Democracy the God that failed
- The character of the political class in Manipur -

Amar Yumnam *

The main title of this intervention is in fact the title of the book written by the celebrated economist in the Austrian tradition, Hans-Hermann Hoppe, Democracy The God that Failed: The Economics and Politics of Monarchy, Democracy, and Natural Order. In this book Hoppe writes, inter alia, of how democracy has worked to infringe upon human liberty. Rereading Hoppe and the contributions in the libertarian tradition, one naturally gets reminded of the way the state connects with the people in Manipur through a very uniquely local kind of governance.

Forms of Government : While we were students, we were told of a famous quotation: For forms of Government, let the fools quarrel. Whatever best administered is the best form of Government. The reality of this is getting increasingly dawned on us. As Amartya Sen puts in his latest book published a few days back, Idea of Justice: There may not indeed exist any identifiable perfectly just social arrangement on which impartial agreement would emerge.

Well, despite such analyses, democracy has been the prevailing as well as predominant norm since World War I. Recently there have been even wars and invasions to impose this form of Government on others presumably not following this. But we must hasten to add here that the meaning of democracy has itself undergone huge transformations and the possibility of many variants of democracy is now appreciated.

As Sen emphasises in the book referred above, the meaning of democracy now encompasses a vast area with orientation towards Government by discussion rather than just through the balloting process. This transformation has been mainly through the contribution of John Rawls in the seventies of the century just gone by propounding the governing principles of justice and guiding norms of policy making.

Significance of Politicians : Despite all these discussions and debates, there remains the incontrovertible fact that at the end of the day the form of Government, form of democracy and quality of governance are but what the politicians made them out to be. The economic agenda of a society, the social articulation of a polity, and the direction of political advancement are largely influenced by the character of the political class.

Here also we need to take note of the change undergone in character and perception about politicians. Mencken in his 1926 book, Notes on Democracy, wrote of politicians as men who, at some time or other, have compromised with their honour, either by swallowing their convictions or by whooping for what they believe to be untrue. But the recent emergence of leaders like Barack Obama and Dr Manmohan Singh has affected reviews in this perspective.

While earlier it was thought that the skills required to succeed in politics are not those required outside politics, it is now becoming real that people with successful skills outside can as well be successful in politics, or rather there is increasing appreciation globally of the need to have people with successful skills elsewhere in politics.

But in Manipur : Being children of the soil, we naturally have a vested interest in the appropriate, meaningful, and productive conduct of the politicians in Manipur. We do feel that they too should be playing the catalytic role for social advancement as do the politicians elsewhere, and are marked by a quality of continual positive dynamism.

But the quality, character and manifest actions of the politicians of the land, whether of the ruling or of the opposition in the balloting sense, leave much to be desired. The fast unfolding of events in the land exposes their lack of grip over the social happenings, absence of control over governance, and above all lack of commitment to the social cause. The modern meaning of democracy as Government by discussion has yet to reach the shores of Manipur.

What Manipur witnesses today is not failure of one section of the Government or a group of people, but the absolute bankruptcy of the political class. The political class does not command any public credibility, and the ruling class among them does not exercise grip over the administration.

This class is marked above all by the absence of a vision for the society which they presumably declare as serving. There is not even a semblance of social commitment in their manifest actions, and ipso facto, they just become irrelevant in every social upheaval; the upheavals submerge them rather than their controlling the process.

The politicians of the land are best described by what Leonard Read writes in his Seeds of Progress: What is a bungler? .. A clumsy, awkward workman." Briefly, he is one so lacking in grace and skill that he acts ineptly and irresponsibly. In what occupational category are bunglers most numerous? Politicians-elected and appointed!

But this definitely is not a veritable atmosphere for dynamism required for prosperity.