.
There-after, the United Front formed
government with the support of Congress from
outside. Bharatiya Janata Party again came out
as the largest single party in the elections of
1998 and formed government with the support
of regional parties.
Just as communalism is politicisation
of religion and religious identity, casteism is
politicisation of caste. Casteism owes its origin
to the policy of reservation, introduced by the
colonial government. During colonial era,
reservation had been introduced for Scheduled
Castes, backward tribes and intermediary
backward castes (in South India). The
Constitution of the Indian Union provides for
reservation in case of Scheduled Castes,
Scheduled Tribes and other socially and
educationally backward classes. Since
independence various South Indian States have
introduced reservation in case of all these three
categories. During his tenure as Prime Minister
in the Janata Government in 1989, V.P. Singh
took steps to implement reservation for other
backward castes on a national scale on the basis
of Mandal Commission's recommendation.
Against this step, there was a bitter reaction
from certain sections of the population.
Casteism has played an important role in the
electoral politics. Political parties such as
Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party
have been formed along caste lines by
backward castes for gaining political power.
Some have viewed casteism as an evil, as it
tends to perpetuate caste system, which is
based on inequality, discrimination and
oppression - a system which our social
reformers have all along been trying to abolish.
The way V.P. Singh and Janata Government
gave a national character to caste-based
politics, it has converted all-India caste
division into two hostile groups. According to
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Orissa Review * January - 2004
V.P. Singh, caste-based politics has enabled
backward castes to achieve social justice
through political power. Rajni Kothari, a
political scientist, supports politicisation of
caste in the following words : "Considerable
change is involved in all this with caste getting
politicised and politics being inhabited by caste
identities and animosities that are expressing
themselves following the growing challenge
from the bottom of the caste system to the
hegemonistic structures at the top and at
intermediate levels. I had, more than twenty
years ago, summed this all up thus; casteism in
politics is no more and no less than
politicisation of caste. Today with the far
greater quickening of the process of
politicisation, transforming the very functioning
of the caste system, pushing out its ritual and
hierarchical dimensions and replacing them by
struggles for ascendancy and equality through
staking claim to power I would like to repeat
that summation with still greater confidence.
Then I was reading into our social reality, what
appeared to be immanent in it. Today it is
already happening - the transformation of caste
and caste consciousness under the impact of
democratic politics and class conflict."
"Caste, in short, designed in one age to be a
custodian of tradition can become a harbinger
of change in another. This depends on the
growth of the politicisation of a political
strategy aimed at social transformation. To me
it seems that this process has already begun
and is under way."
The politicisation of caste may lead to
disharmony and tension in social life and in
distorted form may hamper national integration.
Integration of tribals, who constitute
seventeen percent of the population of the
country inhabiting different regions, in the
mainstream of national life poses a serious
problem. They have been exploited in the past
by non-tribals through moneylending, bonded
labour and land alienation. The process of
development, political and economic, has
hardly reached the tribal masses. Moreover,
at various levels there is absence of meaningful
communication between the Government and
the tribal people. Of late, some articulated
people have emerged among the tribals. They
are keen on maintaining the political identity
of tribals. Jharkhand agitation has finally
resulted in the creation of Jharkhand State.
Growth of regionalism and regional
imbalances have posed obstacles to
harmonious nation-building. From the
beginning of the present century, regional
feelings have developed along linguistic lines.
Formation of linguistic provinces has led to
inter-state boundary conflicts. There is inter-
state inequality in the spheres of industrial
development. Balanced regional development
has been difficult because some states are being
allocated larger amounts in per capita terms at
the cost of others.
Dissatisfied with the present status of
Centre-State relations, some state governments
like the DMK Government in Tamil Nadu,
Marxist Government in West Bengal, and the
Akali Party of Punjab have demanded greater
autonomy for the states. A number of regional
political parties such as DMK, National
Conference (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 fared
better than national political parties. The CPM,
though an ideology-based party, has remained
confined to West Bengal. Marginalisation of
national parties threatens the government at the
centre with political instability, as has been
found after the Lok Sabha elections of 1996
and 1998. In the 1998 Lok Sabha elections,
the regional parties more or less maintained
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Orissa Review * January - 2004
their earlier hold on the electorate, the
Congress Party managed to retrieve itself from
total collapse, the United Front was thoroughly
marginalised and crippled and Bharatiya
Janata Party emerged as the largest party, but
short of absolute majority. In April 1999 the
Vajpayee government had to seek a Vote of
Confidence in Lok Sabha as a result of
withdrawal of support by AIADMK of
Tamilnadu, headed by Jayalalitha. The
government lost the vote of confidence by one
vote and had to resign. In the elections of
September-October 1999 BJP and its allies
formed the National Democratic Alliance
which got absolute majority and formed
government. This coalition, now faced with the
threat of DMK withdrawal is going to complete
full term. No single party has been able to
secure absolute majority since 1989. Coalition
politics has become the order of the day. The
BJP-led coalition is viewed by some as a
turning point, signalling the break-up of old
consensus and emergence of a new one.
Coalition politics is yet to provide a credible
and stable framework of governance.
Terrorist activities, based on separatist
or secessionist plans, went on for years in
Punjab and are continuing in Kashmir and
Assam. In Kashmir for years elections for
Parliament as well as for the State Legislature
could not be conducted owing to the lawless
situation caused by terrorist activities. Bomb
explosions have taken place even in cities like
New Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta and Ahmedabad
through terrorist plans.
If terrorism and violence triumph, the
operation of secular democracy will be
jeopardised. The empowerment of the people
which is the essence of democracy can be
realised only through a non-violent social
order. A lot of violence is seen at the time of
elections. It is alleged that some politicians
are themselves criminals or parties to criminal
activities.
There is a deplorable condition as
people's participation in the political and
developmental processes recedes day by day.
Lack of public spirit among the masses and the
apathy of intelligentsia have made the political
system a handmade of the corrupt politicians
and vested interests. People's participation in
the political process is seen only at the time of
elections. People do not vote by assessing the
policies, programmes and performance of
political parties. They vote either for a change
or for an issue, aroused by public hysteria. The
way political parties and politicians are
making alliances for victory at polls and for
capturing power and the way people are
expressing their anti-incumbency sentiments in
the elections show the absence of ideological
commitment among the politicians as well as
the electorate. There is a growing cynicism
about the political system which has failed to
command moral authority among the people.
Corruption and money power have
gripped the political system. Numerous scams
and deals involving bribery, indicate the
involvement of top politicians and their
relations in illicit financial transactions. There
is no work culture, because people are lethargic
and those who are at the helm of affairs value
sycophancy and compliance and not actual
work.
Dr. Atul Chandra Pradhan is a Professor of History in
the Utkal University, Vanivihar, Bhubaneswar - 751004.