गुरुवार, 13 फ़रवरी 2014

जब भी कोई यथास्थिति को तोड़ने की कोशिश करता है राजनीति के मेंढक टर्राने लगते हैं

जब भी कोई यथास्थिति को तोड़ने की कोशिश करता है राजनीति के मेंढक टर्राने लगते हैं। यहाँ यथास्थिति के पोषक हैं इसीलिए केज़रीवाल की जान को सौ जोखों। रामदेव को लोग सलवार पहनकर भागने के लिए मज़बूर कर देते हैं। अन्ना को मानते हैं लेकिन अन्ना की नहीं मानते हैं। राहुल बाबा की अपनी सीमाएं हैं वह अपनी बात का खुलासा करने के क्रम में बारहा एक ही बात दोहराने लगते हैं। सोनियाजी का पर्चा उड़ जाए तो लेने के देने पड़ जाएँ। हैं ये तमाम लोग परिवर्तन कामी। 

युवा भीड़ अब बदलाव चाहती है। संसदीय आम चुनाव २०१४ नै ज़मीन तोड़ेगा। बरसाती मेंढक की तरह टर्राने वाला दिग्भ्रांत तीसरा मोर्चा अवसर वादी राजनीति का पोषक है। 

रुख हवाओं का जिधर का है ,

उधर के हम हैं। 

पढ़िए समाज विज्ञानी प्रीतीश नंदी का सारगर्भित प्रासंगिक लेख :  

The seductive power of disruption

The argument that there is no place for anarchy in our politics is hopelessly quaint

Driving down Marine Drive last week, I saw Nana Chudasama's banner fluttering in the breeze, proclaiming that our democracy is in fine fettle and could do without anarchy. The reference is obvious. So is the subtext. Chudasama's daughter, Shaina is likely to contest the polls as a BJP candidate. 

The argument that there's no place for anarchy in our politics is hopelessly quaint. There's a place for everything here. That's what makes us so special. But our mainstream political parties are so obsessed with the status quo that anyone questioning it is always viewed with deep suspicion and mistrust. Anarchy raises disturbing questions. But sometimes these questions need to be asked. This does not mean anarchy is always good but, yes, it fulfills a specific task. And that task is to disrupt the established order of things. That is what I suspect Rahul Gandhi was referring to as "the system" during his TV conversation with Arnab. 


Disruption is good for change. Big bang disruption's even better, say management theorists. It allows us to escape the clutches of the status quo, which is often morbid and necrotic. It brings in change. Unless you encourage the occasional disruption, the status quo self perpetuates, to breed a subculture of perennial exploitation. (The fact that 50 out of the 58 new Rajya Sabha MPs nominated last week are crorepatis, some many times over, is just one small example.) 


Curiously, those who boast the most about our democracy respond the worst to dissent. First they ignore it. (Irom Sharmila's hunger strike has been ignored for 500 weeks.) Then there's the midnight crackdown. (The sudden attack on Ramdev's followers under the cover of night led to Anna fasting again.) Finally, there's jail. If that doesn't work, police encounters. Luckily, we still have a watchful media and an alert judiciary which keep the balance of power intact. You can toss Binayak Sen into jail on cooked up sedition charges but you have no option but to release him when the Supreme Court orders you to. You can file 11 false cases against Arun Ferreira and lock him away. But he came out last week, a free man, honorably acquitted in all the cases. 

The system can break up Anna's dharnas but it can neither destroy his credibility nor Arvind Kejriwal's spirit. Anna remains the icon of the anti-corruption movement. As for Arvind, he now heads an elected government in New Delhi, but is still at war trying to introduce the Jan Lok Pal Bill. It's this unflinching commitment to a cause that finally brings about change, not lip service to platitudes about good governance. That's why this time we have two entirely different leaders emerging, to challenge the incumbent government. And Rahul completes the triangle, by challenging his own party from without. 


That's why disruption is such an inalienable part of democracy. When a society looks away from the option to disrupt, it can only mean one of two things. It has either lost its marbles (like UPA2) and believes that everything is fine, nothing can be better. Whatever you or I may smoke, this one we know for sure is a lie. It could, on the other hand, also mean total hopelessness, the feeling that things are so bad, nothing can save us. Luckily, that's not true either. So we must now look for new solutions. 

Disruption, like anarchy, is built on the premise of hope. Those who disrupt do so because they believe that a better society, a better system is an actual possibility. They may not know how to achieve it at first go. They may even make mistakes, silly mistakes, but the fact that they are ready to challenge the way things are is the surest sign of a mature democracy. 


In recent years we have seen some true disruptors. Men and women who took on our corrupt system, tried to breathe new life into it. Vinod Rai as CAG busted the Rs 1.7 lakh crore 2G scam and introduced the idea of presumptive loss. 16 months later, he came out with the Rs 10.67 lakh crore Coalgate scam, leaving a ticking time bomb outside the Prime Minister's office door. If Ashok Khemka did not test the limits of his authority, Robert Vadhera would not have been exposed for his land deals. If Durga Shakti Nagpal had not intervened, Mulayam Singh's lies would not have been exposed. If Sanjiv Bhatt had not stood up to Narendra Modi, the truth about planned executions masquerading as police encounters would have never come out. 

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