Statement of Lok Raj Sangathan
2 March 2022
Source of image: https://news.abplive.com/elections/assembly-election-2022-election-commission-to-review-prohibition-on-physical-rallies-on-monday-1509878
Elections are going on in five states of India—Goa, Punjab, Manipur, Uttarakhand and UP. They began on 10th February. The election process will end with the counting of votes from March 10.
Newspaper and Television channels have been agog with speculative assessments on how various electoral parties will fare in the five states. They have been highlighting the election rallies and speeches of party leaders promising various measures to the electors if they are elected to power. They have also been feeding their readers and viewers with accusations of political leaders against each other, the blatant appeals to religious and caste sentiments and dastardly attempts to incite sectarian feelings in order to gain more votes.
Elections are taking place at a time of severe frustration among the people whose livelihood and savings have been wiped out by the Covid pandemic, among the youth over the unprecedented unemployment situation, among the farmers over the absence of guarantees related to the Minimum Support Price for their produce, among workers over the curtailment of trade union rights and massive layoffs and closures, among public sector workers over the predatory pace at which public assets are being sold to big multinationals and corporate moguls at throwaway prices. In addition there have been growing protests against arbitrary arrests under various laws, incitement to communal violence, the extension of AFSPA and other issues that are of great concern to human rights activists, organisations representing minorities and people at large.
The announcement of elections have had a damaging effect on the kisan movement. More than 500 peasant organisations had come together against the Farm Bills and had put up a valiant opposition on the borders of Delhi. Now some kisan organisations have decided to convert themselves into a party and participate in elections. Others have decided not to participate. The unity of the kisan movement is at stake.
Hopes are being sown in the kisan movement that through elections kisans can win a stake in the existing political power structure, that they can get their agenda fulfilled through the Parliament. Events of the seventies show that these are, at best, just illusions. The declaration of emergency, curtailment of rights and the massive attacks on rights and livelihood of the common people had made the country a seething cauldron of frustration and disillusionment. At this juncture, in order to contain the anger of the people within the confines of the parliamentary representative democracy, the Janata Party was promoted as the alternative that can bring succour to the people. Leaders such as Jayaprakash Narayan, Mulayam Singh Yadav, and Lalu Prasad Yadav were promoted as leaders of the ‘Total Revolution’. Charan Singh and Deva Gowda were promoted as representing the interests of the kisans. Many of these leaders later on became Prime Ministers and Chief Ministers. But the lot of the common man remained unchanged.
Drawing lessons from the seventies, we can say that a similar situation prevails today. The ruling establishment, cognisant of the peoples’ anger and frustration, is making efforts to build an alternative to the BJP by propping various parties in the ongoing five state elections. It is very clear in its aim that to keep away from demanding a thoroughgoing transformation in the current political process, to keep them away from political power, it is important to offer the mirage of an alternative, which will provide them promises but keep them bound hand and foot to the party-dominated political process that prevails now.
Elections have only served to replace one loyal representative of the ruling class with another. The present multi-party system of democracy has suited the rulers of India, the big multinationals and the richest business houses, very well. Every now and then, they have organised elections, offered the voters a menu of political parties, and given them the illusion that in this system of democracy, the electors can dethrone the ruling party, if they wish. What is hidden from them is that various political parties of the ruling establishment only serve as managers to the ruling class, who can dispense with a tired horse and select a fresh one for each electoral race.
Even though it is made out that electoral results are people’s mandate, virtually election outcomes are decided beforehand. This happens through the domination of the electoral process by money and muscle power, through the brainwashing of the voters through media interviews and social media propaganda, through special privileges for the representatives of the ruling class such as a monopoly over election symbols, TV time, use of state machinery for organising rallies, and so on. Smaller parties and independent candidates do not have an iota of chance in winning in their constituencies. The electoral fight is usually between two or three major alliances, all of whom have been thoroughly vetted as reliable managers by the powers that be.
For the past 75 years, only two or three electoral combinations have come to power in the centre. There is hardly anything to choose between these fronts. While these fronts are called, secular or Hindutva or by some other name, they have adopted the same policies of further enriching the big business houses and depriving people a say in running the country.
In the final analysis, pinning hopes on electoral results to solve the huge problems in front of the people is like expecting the sun to rise in the West instead of in the East. Unless the political and electoral process is thoroughly transformed and the people are brought to the centre-stage of decision-making, the rahu kal for people will continue.
For a thorough-going transformation of the political process we should put an end to the domination of the parties of the rich over the electoral process. We need to demand that candidates should be selected by the voters of a constituency before they are elected. Elected representatives should be made accountable to the people and not to their parties. If they do not fulfil their electoral mandates, people should have a right to recall them. The big parties of the ruling establishment should be deprived of their monopoly over symbols. The election process should be funded by the state and not by big corporate houses covertly or overtly. Electoral constituencies should be delimited such that the electors in the constituency will be able to select their representative and have access to them at all times.
The present political and electoral process are based on the British colonial model of parliamentary representative democracy which suited the British ruling class in ruling over their citizens and their colonial subjects all over the world. This process is based on the premise that the vast multitude of masses are not capable of deciding for themselves or running the affairs of the country. It is a system where political parties of the rich act as gatekeepers to political power. Unless this process is changed, elections alone cannot ensure democracy for the entire people and their empowerment.
Since its founding, Lok Raj Sangathan has served as a vehicle for broad-based discussions on the political and electoral process. It has strived to unite all those interested in the political empowerment of people. A thorough-going transformation of the political and electoral process is one of the important tasks that faces the people of the country, and there is no better time than that afforded by the elections when these matters can be discussed in their entirety.
