Despite all-round efforts on the part of the Congress, its 15-month old government in Madhya Pradesh couldn’t be saved. Need for the Supreme Court-mandated floor test which was to be done within 5 pm on Friday didn’t arose either, as, sensing an imminent defeat, Kamal Nath tendered his resignation hours beforehand. From this long-drawn drama which lasted for over ten days, if an effort is made to measure the output which the nation as a democratic entity has seen and received, it must be said that it’s only a huge chunk of hopelessness.
By now, the whole nation has identified the principal characters of the play, including the ones who played comparatively incognito roles and it will also not be an arduous task of the sort of ‘hunting a needle in a haystack’ in presuming the scriptwriters. This is since, it’s not the first time these ‘off-the-field’ actions are being witnessed and the nation is also perhaps gradually getting used to all these. It has been a serial now of this sort of ‘toppling endeavours’ and Madhya Pradesh is the latest of the episodes. There will be little left to elaborate on the story as a whole- same methodology only executed with greater finesse. A democratically-elected government takes charge with people’s mandate, functions for some time and midway or even before collapses like a house of cards. A feat of remarkable ‘engineering’ at the cost of all established norms of propriety that had been the hallmarks of Indian democracy for so long. The playground of Indian politics had never been without thorns and since politics is also nothing short of a war, the often-cited adage ‘all is fair in love and war’ sees a wide applicability here. But, over the years since gaining independence, as the country wholeheartedly embraced electoral politics as the benchmark of strengthening the democratic roots, a certain quantum of decency always existed, where the unwritten yet overwhelmingly and voluntarily accepted parameter was- ‘some lines should never be crossed’. The tussle remained restricted to the pre-election time frame and it was customary of the losers to accept people’s verdict and play roles of the opposition for the constitutionally defined term of five years. ‘Touching’ an elected government by unleashing methods that are visibly undemocratic to the core was rare. But, observing the newly adopted ways, it seem that those days of ‘rarity’ are gone and the nation is learning to adapt itself with this new normal.
Governments form and fall, political parties undergo pink health as well as decay, all according to the demand and character of times. But, it’s really painful to come to terms that democratic values are so conveniently being compromised. It’s not sure when there will be an end to it. 

---

Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

<< Back to News List