THE NEED TO LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD

Idioms, in any language, are wonderful ways to convey deeper and subtler shades of meaning. They offer us the distillate of the wisdom of ages packed into an innocent short phrase. It is no different when you think of the phrase "a level playing field". From 'play' it goes deeper into more serious territory.

Well, let us just say that levelling the playing field is not about driving in a bulldozer and levelling the whole place ruler flat. It is more about the need to offer fairness to all the participants. And fairness is a powerful operative word in a democracy, and that too in the "world's largest democracy". Over the past half century and more, we have succeeded in hypnotizing ourselves into believing in that proud phrase by the Goebbelsian trick of repeating that ad nauseum. (Everybody knows it contains as much truth as the tourism operator's infamous motto 'God's own country'. And the one thing that phrase has achieved is to invite the ire of the Almighty for dragging Him into all the skulduggery that is going on in this land of ours--which hasn't helped matters either.)

In the run-up to the elections, the playing field cannot be anything other than the political one, where, like the Olympics or Asian Games, great entertainment for the masses is staged once in five years. (Rome had its gladiators and the circus, we recall from our civics lessons, to keep the masses 'entertained' and free from thoughts that would eventually lead to unpleasant questions--unpleasant to the rulers, that is!) Every nation prides itself on the wisdom of its Founding Fathers who shaped the Nation and finalized its Constitution, the operator's manual for running the complex machinery of governance. India, I guess, has perhaps a Constitution that qualifies to get into the Guinnes Book. (The Brits were wiser, and left most of the things unwritten, so that things could be interpreted a lot more flexibly.)

However, upon second thoughts, it appears that our great fathers of the Constitution had committed a truly undemocratic gaffe in not insisting on the playing field being level first before the crucial "election games" were played out. For once, ignoring the fence-sitters and the fence-jumpers, let us concentrate on the two main opponents. On the one side is the guys who have all the money, the Treasury benchers, and on the other, the chaps who must rake up a ruckus always, the Opposition. Seriously, is there any fairness when they go to the polls as far as the Constitution sanctions the rules of play?

Elections are declared by the EC, but that does not automatically ask the ruling side to step down and go home and face the elections as "aam aadmis". Ditto is the case with the Opposition members -- though, admittedly, their clout is less than the ruling honchos. The tamasha of the government goes on as the manoeuvrings begin, and it is quite plain that the machinery of government and the tax payers' money is freely used by those who continue to be in power to favour themselves in the election 'match'. Where is the fairness in this?

India over the last six decades has had a procession of democratically minded greats walking into the hallowed halls of the Parliament and it is a shame that none had thought of bringing in the truly democratic move to dissolve the government fully before declaring elections. We have the President and his team of Governors to oversee the governance of this huge country in the interim, have we not? Who is afraid that tsunami waves will inundate this land once all the players are banished for a month or two while the poll machinery kicks into life? The truth must be that the ruling class (and the hopefuls!) found the present "loaded dice" situation quite "convenient", and so let it be.

Today the voting "aam aadmis" are increasingly becoming aware of the need to have a NOTA button on the voting machines, and more importantly, of the need to link that to bring in the notion of democracy with its 51% to be called the majority and recognized as such. Then there is that mirage to be chased -- the right to recall our "beloved representatives" once they, post-election, like Frankenstein's monster, assume a whole new identity marked by a grand manner of omnipotence and utter unaccountability. For five long years they ride roughshod over the poor voters who had lifted them onto the 'gaddi'. (Well, we have none other than ourselves to blame for that, though, as only the most complete nincompoop will fall for the same old promises and sweet talk.)

But, on second thought, it appears to me that the task of urgently doing something to level the playing field takes precedence over all the above reforms. We don't exactly have a clutch of angels in power, and surely abuse of power and misuse of positions of power will always be part of electioneering. Not only that, so long as the culture of "kow-towing" to the powerful are embedded in the minds of the 'babus' and the police force, and to an extent in the mindset and attitudes of at least some of the election officials too, the practice of a ministry continuing in power while the election process is on, will not ensure a healthy and democratic reflection of the "will of the people".

It is time we ordered in the bulldozers to begin the task -- pronto!

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