The political parties have realized over several decades of democratizing that manifesto is no more than a mouth-wash
Dr. Jernail S. Anand
The real danger to the country is from those people who protect the violators of public morality. And, last but not the least, ordinary man wants to have a country where ‘there is no fear, and one can walk with his head held high’. This is the dream of an ordinary man. His manifesto. It cannot be treated as a popular mouth-wash. Who will take the call?
Ordinarily, only political parties have an election manifesto. But who knows when things get into reverse gear and we, the people, think of the people having an election manifesto. India is a thriving democracy and no one can doubt our democratic credentials. Stray incidents apart, we never lose our calm. Even the great upsets in the apple cart have not been able to make us lose our faith in the democratic ideal. If anyone has shaken our faith in democracy, it is the politician, the leader, for whom power means everything and who can compromise all morals and ethics to stay in power.
India has been the ‘Punya bhoomi’ on which were seen great sages and seers and prophets take birth to resolve apocalyptic crises, as in Ramayana and then, in Mahabharata. But the touch of the divine which should have been seen in the consciousness of the country is missing. If people talk of religion and spirituality, it is only to grab power. India’s status as a great spiritual nation stands badly mauled today because of the foul deeds of our politicians, that too in the name of religion.
Religion should be separated from politics. There should be food counters at easy prices. Corrupt officials and leaders should be mortally afraid of the state power. Police should be free from political control.
Election Manifesto is a Mouth-Wash
The political parties have realized over several decades of democratizing that manifesto is no more than a mouth-wash. It has no legal sanction. And, therefore, each one of them tries to paint the future as colorfully as it can. Political parties stuff their manifestoes with almost everything, including promising the moon. The Govt. at the Centre came to power on the agenda of development. Except some roads being widened, and tall talk on bullet trains, there is little real development, except in the suicide rate by the farmers, and the flourishing of the drug trade, at the behest of foreign powers, as our leaders very insightfully have us believe. The people might be feeling the pinch of electing people who become absolutely irresponsible, and totally insensitive, to their needs, once they are elected. We have unresponsive, irresponsible, insensitive governments running for five years, and we have no means to pull them down, if they leave their promised manifesto and take up some hidden, undeclared agenda.
The Organized Media
We are convinced by the organized media that the heavy consignments of drugs caught at the border, are destroyed, and they do not fall into the hands of the police people, nor are they, thereafter, sold to the slumbering youth of the nation. That the best way to provide jobs is to encourage the private agents to export our youngsters to Canada or Panama. That it is better to be second rate citizens in a developed country like USA and UK, and do slaving in farms [mortgaging their own, back in India]. We have no problem in uttering with full mouth, all the slogans they would want from us.
Citizens’ Election Manifesto
In such a scenario, where politics has been reduced to a crazy game of wealth, power, politics and religion, an ordinary man finds himself transfixed, as to who will vouch for his wellbeing? The social and political environment in the country has taken a nosedive. Who bothers about the common man and his needs? Instead of bullet trains, he wants free medical facilities and hospitals to have doctors and nurses and medicines too. He wants that for genuine students, education should be free, or heavily subsidized. Jobs on full pay to be available on the basis of genuine merit. He wants that the budget on education be more than the budget spent on war preparedness. More schools and more universities should be opened so that students could be given proper training.
Read: The Vacuum at the Centre of the Transformational Politics
Religion should be separated from politics. There should be food counters at easy prices. Corrupt officials and leaders should be mortally afraid of the state power. Police should be free from political control.
Electoral Politics needs Review
Elections should be held once in five years, but we should elect two governments. The majority party rules for the first half, while the largest opposition party takes over for the rest of the period. National policy is decided once for all by a Politburo of leaders of all parties. Ordinary man does not want foul mouthed election propaganda. No rallies. All electioneering should be done on the electronic media. Three months before the election date, there should be President’s rule, and the central forces brought in to ensure free and fair poll. No party should ever think of buying votes, offering liquor, or capturing booths.
Wisdom Pool
The governments in the states, where the elections are to be held, should be stopped from taking policy decisions, as in America. The leaders will resign from their govt. jobs, and their business interests also; only then, they will be sworn in. A politician should have two terms only. All leaders should retire at 65. There should be a Wisdom Pool consisting of all the retired politicians, cutting across party lines, where they could debate on the problems and the possibilities for the nation. The assets of the leaders will be under constant surveillance by an independent agency. It should not take five years to assess their wealth. As soon as it is found they are playing foul, they should be divested of power.
Batting for Clean Administration
An ordinary man wants clean administration. Clean leaders. Clean environs. And clean corridors of power. Those who play foul with the nation, loot its wealth, and fill Swiss banks, are the real traitors. The real danger to India is from those people who protect the violators of public morality. And, last but not the least, ordinary man wants to have a country where ‘there is no fear, and one can walk with his head held high’. This is the dream of an ordinary man. His manifesto. It cannot be treated as a popular mouth-wash. Who will take the call?
Read: The Descent of Indian Statesmanship to Salesmen
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Dr. Jernail S. Anand is a socialist campaigner, an ideologue who heads the International Academy of Ethics and authored 170 books. Winner of the international award Charter of Morava, his name is inscribed on Poets’ Rock in Serbia. A rare achievement for an Indian author, who was the only one to be honoured by the Serbian Writers Association after Rabindra Nath Tagore in 1926 – Contact: anandjs55@yahoo.com
