The "Impediments" Of Democracy
The dissatisfaction of an influential section of the Indian big bourgeoisie with the speed of implementation of the 'economic reforms' is very well known and long-standing. They had been voicing this dissatisfaction time and again from the very early periods of the 'economic reforms', from the 90's of the previous century when the implementation of the New Economic Policy under the stewardship of Narashima Rao - Manmohan Singh had just begun. They continued to voice this dissatisfaction throughout the Congress regime. They have been quite pleased with the measures and steps taken by the BJP- led coalition government. The policies of de-investment and de-nationalisation and of similar other steps are all to their liking.
But now again they seem to have become restless. They are not still satisfied with the speed of implementation. Not only that. They have now been able to diagnose the disease. They have now found out that the present 'democratic set-up' is standing in the way of speedier implementation of the 'economic reforms'! And it seems that the present NDA-government, or to be precise, its strongest partner BJP completely agrees to this diagnosis. That is what came out from the meeting of the Indian Chamber of Commerce Young Leaders Forum with BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley that was recently held in Kolkata.
Reporting about the above meeting it was said in The Times Of India of 09/09/002 that "...both industry and government are pinning for more reforms, but the democratic set-up is standing in the way. Responding to suggestions from chamber president Aditya Lodha that the government was concerned too much with "politics" and "coalition matters" and in the process too much time was being lost in introducing the right kind of policies, Jaitley confessed that the NDA government was now paying a "democratic tax"— the need to carry large section of society and the coalition partners with it." It had been further reported that "Emphasising the need for "a level playing field" for the industries, Jaitley argued that everyone still wanted free power for the farmers and there were protests whenever there was a move to provide capital to industry at competitive rates. Nor was there sufficient flexibility in labour policies. "Somebody has to pay for all these", he argued".
Now the cat is out of the bag! The general secretary of BJP, Arun Jaitely has made it abundantly clear whose interests they represent and what they intend to do. So the present 'democratic set-up' is standing in the way of the Indian big bourgeoisie and BJP! And which democratic set-up? The seriously restricted, curtailed and limited democratic set-up of India ! They intend to do away even with that! Why? They intend to do away with this Indian version of 'democratic set-up' to create a "level playing field" for the Indian big industry-wallahs! Oh, the poor souls! They have received a raw deal from this democratic set-up— they have always been deprived of a "level playing field" and how they have suffered for that! They have paid so much prices for this democratic set-up! The hearts of Arun Jaitley and his likes cry for them. So Arun Jaitley's intend to do away with the democratic set-up so that the Indian big bourgeoisie are relieved from 'paying prices' for it!
The Indian Chamber of Commerce Young Leaders Forum and Arun Jaitley have done a favour to the Indian proletariat. They have exposed the objective support base of Indian fascism which the BJP and the Sangh Parivar represent right from the days of the introduction of the so-called economic reforms the Indian big bourgeoisie were bent on driving the bulldozer of 'economic reforms' at break-neck speed and they had been urging on the central governments to follow this line. But the different bourgeois parties in governmental power could not maintain an uniform speed of the economic reforms and fully satisfy the desires of the Indian big bourgeoisie due to the intensification of the mass discontent which every measure of the 'economic reforms' produced and the compulsion of the bourgeois parties to win majority in the elections for capturing the ruling seat. To the big bourgeoisie and their political representatives 'democracy' mean only the system of elections and of parliament, the amount of democratic rights enjoyed by the common masses have never been their yard-stick for the characterisation of democracy. So as they have felt that the compulsion of the system of elections is standing in the way of speedier implementation of economic reforms, they have concluded that the present 'democratic set-up' is mainly to be blamed, although from the point of view of the Indian working class and the common masses there is very little democracy in this 'democratic set-up'. Accordingly, a powerful trend has taken shape within the Indian big bourgeois camp for doing away with the election and parliamentary system and impose a fascist rule so that they can have a "sufficiently flexible labour policy", etc. etc. with which they can crush the Indian working class, peasantry and the other sections of the common mass and implement the 'economic reforms' at their sweet will. As a fascist party BJP is completely suitable to represent this trend and right from the beginning BJP-led NDA-government is aggressively moving in this direction. Now Arun Jaitley's have taken away their fig-leaves and openly declared their intentions
This open declaration should not shock and surprise those who are putting their endeavours to represent the revolutionary urge of the Indian proletariat. For them, the declaration has been there, not so much in words as in deeds. But this open declaration of their intentions has an ominous significance. The fascist rule may arrive sooner than they have apprehended. Hence the situation demands quicker, faster preparation of the Indian working class and the whole-hearted concentration of the communist revolutionaries on this task.
Apart from the ominous one this incident has another aspect. It has reflected the blind groping of the Indian big bourgeois urged on the pressure of the objective circumstances. They have the recent examples of Indonesia , South Korea , Mexico , Argentina and a few others before them. But 'they will never learn'— it is their class limitation. Therein lies the prospect of victory of the Indian proletariat, peasantry and the common masses.
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