On Election and Religion

So we just wrapped up the second phase of elections to the upper two tiers of the Rural local bodies; the last phase to be held in my subdivision. It was peaceful, although the papers would not say so; the worst part of our job is that the biggest of our achievements are 'non happenings' - the riot, the booth capture or the caste battle that could have been. While an even more blood-fraught election to the lowest tier remains still to be seen through, and the 'guest duties' in other subdivisions remain, still, as I sit at the ballot box receipt centre, waiting for sweet peace-out, all sweated out and disheveled from two days of almost non stop work, I can afford to reflect upon it with some satisfaction. It won't be a long article - thumbing out on a phone is not as easy as typing on a computer. Just a couple of interesting realizations that I had.

Firstly, there is this ironic realization that how the foundations of the famed Indian democracy - the elections - are steeped in so much authoritarianism. Elections are the ultimate manifestation of vaunted 'steel frame'. Ever since I have joined the service, I had seen magistrates and police trying to keep the peace the 'peaceful way' - that is coaxing and begging with the troublemakers. This policy of appeasement keeps peace at the cost of justice - by robbing the silent Peters to pay the vocal and disruptive Pauls. Officers euphemistically call this deference to street politics 'respect for democracy'. However, in reality, it is just a capitulation to political powers who have a big say in the service conditions of the law and order machinary. However, come election, this hold is somewhat weakened by the model code of conduct. Plus, the consequences of any disruption during the election is quite great. So rusted law and order machinary of the state gets oiled and greased well. Street politics is not pandered to, as a policy. The street politicians who fail to realize this learn it the hard way through swollen posteriors! Never seen such widespread use of Sections 129 to 132 of the CrPC. The rod of the State is used quite well to plant the flag of democracy in what Dr. Ambedkar rightly called India's essentially undemocratic soil.

Second was realization of how deeply is the tolerance of intolerance ingrained in our society. Yes, that is a paradoxical term - tolerance of intolerance. Yet, it is what it is. Tolerance in our society is not born out of an inherent goodness of heart, but out of the cold war era doctrine of 'mutually assured destruction' - when one's adversary is so strong that conflict is too costly to justify it, and tolerating each other is the best survival policy for both. Liberalism is mostly, by it's inherent nature, not muscular. So it is mostly the sane liberal voices that are stomped out, and the ground is left bare for the uneasy teeth bared, fists clenched equilibrium between the intolerant biggies. That is why the average urban Indian finds that he has to face restrictions on many of his personal choices; restrictions hard to imagine in any other country which calls itself civilized. Yet, paradoxically, he finds that he has to acquiesce to tolerance of all stupid whimsical acts, if those acts are in the garb of expression of religious or caste expressions. Mostly, as agents of the State, we are forced to turn a blind eye to the plight of the people we have sworn to serve, in order to allow assorted hooligan groups their 'democratic right' to wave their ritualistic d*cks in our collective faces - of the society and the State. (It being the onset of this festival season, I, along with the rest of the 'State', am, in a way, preparing for that, once more!) Well, at least for the State, during elections, the shoe is on the other foot! The law and order machinary suddenly transforms into a ideologue group of itself. The model code is our holy book, and its interpretation is very flexible, much like what is done with the religious books. So like religious zealots we go about destroying their posters, their camps, their offices, their convoys. I got the opportunity to use the public address system on my vehicle to threaten 'whomsoever it may concern' with very dire consequences! We charged into habitations at nights with convoys of force, sirens blaring, to show that we meant business. However, what was surprising was the acquiescence of the generally hostile public. Overheard a village elder tell his young charges - "Chunaav mein police prashasan ke saamne na padiyo! Pagla jaave hain saale." (Don't get in the way of the law and order machinary during elections! They go f***ing mad.) 

Pretty much the way we speak of these pesky religious processions!

[D*cks = Ducks - seriously ;) ]