Matsanyaya in Punjab

Monday, January 30, 2012

      About twenty five centuries ago, Aristotle classified governments on the basis of their merits. He put democracy, a government by the people, at the lowest end. Lower still, according to him, was demagogy which was the perverted form of democracy. It was a rule of the highly unscrupulous people which lost its rational thread due to the selfish motives of the power hungry politicians. Perhaps he could not imagine any worse form of government than demagogy in a civilized society. Indian scholar Kautalya, however, mentions one and terms it as matsanyaya (rule of lawlessness operating in the sea where the large fish eats the small one). Unfortunately it is now operating in India. Punjab being a part of it, it is also in its vicious grip.
      In this form of government, the greedy politicians seek power for amassing wealth overnight through government offices and positions at the cost of the people. The leaders show up to the voters at the time of elections and seek mandate on the basis of false issues mostly religious to grind their axe. The voters do not know anything about them except who is the enemy of whom and who is the kin of whom. They work to create the so called “wave” of mass sentiments in their favor and jump in the fray to cash in on it. Media proudly talks of the these waves as if there are no other issues or absence of issues left to be highlighted. It behaves like a silent spectator as if it is not a part of the society and has no responsibility towards it. It knows that the electorate are influenced, intimidated, bought and sold like commodities but fails to highlight these criminal events. This role is not expected from the law enforcement agencies because they serve their political bosses till are in power.
      The election process demolishes the moral fiber of the society even before any body is elected, The politicians distribute drugs of sorts among the voters to keep them physically intoxicated till the election date. All parties know it is immoral and criminal but almost all of them indulge in it as if the victims of drug abuse are not their countrymen. Many of the voters being already used to addiction, welcome this move of the vote predators. Everybody is shamelessly amused to call this free flow of drugs and intoxicants in the state as the "Sixth River of Punjab."       
      The election scenario can be compared to a battlefield. Street fights and gun-shots are common occurrences during the election days. Party goons and anti-social elements are deployed to capture voting booths and ballot boxes. At many places attempts are made even to temper with the electronic voting machines. Spurious and double voting is the order of the day. The election staff and polling agents of the official machinery observe this drama as mute spectators. The so called winners usurp the state power for the next five years and plunder its coffers in stark daylight. They also fleece the people for every routine official (and unofficial) work through their agents who tell them that they are being favored at that price. They amass money by every trick of the trade to remain in power and to buy all that matters in this respect including media, intellectuals and the elected representatives of the people. If all this were on a negligible scale, it could be ignored, but the situation has reached alarming proportions from which there is no easy return.
         The recent election in Punjab has revealed the real face of jungle raj. No issues of substance were raised by the political parties to seek mandate from the people. All the political parties considered it their hereditary right to control the state offices and its coffers. There was no progress in the state in any field for the last many years except for poverty and loans. The state is running on revenue from liquor and central aid. As of today its total loan might be more than the total worth of its estate. The state levies no tax on the people nor the people are happy to pay any tax. Agricultural income iis not taxable in the country, while electricity and water are also free for the farmers in Punjab. 
        The Farm industry is sustained by migratory labor, while the scions of the land are going the way of drug addiction and intoxicants. Their other tastes are possession of costliest mobile phones, motor cycles and motor cars. The vehicles are mostly obtained as dowry from the bride;s parents at the time of weddings of the males in the family or purchased on mortgaged loans. Education is not a priority and reading literature beyond a casual newspaper is considered a curse. Most of them are drop outs from schools and colleges and the rest are unemployed. The male population is on the increase for the females are killed in before birth in the wombs. Land is getting divided between the males and the size of the land holdings is on the decrease. Small landholdings cannot sustain large families of the dependents with living in style. They seek loans to meet their expenses and almost all possessions of the farmers are pawned. Finding hard to pay their loans back many of them commit suicides. Remission the farmers debt loans has been one of the main issues of defections and elections in Punjab but no party has been able to do anything in this respect so far except for lip service.