Vidya Bhushan Rawat
Two distinct pictures of huge mass protest not really linked to each other but reflect the nature of democracy in our respective societies. American President Donald Trump is on a scheduled visit to UK where he is being ‘welcomed’ by huge protests spilled all over in the streets of London, historic Trafalgar Square and perhaps near Parliament House. According to estimates the protesters may more than two hundred and fifty thousands. There are banners, posters, balloons mocking Donald Trump and rejecting his politics of hatred, Islamophobia and anti immigration. There is a fear in the Western world that Trump’s politics might weaken the historical Trans Atlantic Alliance that emerged after the world war II and resulted in unquestioned dominance of the Western Powers particularly after the breakaway of Soviet Union.
I am not going to discuss here the politics of Trump and his relations with Russia and Western Allies. My focus here is on the strength of western democracies and role of the institutions. It is a fact that whenever an American President travels anywhere in the world, security and restrictions are part of the structure. Normally, we do not allow any protest against the visiting dignitaries which send wrong signals to them. In fact, we go overboard to stop people raising a single voice. Our Prime Ministers and other leaders are not even ready to accept people in black during their public rallies. And if an American President Visit Delhi, we know how difficult it would be for a common person to commute to the heart of the city. If people say that they want to protest against his visit to India and it would be a democratic protest, the administration and police will start harassing the people. We know even in difficult times, we don’t see a protest beyond twenty-thirty thousands people marching and it be nearly impossible to have even 100 people able to protest. The police will beat them up so much that they would have to be admitted in hospitals for several days. That apart, your university or other institution may take action against you and virtually finish your career.
But see the protests in London. It makes us proud that authorities there allow people to express their views and respect their right to lodge a peaceful protest. I mean no government would like to see a massive protest against a visiting dignitary but the fact that people are worried about their future and thankfully, the police allowed them to do the same. This is the one big difference between our part of the world and western democracies where they have their institutions properly established and no individual leader become larger than the institutions. In our part of the world, institutions stand nowhere and even if they are, they are made to crawl and crumble to make your way to pamper the powerful. We will take extra step to stop people from protesting and humiliating them.
See what is happening in Pakistan. Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam is returning from London and were kept waiting at Abu Dhabi for nearly four hours to catch their flight for Lahore, a city which is witnessing unprecedented security, clampdown, closure of internet services and huge number of arrests of political activists. Just today, we have heard a huge bomb blast at a political rally in Pakistan killing nearly 85 people. Human lives have no value in our part of the world. Our protesters too dont care for rule of law and the imported police culture which is never really part of their own in England, only taught police to use their cans and now guns to control crowds. Sharif and his daughter were arrested as soon as they landed at the Lahore Airport and are being taken to Rawalpindi. What happen to him is a foregone conclusion. The military would not allow him to make a come back but perhaps wont go to the extent to what they did to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Sharif, a smart politicians is perhaps launching his daughter to the rough tough world of male dominated Pakistan politics. However, given the nature, these female leaders remain surrendered to religious patriarchy and their ‘family values’.
Democracy remain fragile in Pakistan, controlled by the military regime. We will see huge demonstration and equally ruthless way of handling them. Police firing become norms and killing too uncared for. Neither protesters nor the police and administration bother too much about this. Human lives have little values in our part of the world. Contrary to this, western capitals except for United States do not have enough forces to control people. Most of the work is based in intelligence as well as self discipline. That is why, we have seen huge protests in UK without any disturbances. Political protests are symbolic largely and therefore need to be done peacefully but in our part of the world, police and administrations are not trained to handle them. Secondly, we do not have a culture of respecting dissent and hence most of the time the ruling party and their leaders feel dissenters are anti nationals and hence use the police to suppress the protests.
Western World too is fearing attacks but some how they have managed to make things workable. The most important part has been making every individual as responsible towards rule of law. British dont have a written constitution while we have a huge one but the difference is that they follow the laws much better and honestly than us. We talk a lot about our ‘values’ and every one us have ‘big quotes’ glorifying our culture and values but when it comes to following that up in personal or public life, we rather follow our religious values and not the constitution.
The biggest impediment in our national life is lack of adherence to constitutional values. The day we develop respect for our constitution and its values that treat each citizen as equal citizen irrespective of his caste, religious or regional identity. The day we admit that all those who are citizen of INdia have equal right, things would turn great.
No nation can become great just by boasting farcical about a great heritage. Ultimately, it is the people who make a nation great or powerful. It is not the government but the people that make a nation. The sooner we realise it, the better it would be for all.
In the meanwhile, we heard that government of India has invited President Trump to be the chief guest of our Republic Day Parade on June 26th, 2019. I was wondering whether the government can ever allow people to organise a symbolic protest against the policies of Donald Trump. I will feel our democracy has matured if even 100 people are allowed to do a demo at the Jantar Mantar during that time. But that would mean asking for too much. Our democracy end the day we vote to a leader. After that we are hostage to politicians and the tightly gripped bureaucracy that controls our lives.
We criticise our colonial masters a lot but definitely there are huge things which we can learn from them. they did not give a strong democracy but for their own country and people they created a model. The freedom that people enjoy there is a thing of envy for all which shows that democracy is not merely political but mostly cultural and social value system. Unfortunately, we dont have it in us and to claim democracy, we only harp on those elections which are often rigged. Time to take Baba Saheb Ambedkar’s warning seriously and develop the culture of democracy socially.
