Democratic Debate with Urban Wishes and Mindsets in India.

Democratic Debate with Urban Wishes and Mindsets in India.

There are Polticians, who are Handsome, Youthful and Very Urban; they are projected as the voice of New India.

Though there are some pre requisites to be this voice of new India. Pre requisites like regular attendance at South Delhi Cocktail parties, Frequent rounds near North Block, Good English, Very Urban looking face and the tokenism of visiting the dusty rural land of the country, so that Media can project them as the Man of Masses.
But these pre requisites are not confined to the modern times, they were there right after the Independence. Indira Gandhi sent her children’s to London School of Economics. One of them became a pilot and yet chose to enter the politics. Every thing went as par the Voice of that Time. The odd visits to the rural areas were always meant to remind us about the great sacrifice done by the Politicians, especially the young politicians of that time. The trend goes even today and becomes trendier when an election is around the corner.
From where does this trend gets its strength ?
The answer to this question opens an eye to many periods.
There is an over reaching aspiration to be trendy, Glamorous, Urban and sophisticated. The more there are billionaires in a society the bigger the aspiration becomes, therefore when people are unable to earn like a Billionaire or a film Star they want to have other options to showcase themselves as very Urban and class full. These options comprise of Visting to big malls, being brand conscious and sounding like an Intellectual. The third part "Sounding like an intellectual" has a very big part in forming the policy decisions in today's time.
How ?
All of us know that a small chunk of population enjoys the benefits of National Growth and a large chunk remains marginalized. It is this small chunk who for once and twice visits a village and projects its points as the real concern of the Aam Hindustaani. These days this chunk very often discusses on English News Channel's prime time debates.
They enjoy benefits of being the small one and thus they get the opportunity to speak on news channels.

Now let’s come to the debates. What are the main points and views which these elite propose on the Prime Time?
The answer to this question is not very difficult. They attach everything to Humanity, Justice and Liberty. Such is there rhetoric about these three points that an Act like AFSPA (Armed Power Special Power Act) is not getting the right kind of debate. There may be draconian parts or to say inhuman elements in the act. But the act was there for last 21 years in Jammu and Kashmir. What is so sudden that the talk about justice and liberty has come to fore front. Nobody wants an act like AFSPA, but if you can have a trial for Ajmal Kasab then why not a real democratic debate on AFSPA. By viewing prime time TV these days one can easily get an impression that there was every thing bad in the law. Such has been the overdose of Liberty and Justice that Government has set up National Minority Commission especially when there is National Human Rights Commission. There might be many reflections and outcome of this Elite mindset.
There is a talk about the corporate funding to some of the leading NGO's of the contry. The NGO's which are at the front to oppose the AFSPA. In fact recently we have seen the talk about Justice, Democracy, Participation and Humanity is getting oriented by some of the leading NGO's of the country. The NGO's which are heavily funded by big corporate and which hope to seek the free run by proposed Jan lokpal by Team Anna.
If this is the case then there would be a situation in near future when the equilibrium of power might shift towards the corporate funded bodies and corporate. We have seen such examples through the de regulation of Petrol Prices.
But it is not just about the direct impact of such an ongoing shift; it’s about the sociological impact as well. From economies to politics this so called elitism is setting itself as the dead end of prosperity. Mind you every third of fourth week this end climbs to or three more steps, thus, resulting in a never ending end of aspirations.These aspirations have made people to like more and more cocktail parties, fast running SUV's, paid news on news television, the sophisticated and complicated talk about the poverty in country, growth implicated as market growth and at last cute handsome and urban looking politicians. The likeability and un likeability of politicians like Mayawati seriously gets hampered by such a mindset. She is very brash in her approach, not very city look a like and she does not speak English, therefore her Raaj In Uttar Pradesh is considered as Gunda raaj without even looking and evaluating her decisions.
Friends democratic debate can only be fruitful when the initiators of the debate seek to include every one. But sadly this is not the case in India. Today's initiators are a reflection of neo liberalisation and its consequences.