66 years of independence: Time for Indian politicians to grow up

New Delhi: Even after 66 years of independence, Indian politics remains as divided and fragmented as it was at the time of independence. We are witnessing the same sectarian divide dominating the political discourse. We are still debating whether we should be more secular or less communal. Have we moved on from 1947 psyche or not? It seems the hangover is still persisting without showing any tangent sign of abatement. India, that was a wonder, was divided on religious grounds and is still mired in the same sectarian politics. The 1947 division was supposed to solve this problem once and for ever but it always remained a mirage. The countrymen loved the idea of secularism but the political class tinkered with the basic philosophy of secularism that, originally, rests on equal treatment to all sections of the society without differentiating them on the basis of caste, creed and religion. But political expediency forced the ruling class to introduce gentle appeasement of the vulnerable section of the society along with periodical and rhetorical chanting of secularism. The politics of vote bank overshadowed the need for genuine secularism. This kind of blatant appeasement had its reaction as well. To counter the vote bank politics of the ruling party, the right wing opposition came up with its own brand of nationalist politics. While the vote bank politics rested primarily on appeasement and keeping the minorities under constant fear of communal backlash, the right wing nationalism started targeting the undue favour that was being offered to the minorities and in the process started targeting the minority community itself. If communalism is to be properly defined and understood then both sides indulged in communalism of convenience. Both sides had their own benchmarks for differentiating between good communalism and bad communalism. Is it not like America's differentiation between good terrorism (that suits them) and bad terrorism (that hurts them)?Political parties in India championing the cause of secularism miss no opportunity in running down the neck of Narendra Modi for Gujarat riots of 2002. They start making high decibel condemnatory statements the moment they sniff communal odour in any sectarian flare up that targets minority community but the same class is silent when minorities belonging to a different community is targeted in Kishtwar. Except for BJP, no other political party has come out in open support of the aggravated families. The vanguards of secularism are silent. Is this silence not deafening? Will it help the cause of genuine secularism?Just look at how divisive this secular and communal divide has become in independent India. The moment, the main opposition party, the BJP, forwarded the name of Narendra Modi for the PM post, all hell broke loose. While Narendra Modi tried his best to redirect the debate on his concept of good governance, his detractors stuck to their secular-communal wicket. It was more like BCCI not willing to change the turf on Indian cricket fields despite humiliating losses overseas. Is it not time for our political class to move on? For how long will we keep the issue of good governance under carpet? We are debating this secular-communal issue for last 66 years. We suggest to Pakistan that let's keep the Kashmir issue on the back burner for the time being as it's complex and focus on other issues that can enhance the living standard of common people in both countries. Can't we follow the same advice in our domestic politics? Can't we put this secular-communal debate on back-burner for the time being? Can't we focus on issues of good governance so that those who are dying out of starvation in this country can live a respectable and dignified life? Isn't it shameful that famers are still committing suicide out of frustration in this country? For how long will we keep behaving like an ostrich?But look at the show of unanimity that these political parties have displayed in order to obfuscate the efforts of Supreme Court in cleansing the political system. When the SC outlined the guidelines aimed at preventing politicians facing serious criminal allegations from contesting elections, the political class has decided to veto it through a legislation that suits them the best. This is not to say that the remedy suggested by the Supreme Court was flawless but the moot point here is that the nonchalant attitude of political class towards criminalization of politics forced the SC to take this hard line. Had political class opted for self-regulation, this undue interference of judiciary in purely legislative domain would not have arrived. So who is to blame for this?The bitter truth is that people of this country have lost their confidence in political class. Political class has become synonymous with plundering of national wealth, nepotism, corruption and everything that is unethical. That's why people of this country embraced Anna Hazare when he raised voice against political and bureaucratic corruption but they refused to extend the same warm support to Arvind Kejriwal when he decided to broke away from Anna and opted to make the agitation political with the launching of a new political entity. It was not that people didn't trust Arvind, they were skeptical because they had lost confidence in all kind of politicians. They believe that in India it's just impossible to escape from what we have heard since our childhood – power corrupts people. In India, the equally valid adage is – politics corrupts people, so lay off!And their conduct in parliament is just inexplicable. Parliament is the place to discuss issues and find out a solution. But unfortunately, it has become a battleground of a different kind. If I am not happy with an issue, I will not debate it in the parliament; instead I'll not allow the parliament to function. What kind of attitude is this? Ask BJP and they will remind you – this is what Congress used to do when NDA was in power. Do two wrongs make a right? Is the Indian taxpayer spending crores of Rupees on functioning of parliament so that they could settle their petty political scores in the temple of democracy? Isn't it the time for our politicians to grow up?On 67th Independence Day today, let the politicians of India do some serious introspection and find out why the people of India don't trust them? Why is it that no non-political family in India wants their kids to venture into politics? Isn't it a big slap on the bloated egos of Indian politicians?