In one of the most erudite, important and relevant public speeches of recent times, distinguished sociologist Andre Beteille has focused national attention on “the institutions of democracy”. members of Parliament who gather today for the monsoon session would do well to read Dr Beteille’s “Third Pravin Visaria Memorial Lecture” (delivered in Ahmedabad on March 1, 2011 and published recently in Economic and Political Weekly, July 16). “Parliament may still be a great institution,” says Dr Beteille, “but its members are no longer great men. How long can a great institution remain great in the hands of small men?”
That is the question those occupying the front benches, both on the treasury side and in the Opposition, must ask themselves and to which they must provide a convincing and reassuring answer for the people of India. The monsoon session will go down in history as one that either repairs or grievously hurts the image, stature, reputation and legitimacy of Indian Parliament.
At a time when self-appointed spokespersons of the so-called “civil society” are challenging the government and Parliament’s right to frame and legislate laws, at a time when the judiciary is increasingly stepping on the toes of the executive and the legislature, at a time when the government of the day appears to have tied itself up in knots through its various acts of omission and commission, and at a time when the media is under increased scrutiny for its own foibles and prejudices, no institution of democracy is able to inspire public confidence.
The one institution that can stand tall and rekindle public trust in democracy is Parliament itself. Small people in big chairs have made a difference to history and can continue to do so, as long as the institutions for which they work retain their legitimacy.
This is as true for the institution of Parliament as it is for any other institution, big or small. The institution of the traffic policeman is preserved and revitalised every time the traffic stops when a policeman’s hand is raised. All civilisations are built on such small gestures.
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This past month marked the 20th anniversary of the launch of economic reforms and liberalisation in India. Many still view that turn in the Indian economic policy in 1991 as signifying the “retreat of the state”. However, a more balanced view would be that while the government did withdraw from certain kinds of activities, freeing private enterprise in the process, it also re-legitimised itself by moving forward in other lines of activity, like regulation.
The re-assertion of policy autonomy by the Reserve Bank of India in the post-1991 period, to cite just one example, or the status of new regulatory institutions like the Securities and Exchange Board of India and the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority, points to the role institutions can play in ensuring better governance. The new regulatory framework for the Indian financial sector helped the Indian economy and ensured the rule of law in financial markets. India today has one of the best regulatory structures for banking and finance.
Another institution built in recent years that has acquitted itself well so far is the Election Commission of India. It was not “great men” who created these “great institutions”. Rather, ordinary men began to be viewed as great because they took on themselves the responsibility to create, protect and promote these institutions and the rule of law.
What ordinary mortals in the Bharatiya Janata Party do in Karnataka while dealing with the political crisis at hand, and how they deal with the blatant assertion of casteism as a means to escape the charges of corruption, will have as profound an impact on popular regard for institutions as the respect Anna Hazare and his “team” show for an elected government and Parliament. As Dr Beteille reminds us in his speech, “The institutions of democracy have not served the people of India as well as they were expected to ... (but) the reasoned criticism of public institutions, no matter how severe, is one thing; their thoughtless and wilful denigration is another .”
In a fortnight’s time, India celebrates yet another anniversary of her independence. This is as good a time as any to remind ourselves that the national movement and the struggle for Independence were not just part of the freedom struggle. The promise of the national movement was not just self-government, but also good government. The deliverables, so to speak, were not just adult franchise and the creation of a republic, but also the building of new institutions.
As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said famously in a special at Oxford University in July 2005: “Today, with the balance and perspective offered by the passage of time and the benefit of hindsight, it is possible for an Indian Prime Minister to assert that India’s experience with Britain had its beneficial consequences too. Our notions of the rule of law, of a Constitutional government, of a free press, of a professional civil service, of modern universities and research laboratories have all been fashioned in the crucible where an age old civilisation of India met the dominant Empire of the day. These are all elements which we still value and cherish. Our judiciary, our legal system, our bureaucracy and our police are all great institutions, derived from British-Indian administration and they have served our country exceedingly well.”
The responsibility to preserve, protect and revitalise these great institutions passes from one generation to another. If our “small” representatives in Parliament appreciate this, they would help rescue and re-legitimise a “great” institution. It is not great men but great principles upheld by ordinary men that make great institutions.