Vadodara, Sep 3: Lord Bhikhu Parekh, Indian-origin political theorist and recipient of Padma Bhushan, today said the new mantra of “state bad, civil society good” was dangerous, though “understandable”.
“State bad, civil society, good—the new mantra coined by civil society's movement against corruption is understandable, but dangerous, because the state is not all bad, and civil society does not consist of angels alone,” he said.
UK-based Parekh, a former vice chancellor of Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda (Vadodara), was here to give a talk on “the role of civil society in the Regeneration of India', at the invitation of Federation of Gujarat Industries.
The term civil society was a new entrant in India's political vocabulary, he said, adding that there was a “legitimate distrust” of the state, and civil society was expected to provide an answer to its ills.
“Anna Hazare's fast served a most valuable purpose. I am against fasts, but desperate times need desperate remedies, and Annaji was right to launch it. However, I am uneasy with several aspects of it. It need not have taken place in a public maidan (Ramlila grounds) and turned into a theatre. Its rhetoric was inflated,” he said.
“To say this is a second freedom struggle is to suggest that we have achieved nothing since independence and to insult the memories of Nehru, Vallabhbhai Patel, Lal bahadur Shashtri...”.
Further, celebrities and Bollywood stars should not have been allowed to address the gathering when their own record was not clean and they had very little to say, he said.
“The dignity of Parliament should have been respected, and ultimatums should have been avoided.”
Parekh also pointed out that Hazare's role was limited to fasting, and the negotiations for Jan Lokpal Bill were conducted by others. Mahatma Gandhi, on the other hand, negotiated himself, he said.
Before resorting to fasting, other modes of agitation such as rallies, demonstrations, non-payment of tax, etc should have been used, Parekh said.
“Hazare's fast served a most noble cause. I salute him and hope that if he does it again, some of these mistakes will be avoided.”
Summing up the political crisis in the country, he said the system faced three crises: crisis of political authority as there was no public figure commanding widespread respect, crisis of political institutions, and that of political culture.
“Our political culture is weak and lacks agreement on the basic norms,” he added.
Talking about the society in general, Parekh also commented on Amitabh Bachchan appearing in several advertisements, saying this too reflected a kind of crisis.
Yesteryear's idols like Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar or Raj Kapoor never appeared in such kind of advertisements, he said. PTI
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