Reel Offers Reality , Politics Sells Dreams !

BY R.K.MISRA

Politics is pragmatic, films create fantasy. One rarely bargains for a role reversal and yet it happened. The reel was offering reality and politics stood petered to  dream selling.

After years, with mixed feelings, one walked into a movie hall to watch a film, ’Twelfth Fail’ and emerged from it both shaken and stirred. Shaken, because it was the re-creation of the real life story of a village  youth from the one-time dacoit infested Chambal region and his poverty riddled struggle to become an Indian Police service (IPS)officer. Stirred , for it brought alive to me  in striking detail my bitter battle to become a journalist in the India of the sixties. Nothing new, many  of my generation have done so too.

The movie mirrors the struggle of millions of Indian youth who survive in sub-human, sardine tin packed conditions in cities for years on end chasing a dream. A few make it, the rest are crushed in the melting pot of their own desires. This one, Dr Manoj Kumar Sharma who made it and is a serving  senior IPS officer posted in Mumbai, represents hope for a struggling multitude. A book by Anurag Pathak on him resonated with film maker Vidhu Vinod Chopra and became a film. But this is less about the film and more about the contrast that it offers to the reality of politics playing out around the Indian environment.

If the young are moving heaven and earth chasing a personal dream that ultimately helps to build a stronger country, watch our political entities chasing theirs as  they plumb new depths every passing poll. Watch them in their regal finery( sans clothes) as  the country is in the midst of  elections to five states of the country and they go preening around like peacocks.

These elections in Rajasthan, MP, Chhatissgarh, Telangana and Mizoram  will set the tone for the general elections in 2024 where the Narendra Modi led BJP wants a third stint and the ‘combined’ opposition seeks to  provide an alternative.

The struggling mass of young at one end of the spectrum and the dream seller politician at the other, falling over each other offering ‘revadis’,chocolates, pastries, puddings and pies. You name it and its on offer, almost as if bidding in an auction, each determined to raise the stakes higher. At whose cost? Where did this money come from ? off course your pocket, taken away in the guise of tax, cess or ‘torment’ cash and being offered back as bait !

Is there any law for the lawmaker? Laws have been framed from time to time .Take the  case of the anti-defection law. It was designed  to stop people- elected governments from being pulled down. Has it succeeded? Quite simply not  because the very people who enacted these laws are using  their power perch to by-pass  them. Watch the proceedings in the Maharashtra defection case unfolding in the Supreme Court. It says it all.

Switch to electoral bonds Scheme, brought in by Finance minister Arun Jaitley in 2016 to “cleanse the system of political funding”. It allowed foreign companies who have a majority share in Indian companies to donate to political parties. Previously foreign companies were prohibited from donating to political parties under the FCRA and the Foreign Exchange management Act,199.Progressive amendments exempted political parties from keeping detailed records of contributions received through electoral bonds also exempted them from publishing contributions so received. Thereafter, it also removed the upper limit on how much a company could donate to a political party. Earlier , it could only donate  up to 7.5 per cent of three years of the company’s net profits.

In 2017,Two NGOs-Association For Democratic Reforms(ADR) and Common Cause- and the CPM challenged the amendments in the Supreme Court. The petitions meandered in the alleyways of the apex court until Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud constituted a five judge bench led by himself to hear the case. The proceedings have been completed  and the judgment stands reserved. This challenge is also tagged to a larger challenge to the use of money bills under Article 110.

Interestingly according to a report by ADR and the New Election Wach(NEW) titled” Analysis of Sitting MPs from Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha of India 2023, released on September 12, 40 per cent of the  sitting MPs have declared criminal cases against themselves. The information has been culled from the self-sworn affidavits filed by them before contesting elections. The report also found that 194 of these sitting MPs(25 per cent) have serious criminal  cases including kidnapping, murder, attempt to murder, crimes against women etc. against them.

Similarly, nearly  44 per cent of the MLAs in State Assemblies across India have declared criminal cases against themselves,28 per cent of them serious ones including charges related to murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping and crimes against women.

The Supreme Court struck the nail on the head when it said last week that criminal cases pending against MPs and MLAs” have a direct bearing on our political democracy’ and asked High Courts to set up special benches to monitor trials in over 5000 cases for their speedy disposal. Issuing directions to trial courts as well the 3 judge bench led by the CJI asked for fast tracking of cases against MPs and MLAs with criminal cases ‘punishable with death or life imprisonment’ be given priority and trial should not be adjourned except for rare and compelling reasons. One has no words to thank our judiciary but  what have our young done to deserve such politicians !

This syndicated news column was published in the respective newspapers edition dated  November 14, 2023 respectively, whose links are given below:-

https://odishapostepaper.com/edition/4708/orissapost/page/9

https://epaper.lokmat.com/articlepage.php?articleid=LOKTIME_NPLT_20231114_6_3