The Question of Democracy

As we go to press there have been widespread mass protests across the country today against the steepest ever petrol price hike effected last week. The BJP called a Bharat bandh over the issue. The Left parties organised their own demonstrations against the price hike in different places including the Capital and their activists also courted arrest while registering their protest.

What is striking, however, is the Congress leaders themselves conveying their opposition to the move. Foremost among them was Defence Minister A.K. Antony who on May 29 blamed the oil companies for misusing the deregulation rights given to them and maintained: “Ideally the government should have continued to fix the oil prices.†This was a clear expression of democratic opinion which was also evident in Petroleum Minister S. Jaipal Reddy’s assurance a day earlier that the government was not considering hikes in diesel, LPG and kerosene prices.

There have been internal problems within various parties in the Opposition with a revolt brewing against Gujarat CM Narendra Modi in the State BJP leadership that has jolted the principal Opposition party at the Centre. However, what is most shocking is that the Kerala CPM’s Idukki district secretary, M.M. Mani, declared on May 26 that the party had a history of murdering political enemies and would continue to do so, if required. Mani is a senior CPM leader in the State belonging to the Pinarayi Vijayan faction and what he said merited immediate disciplinary action (though many insiders believe Mani spoke the home truth) but the CPM’s national General Secretary has reacted belatedly and is reportedly still mulling over the issue. In the light of the murder of CPM rebel T.P. Chandrasekharan Mani’s comments are most ominous and expose the hollowness of the ‘Marxist’ party’s democratic credentials.

In the midst of all these developments PM Manmohan Singh’s visit to Burma, the first by an Indian PM after 25 years, was of historic importance. The PM’s meeting with President (General) Thein Sein in Naypyidaw was noteworthy; so was the two sides approval of the substantial package of programmes for cooperation.

These notwithstanding, the vital issue for the people of Burma is the realisation of their long suppressed democratic urges. It is in this context that Dr Manmohan Singh’s talks with Burma’s iconic figure and symbol of the nation’s democratic aspirations, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, in Rangoon assumed momentous significance. Dr Singh was able to meet her and conveyed the Indian people’s warm sentiments to her. After her meeting with the PM she told the media that people-to-people friendship and cooperation between neighbours can contribute to peace and stability in the region.

The Statesman has, while analysing the visit, brought out the basic truth Indian authorities seek to conceal.

An Indian Prime Minister has visited Myanmar after 25 years. For two decades and more of this time-span, we as the world’s oldest democracy had remained almost incredibly insensitive and muted to the brutal suppression of democracy next door, the denial of power to its lodestar despite a famous electoral victory, and, worst of all, her incarceration for as long as it was. The China factor and the possible impact on the North-East were proffered as quirky and unconvincing explanations for the MEA’s insensitivity. Ergo, the high watermark of Manmohan Singh’s visit was his meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi couched with an invitation to visit this country.
...Bilateral relations will thrive only if democracy survives... and flourishes. This is the all-important determinant, indeed the fineprint of the message from Naypyidaw. Manmohan Singh and Suu Kyi realise this only too acutely, as must President (General) Thein Sein. It will be a great day for India and Myanmar if an Indian Prime Minister can confer with Suu Kyi as head of government. Truth to tell, that golden moment of democracy is not yet here; yet both countries must live in hope.

That hope, we feel, has been substantially reinforced with the PM’s visit. But one can never be certain given the past record of the Burmese military junta. However, whatever course the country finally takes, the undeniable success of the PM’s trip to Naypyidaw and Rangoon cannot be overestimated; for it is essentially rooted in Burma’s democratic transformation.

May 31 S.C.