Bulldozer politics:
Strangely, bulldozers have acquired considerable fame of late, as they symbolise “strong leadership” in politics, a euphemism for a leadership that is largely Bhakti-based, that takes unilateral, disruptive, but essentially populist decisions, insensitive to whether they result in human rights violations and indifferent to whether they are legally correct or not. The justification put forward by the Bhakts and arrogantly presumed to be so by the leader is that he or she knows what is best for the people, that the due process of law causes inordinate delays in decision making and, in any case, it is no more than a vexatious irritant which could and should be ignored. After all, the Bhakts who see a divine spirit in their leader look forward to instant justice being delivered, as perceived by the leader. They have no faith in the well-established principle of jurisprudence “that a person accused of a crime is considered innocent until proven guilty”. A strong leader is, in their perception, one who is the “judge, the jury and the executioner”, who summarily assumes that a person accused of a crime is guilty, till he or she is proven innocent, and therefore that person should be punished firmly and quickly, irrespective of whether the accused would be convicted eventually by the trial court or not.
It is relevant to recall in this connection the prophetic words of Dr B R Ambedkar in his historic address to the Constituent Assembly on November 25, 1949:
“in India, Bhakti or what may be called the path of devotion or hero-worship, plays a part in its politics unequalled in magnitude by the part it plays in the politics of any other country in the world. Bhakti in religion may be a road to the salvation of the soul. But in politics, Bhakti or hero-worship is a sure road to degradation and to eventual dictatorship”
When the government is truly “of the people, by the people, and for the people” as it ought to be in a genuine democracy, there can be no place for hero worship. Democracies tend to degenerate into dictatorships when personalised politics overtake participative decision making. Genuine democratic systems alone can ensure long-term, people-oriented development.
The use of bulldozers in open defiance of the due process of law, resorting to extra-judicial encounter killings as the means to enforce law and order, detaining citizens summarily for expressing views not in line with those of the political executive and wantonly delaying investigation to prolong such detention are all symptoms of the cult of a Bhakti-based strong leadership. In a socio-political milieu that arises from it, institutions tend to get compromised, administration forced to fall in line and the society tends to get highly polarised on lines of caste, religion, ultra-nationalism etc. Religious zealotry then replaces the nobler and the more profound thinking that all religions propagate. Superstitions overtake scientific approaches. Unruly mobs dictate terms to the administration and influence the electoral process. In the ultimate analysis, the nation’s precious time and resources tend to get frittered away in the pursuit of unproductive activities that will only inhibit progress and socio-economic development.
Should such a situation be allowed to develop further and permeate the society?
By E A S Sarma, Former Secretary to Government of India
26/04/22