'Democracy' of a different kind

By Sarabjit Pandher

MAJITHA, FEB. 18. Majitha, the remote Assembly constituency in Punjab's border district of Amritsar, is all set to provide new definitions and explanations to democracy, which is expected to be representative, distributive and competitive. Like in Nawanshahr and Sunam Assembly byelections last year, these terms have different connotations, dealing successive death blows to genuine political articulations and actual electoral process.

A detailed tour of the constituency, which has an electorate of nearly 1.25 lakhs settled in one small township and 123 villages, clearly shows that the democratic process for this election is indeed representative, but in quite a different sense. Here, the main political players from both the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the Congress have given major representation to the liquor mafia, drug-peddlers, muscle men, outlaws and even former terrorists. They are all, on equal status, seen performing ``sewa'' for the politicians by wooing voters in their own typical styles.

To witness the free flow of liquor, one needs no special investigation techniques as many supporters in mid-day public meetings were seen in an inebriated condition. An activist of one of the parties confirmed that they had been offloading liquor presuming that one bottle would be shared by three voters daily and the brands of liquor have been improving as per public demand.

The other party also accepted that it has been following the same formula, which means that every three voters should be getting at least two bottles of liquor everyday. Each party started its liquor campaign by providing ``desi'' brews such as `santra, sonfiya, and illaichi', which was followed by lower priced brands of the Indian Made Foreign Liquors (IMFL) during the peak of the electioneering. Each party has planned to provide premium brands on the day of polling. Rough estimates indicate that liquor worth Rs. 15 crores would have been distributed by the end of the polling.

As the parties are seen vying with each other, ``competitive'' ingredient of democracy also comes to the fore. When the scale of determining the merits is non-performance rather than performance in their respective fields, party workers compete with the rivals to bribe the voters. Perhaps it is an ideal case of modification in politics, where players are in fact proving that even non- performance has its rewards.

The doles are not limited to alcohol alone. Poppy husk, opium, at places even narcotics, such as smack, are also reported to have been distributed during the electioneering. Payments of old age pensions, issuing of grants, ordering transfers as per the requirements and long list of errands continues, which the leaders of the ruling party carry out without any complaint to satiate the whims and fancies of the pampered voters here. Even the SGPC, it is learnt has been daily transporting meals to 12,500 persons, one quintal of milk and curd from the Golden Temple's community kitchen for the Akali supporters.

With these doles flowing faster than water, one witnesses the ``distributive'' aspect of the democracy here. When directly confronted on the issue, the political leaders, while blaming the rivals for initiating the rat race which they were ``forced'' to join to keep their flock together, make a concerted effort to argue that they were not bribing the electorate. So the entire practice is better explained by observers that political parties are trying to hand out incentives to the economically unprivileged to persuade them into not voting, while wooing the better off to vote, or even vice versa, as it suits the interests of the party.

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