Should we complain ?

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man. - Bernard Shaw

Never before since 1947, 15th of August was overshadowed by a date vicinal to it in India. I am sure that there were many like me who were waiting for 16th instant to know how things are going to be rather than recalling the history of struggle for our independence. For me that’s a step towards progress. I don’t mean to imply that history should be done away with. But we cannot wait to better things just because we have a day to celebrate and it’s necessary to get into a patriotic fever for that day which gets demeaned by this ongoing struggle. It is in this context that I’m writing this article.

Those against this protest march led by Shri Anna Hazare said that:

• the protest demeans the Independence Day celebration;
• on the eve before 15th August the message that team Anna wanted to convey was that parliamentary procedures set by the constitution of India does no good to common man;
• team Anna is hijacking the authority of making laws given to the elected legislators.

These comments left me weighing the genuineness of them. Haven’t we so far said and heard many times before on 15th Augusts that this day is meant to introspect? Haven’t we been encouraged to ponder upon things that remain to be done for the country’s development? For many in this country taking part in Anna’s movement was the real Independence Day celebration. Constitution was drafted to have protocols for governing ‘ourselves’. Precisely this word- ‘ourselves’ seems to have been misinterpreted as ‘common man.’ What they fail to realize is the fact that in a democracy choosing representatives is required to encompass as many views as possible pertaining to an issue; that it is cumbersome to have an election each and every time a decision is required to be taken. Elected representatives are never supposed to be oblivious to people’s voice. By saying that team Anna is hijacking the authority of making laws given to the legislators they forget the simple fact that it was not the authority but a responsibility endowed to them. And the volume of support given to Anna says it all. Somewhere, there has been a negligence of duty while carrying out this responsibility.

How practical it is to bring the judiciary and the PM under the purview of Lokpal is a matter of debate. But smothering one when one says so is not something which can be condoned. The voice of team Anna is required to be heard to complete the spectra of views over this matter. The support given to this team signifies the fact that there is no representation of this voice in the parliament. We should not at all run the risk of being oblivious to any of the voices in democracy, lest they go unheard. Some of these voices may be the nerve of the nation. Some of these may be the sole way of development.

Even if it’s unreasonable, we should complain and should allow others to complain to make progress.