Witoubou Newmai
The relational gap between the collectivity of the public and the people at the helm has prevailed in the State for a long time now. Such state of affairs is generated due to a complete absence of collectivity of the common people towards a common good. The deplorable roads or no roads, poor power supply/blackouts, rising cases of mob justice, poor health care services especially in the primary health centres, pathetic condition of government schools in the villages, to name a few the glaring rots, say it all.
The flaws in the prevailing system often hold the common man “hostage easily by powerful interests” (Ian Shapiro and Casiano Hacker-Cordon in Democracy’s Edges). Or, is it that the case of individuals’ vested interests often overwhelming the ‘collective interest’ of the people to lay a perfect ground for the politicians to have their way?
Instead of blaming the deficiencies of the system, it is time for the public to look forward and address the issue of relational hiatus with those people at the helm for the advancement of social justice. However, unless the election-related rifts in the society are not mended we are laying wide open here once again for the politicians to build their vested interests.
Collectivity is the ‘mantra’ to soothe various deficiencies in the prevailing system. In other words, the collectivity of the common people is a much-needed mechanism in the prevailing system.
This may sound too idealistic but if our expression of ‘concerns’ on the prevailing state of affairs is genuine then the collectivity of the voters for the common well being, irrespective of their political affiliation, is a must. This collectivity of the people will result in bringing the influence of the constituency over their representative. In short, the representative will listen to the constituency. This is to say that the people will no longer be in the vulnerable situation.
This is how we begin rethinking our common understanding of democracy. This is also how we begin producing a new civil society which discourages the kind of building undue hypes and auras around people whom we think their wealth is amassed through clout. This is also how we should aspire to such kind of new civil society.
After all the hullabaloo all these years, will the people who stood for hours in voting queue few-day back choose to remain quiet again when their representatives take a detour to camp callously in the Kaziranga Resort and elsewhere?
It is time for the people to sing the anthem of common welfare.
