Coalition Democracy And Drama

An Empty Threat from a frustrated Chief Minister

Thanks to the chimerical Constitution parliamentary democracy in India is a mockery. The predominantly illiterate voters do not know how to even cast votes in a ballot box, let alone their wisdom or judgment to vote for the right candidate. Urban and rustic voters, all are caught in a cross-fire of electioneering by unscrupulous and corrupt candidates. Holy cows (sorry, the voters) remain confused till the last moment when touts of the candidates and the flag-bearing free Press almost force them into their sacred exercise of adult suffrage so as to Glorify the Parliamentary Democracy in India.      

Of late the Indian Parliament has become a theatre of the absurd. Candidates win elections on empty promises and stitch together a namesake majority to enjoy power in the Govt. The so-called majority, the defining benchmark in democracy, is obtained by the deceitful means resorted to by the unscrupulous leaders coming together on a so-called common platform of deception by showing thumbs at the fractured mandates of the illiterate electorate and this cobbled majority many times wears thin and fragile to the point of break up by the conflict of interests among the regional parties who pull in opposite directions in the function of the so-called democratic Govt. Only the the common man suffers. The party that has the larger share and stake in the Govt. becomes dictatorial in the running of the statecraft. The crumbs and peanuts thrown in the faces of the smaller coalition allies obviously do not make them happy. They more often than not flex their muscles and threaten to pull out of the coalition Govt. to make a mockery of democracy!  The Big Brother bends down a little to condescend to offer some sops and olive branch. Happy the little puppies depart. And there drops the scene temporarily on the theatre of the Absurd.  Corruption and deception merrily go on hand in hand on a soaring height in our democratic life.

Let’s see what next happens about the empty threat of a pullout by a volatile CM who heads a regional coalition ally presently on the issue of petrol price hike which counts 13 times in 10 months and exposes a Govt. totally adrift on the economic front. Is the threat real or a cover to extort another pound of flesh to sub-serve regional interests? We will see it in few days. Probably we shall get some good news that the CM has successfully shopped for a bagful of financial aids for her state. She will be happy and the Coalition will be sailing happy again.  There will be another drop scene on the Theatre of the Absurd. This is what the Indian parliamentary democracy is all about. So much of Glory our political parties bring to our Parliamentary democracy. What a height of a joke of democracy!