Who do we blame but ourselves, if we are distracted time and again from serious issues concerning life and death.
It’s not even Love or Food in the Time of Covid—what continues to pass off as ‘news’ is IPL scores or comparative size of election rallies in Bihar.
These events apparently have greater impact on national interest and international relations than the lurking Chinese threat on the vulnerable Himalayan borderland and the critical state of the economy.
Serious allegations levelled against a serving judge in the highest court of the land by a chief minister (admittedly, himself not untainted as a white lily) disappear after blips on the radar. The centre stage is reserved for toxic trivia.
The horrifying Hathras rape has all but faded from public memory. Regrettably, it has been followed with other rapes equally shocking in other states.
Partisan politicians—leaders or their minions—spend all their energy, identifying accused according to their caste or religion. The strategy for offence or defence is accordingly planned and executed.
There was a time when people worried about ‘media trials’; nowadays it is the ‘media investigation’ that has all but rendered police department in different states redundant.
Words like ‘political witch-hunt’ and ‘vendetta’ have lost all meaning due to overuse. No investigating agency retains its credibility.
CBI is not only seen as a caged parrot but also as a canary that can sing any tune anticipating the whims of its masters. There are other agencies under the control of the Central Government that are, in the public eye, birds of the same feather.
Whether it is the NIA or the ED, they suddenly jump out of stupor and swoop on the prey—in most cases a strong opponent or an inconvenient ambitious ally.
The trouble is not only that the guardians of law have spines of rubber but also the laws that have been enacted to cope with enemies of state, terrorists and organised criminals are unleashed mindlessly against all protestors—most of them peaceful.
Anyone falling out of favour with the government in the states or at the Centre can find himself/herself charged with treason, conspiring to wage war against the state etc.
With the law relating to bail almost erased from contemporary jurisprudence, it seems prudent to forget the bread, fantasise about cakes and quell the pangs of hunger with circus shows—spectacles that are being organised all around us.
Where does this leave us? With IPL and elections in one state after another, there is never a dull moment.
Uncivil foul language is used to hurl abuses to be followed by half-hearted apologies for having inadvertently hurting somebody’s sentiments.
The latest in this series are the apologies offered by some media houses to News Broadcasting Standards Authority, a self-regulating non-statutory body, for grossly violating its model code of conduct/guidelines. Some have not found it necessary to make even these token gestures.
In all this din, what has gone unnoticed is how the federal structure of our polity has been damaged. It’s not just that some states have withdrawn the authorisation granted to CBI to investigate crimes committed in their territory, more than one state have also declared that they wouldn’t implement the ‘Farm Laws’ enacted by the Central Government.
The unseemly haste with which the laws were passed without adequate discussion has cast a shadow over them. The states—those ruled by the non-BJP-NDA alliance—are pushing back.
The government has had to yield ground on GST. And, many believe that we haven’t heard the last of the CAA. The talks with the Naga insurgents have met with serious roadblocks.
Time to return to elections. Does it matter who is re-elected or rejected at the hustings? Isn’t it the machinations—horse-trading and defections—that hold the key to government formation and retaining or regaining control in a state?
Haven’t we seen this in Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra and in Uttarakhand before that? Are things really going to change for the better if Nitish Kumar makes way for a mahagathbandhan led by someone else?
Has the ouster of CPI(M) in West Bengal brought about the change that the electorate had dreamt of? Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Assam and Tripura form a long list where more things remain the same more the talk of change.
The pattern is depressingly the same. On the eve of elections, the party in power advertises at the taxpayer’s expense its accomplishments that don’t pass a reality check and now even more extravagant promises are made.
Those in the Opposition focus on fresh faces from discredited dynasties with new dreams to break into the ruler’s citadel.
There is replay of debates about local and national issues. This time there is the global challenge of Covid pandemic.
It’s not surprising that to many, IPL appears attractive. It may not be cricket, but it seems less fixed a match, a better bet.
pushpeshpant@gmail.com
Former professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University