Distraught Democracy

Happenings being reported by the media across the world, particularly heated exchanges among heads of their respective countries, protest demonstrations marked by anger by various outfits including youth at large as well as students, criminal acts taking lives of innocent people and so on don’t seem to be biased with respect to different regions. The ongoing road shows across all parts of the country with massive participation of virtually all sections of the population, both opposing many actions of the Government and supporting the measures have drawn world attention, smearing the image of the world’s largest Democracy black, impacting inter-country trade as well as relationships. The year 2019, which saw agitations by people of different countries including India for different causes prompting commentators observing the goings on to describe the year as the year of the street protester. To be fair in passing remarks about the agitating masses, one may be permitted to say that not all causes were unjustified, although the option of resolving the differences without coming on the streets doesn’t seem to have found favour in the camps of the protesting masses.

Marshalling the people in large numbers to come on a common platform to stage protest as well as support to Government’s actions, both on strong grounds, demands and portrays the organising ability of various outfits, a capacity that can be channelised for constructive programmes of the Government, a point that has been overlooked by the country’s leadership of the agitating masses.

The classical definition of (India’s) Democracy as rule by the people, of the people, for the people may have to be modified as a setup by distraught people, of distraught people, for distraught and other sections of the population, going by the unstoppable road-bound demonstrations engulfing millions of the land’s population. As seen by seasoned observers of the ambience in the country’s open space, the current protests have mostly not yet taken radical form, except in some isolated pockets, which are under close scrutiny by the country’s law-keeping machinery.

Both the agitating side and the top brass in the incumbent Government at the Centre may be standing on prestige, the former party to soften their outlook to the key issues and the latter to roll back the measures, despite the approval of the country’s Parliament. In the light of the volatile state of the pasture by some countries that matter to the stable relationship, it is prudent not to fritter away the energies of people mainly to register the distraught stand.