Respect the institutions of democracy

It has been such a relief to everyone in the country once Sh. Annaji informed the nation that he will call of his fast on Sunday(28th June 2011).The whole nation had seen the replay of what would have been done by our father of nation : Bapu Mahatma Gandhiji  for the freedom of our country.The most important aspect of this movement has been the voluntary participation of the citizens and that too without causing any disruption to the daily systems.This is first time in the history of post independence era that no disturbance or violence took place anywhere.This was the magic of the thoughts of Sh. Annaji and other members who had worked tirelessly to awaken the people of the country for the cause of all and not an individual or the group of individuals.Though as usual the people in the government tried to give this agitation different colours but the citizens of the country did not pay any heed to that and the reason for the same is nobody else but the government itself because they did not keep their words on number of occasions.The lessons should be learnt and all those who are in power should ensure to keep politics at its place but when it comes to the problems related to common man they should stop playing with their feelings. During the discussion in the parliament some of the very senior leaders spoke very negative about the motive of the agitation without realising that the country was fed up with such debates and the language used.

Other important issue which was discussed by many people during this period was the supremacy of the elected representatives and the parliament.Nobody has any doubt about the sanctity and the supremacy of the parliament but if the people have begun to think differently for that, then who is responsible for the same? Since the time the proceedings of both the houses have been telecast live, the people of the country know the kind of the respect and the regard the elected representatives have shown towards each other and the supreme body of parliament.The newspaper reports about the happenings in the state assemblies are not good examples for the people to form very positive opinion about them.Throwing  the mikes and the furniture on each other has become so common that it is difficult to decide whether the children should be allowed to read the newspapers and watch these live telecast on TV channels.On the one hand, we say that democracy is the government by the people, for the people  and of the people and on the other hand, legitimate demands are also termed as interference in the functioning of the democratic setup.Rightly brought out by many people and I fully agree with that, the MPs and MLAs are those who represent the people and hence the wish of the people. They are not meant only for the people to get their transfer done or stopped or things related to their personal interest but also what is good for the whole society irrespective of caste,creed and the religion. Our constitution gives equal rights to all the citizens, then why some people are wanting to play the dirty game of politics of caste and religion. When you have an Andolan at such a large scale and your own government and the elected representatives do not respond then there may be some ill feelings expressed by some members of the society but in this case also the responsibility of the people in power is more because our culture has been that elders are expected to pardon the others in spite of behaving as an opponent.

The people of the country respect the elected representatives and the parliament and that is the reason nothing was ever spoken or done against them, but in the last two decades due to the media playing a significant role these two institutions have come within direct reach of the people of the country and the parliamentarians are seen behaving in a manner which the people had not expected at all.The language and the gestures shown by many of them does not leave a good impression on the people. The way the chaos is created the opponents are not allowed to speak is  not something which can be called democratic.Many a times the MPs do not listen to the request and the direction of the speaker of the houses. If this is what they want the public to learn, then they should not expect any respect.The kind of the language used for each other at times is derogatory and ridiculous but our representatives think that they have been elected hence they have the license to do anything and this is one of the reasons as to why the people came in support of this movement.The MPs and other elected members cannot force or demand the respect but the same has got to be earned. All should learn from Sh. Annaji that he did not demand  the support but earned it because he has been genuinely doing something good for the society.Nobody was behind his agitation but people of the country across the spectrum.

We all must have faith in the constitution of the country and the parliament which represent the real Bharat and our elected reprenstives are expected to play a significant role in this. Let the government and other political parties not play with the game of caste and religion but work for social harmony and upliftment of the people from all caste and the religion. Let there be more matured people in politics as maturity is not when we start speaking BIG things but it is actually when we start understanding SMALL things.Annaji through his small way of protest, has addressed a big issue and we salute him for his initiative.