For many of the avid consumers of news, the ongoing political dissent and disturbance in the functioning of the Congress-led State Government is being seen as among the most ‘happening’ news from Uttarakhand for more than a week now. Without doubt, the ongoing political moves are important as they will apparently decide who will govern the State and the manner in which the governance will be carried out. However, when seen from another angle, it appears as if elected public representatives both in the ruling party and opposition party have finally seen the light after four years when the incumbent government approaches the fag end of its term in office. After doing little more than protest demonstrations and political moves against the purported corruption in the State, the elected public representatives are now feeling strongly for the state and its people, claiming that they can no longer watch the government ‘destroy’ the State. It may also seem absurd to some that now, with the 2017 Vidhan Sabha elections not far away, the MlAs have taken to ‘fighting’ their counterparts within the party and outside the party both sides claiming to be concerned and desirous of serving interests of the public in Uttarakhand.
On the other hand, there are some who feel that the recent political developments are little more than diversions taking the public focus away from the real issues to perpetuate the vicious political cycle of claims and counter-claims by successive governments. Consider this- the democratic system is meant to facilitate efficient governance in a welfare state with the condition of the State, its people and environment as its main focus. Though the establishment officially claims to be pursuing these democratic priorities, it does not take a political scientist to see that the lot of elected public representatives and unelected politicians is being presented as the most important issue in the State at present. Considering the views of people from various socio-economic spheres across the State, one is liable to believe that these political ‘issues’ are displacing the aim of democracy- welfare of the public and state. I believe that this is one of the problems for which the public needs to keep away from its long held tendency to blame the politicians and government alone for the sorry state of affairs.
At a public meet on the Dehradun smart city project recently, the views expressed by people from different fields made it seem that there is no dearth of people with focus on real issues rather than political intrigues. A prominent hotelier suggested that incorporation of rain water harvesting system and plantation of a minimum number of trees should be made mandatory for anyone wanting to construct a building in Dehradun. A lady working as the director of an educational institute pointed out that Dehradun had lost its charm due to the ‘developments’ executed here in the past decade. Smart city and other ambitious plans will fail to achieve their intended purpose without addressing the basic problem of the total absence of civic sense in majority of the populace, she stressed. Another gentleman opined that instead of presenting plastic wrapped bouquets to invited guests in programmes, the event organizers should present saplings which should be planted instead of being thrown into the garbage as is the general case with bouquets. Issues like lack of desired development, alarming pollution and environmental damage in both urban and rural areas will not be solved soon if we continue to blame the authorities for such problems. One need not spend time in a prison state like North Korea to comprehend and respect the responsibilities and rights accorded to every citizen in a democratic welfare state like India. Rather than shifting the blame for alarming contamination as seen in various Indian states, it is time the people took serious cognizance of their own responsibilities in a democracy. We need to realize that it is very difficult for a democratically elected government to survive in office or secure re-election if the public is aware and active in doing its bit which in turn prevents the establishment from shirking away from its answerability.