Whose Democracy is it anyway ?

Anna Hazare brigade has taken all of us by storm. It is not an agitation but a crusade. We all as a nation have suddenly united to free the country once more. While we all support in our own ways and keep track of the proceedings , we also watch the theatrics of our learned Members of Parliament who rave and rant about the supremacy of parliamentary democracy and how civil society has to keep away from that.

Long back when countries used to be ruled by kings and the like, there was the royal family and the commoners. The royal blue blooded gentry used to live in separate parts of the town always wary that mixing with the commoners may dilute their blue blood. The commoners were treated like slaves and used to do the menial work for the kings.

The world changed forever when Abraham Lincoln framed the government of the people, by the people and for the people. More and more countries over the years adopted the democracy as the supreme method of governance. It is heartening to see countries like Egypt and Libya trying to join the bandwagon.

The blue blood has left. However a new blood type has been formed. It is the green blooded (Green as in money, honey, mostly ill-gotten !). It is indeed a medical marvel. The class system has shifted focus and there is now a ruling class and a ruled class. The irony is that the ruling class is chosen by the ruled class generally every five years. What astounds me is that our learned parliamentarians who are so eager to keep the parliament sanitized from the whims of the civil society have actually forgotten that neither are their seats in the august house given to them by their heritage but by a small little button on the EVM machine nor are they there to discuss issues related to some species residing in the faraway lands in Neptune or Pluto.

They have been sent there to discuss, debate and decide on a course of action that the people of this country want. They are the representatives of the very people who have given them a mandate to sit there and the very people who can take away that mandate as and when they wish. If the majority of the country wants the Lokpal bill in the way that is good for the country it is the duty of these parliamentarians to deliver. They have been sent there to deliver for the country not to discuss private Swiss bank account codes.

It is high time Mr.Singh and his friends understand this and the quicker they do the better for them. It is indeed sad that our learned parliamentarians do not understand the basic tenets of democracy which they have pledged to serve.