By resisting reforms and efforts to introduce transparency in their functioning, the political establishment is defeating the purpose of democracy
Jagdeep S Chhokar
Profile: Jagdeep S Chhokar is founder and trustee of Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR). He has been central to ADR’s success in bringing political parties under the ambit of RTI and the Supreme Court ruling barring convicted criminals from contesting elections. He is a former professor, dean, and director in-charge of IIM-A.
The question asked in the title of this piece is obvious, even embarrassing. But it is unequivocal. It says, without any hesitation, that our political process produces rotten leaders and corrupt folk. This is a strong statement, but true. The more complex question is: Why? The answer is not easy but I will attempt an answer. But first, a clarification: The title does not apply to all political leaders; obviously there are exceptions, politicians who are not rotten or corrupt; but those are few and far between.
Now it is quite common to put the entire blame of the current state of affairs on the so-called political class. But those who would have us believe that all that is wrong has been caused by the political class overlook the fact that it does not exist or develop in vacuum; it emerges and evolves out of society. Therefore, society at large, of which all of us are a part, cannot escape responsibility. However, the political class cannot be entirely absolved of it either.
I will come to this later but first, as a student of human behaviour for over 40 years, I would like to suggest that a substantial part of the behaviour of the political class can be explained as a logical response to the broader social system within which they have to operate. The political and electoral aspects form a major and immediate component of this system that applies to them.
The link between common citizens and individual politicians is mediated by the political parties. It is obvious that a democracy—particularly a parliamentary and a representative democracy—is inconceivable without political parties. Even the Supreme Court has said that political parties are integral to the governance of a democratic society. They perform the critical function of mobilising and organising public opinion, and function as a link between the public at large and the government, particularly its political wing.
While political parties are the pillars on which the entire structure of the ‘democracy’ rests and works, and political parties never tire of claiming to be defenders of democracy, it is ironic that none of them is truly democratic in its internal functioning. It is this anomaly that made the Law Commission of India write the following in its 170th report titled ‘Reform of the Electoral Laws’ submitted to the government in May 1999: “On the parity of the above reasoning, it must be said that if democracy and accountability constitute the core of our constitutional system, the same concepts must also apply to and bind the political parties which are integral to parliamentary democracy. It is the political parties that form the government, man the Parliament and run the governance of the country. It is, therefore, necessary to introduce internal democracy, financial transparency and accountability in the working of the political parties. A political party which does not respect democratic principles in its internal working cannot be expected to respect those principles in the governance of the country. It cannot be dictatorship internally and democratic in its functioning outside.” (Para 3.1.2.1; italics added.)