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Monday, July 16, 2007

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SOCIETY

Threats to humankind: Conviction vs convention

By Nandana Reddy

At a time when our nation is facing threats on several fronts, only those who break with the tradition and think differently can save it.

My father, a poet, filmmaker and ardent pacifist used to say: “Tradition can very well take care of itself. There is as much wisdom outside as inside tradition, probably much more!

If new frontiers of knowledge have to be conquered and the world made richer, then young people should not be conformists. They must be bold and brave and voice their dissent. Convergent thinking produces tradition. It is only divergent thinking that produces discoveries. Long live revolution. Inquilab Zindabad”.

When army 1st Lieutenant Ehren Watada announced his intention to disobey what he felt were illegal orders to deploy to Iraq, he said: “It is my duty as a commissioned officer of the United States Army to speak out against grave injustices. My moral and legal obligation is to the constitution and not to those who issue unlawful orders”.

Similarly, when Haim Weiss, who was once glad to serve in the Israeli army, told his defence secretary that he would not serve on the West Bank; his decision was based on his belief that “the citizen’s conscience provides a critical foundation for the checks and balances inherent in a democracy”.

When Gandhiji defied the Salt Law he unflinchingly admitted that he was guilty of sedition and that he deserved to be exiled for life or hung! Nonetheless he declared that it was his “dharma to commit sedition against the government”.

“I am teaching this dharma to the people”, he said. “A regime under which tyranny is being perpetrated, it is one’s dharma to rise against and destroy such a regime, to pray that fire may

consume its policies.”

Recently the Karnataka Panchayat Raj Amendment, a piece of legislation designed to reverse the powers of Gram Sabhas to identify beneficiaries for housing and other government programmes, was tabled in both houses of the Karnataka Legislature. There was little debate regarding this even though it is ultra vires of the Constitution in its violation of the 73rd Constitutional Amendment.

The Assembly passed it by a narrow margin. In the Council there was a tie. The chairperson of the Council, a self-professed champion of decentralisation and democracy, caste his vote in favour of the amendment to everyone’s surprise, tipping the balance and nailing the last peg in the Gram Sabha coffin. In justification of his action he claimed that according to convention the chairperson always cast his vote in favour of the government.
It is interesting to note that just prior to the Emergency era in India, when several constitutional amendments were sought to be made; the Supreme Court ordered that, although the Constitution is subject to amendment, changes that are ultra vires to its basic structure cannot be made by Parliament. The same holds good for the legislature with regard to laws that contravene our constitutional rights.

The history of the world is full of men who rose to leadership by sheer force of conviction, laying new precedents for the rest to follow. Self-confidence, courage and the tenacity to hold on to what was dear, the strength of knowing that justice was on their side and the power of their beliefs changed the world. It is only those of weak mind and fair weather ideals that hide behind convention and abandon principles

India, one of the largest democracies in the world has survived several internal and external threats to her democracy. She is once again facing such a threat from various angles and it is only those who “fly the flag of rebellion and dissent and not merely follow the beaten track of dead habit and dusty tradition” that can save her.
Let us reaffirm our first Prime Minister Nehru’s freedom pledge. “To bring freedom and opportunity to the common man, to the peasants and workers of India; to fight and end poverty and ignorance and disease; to build up a prosperous, democratic and progressive nation, and to create social, economic and political institutions which will ensure justice and fullness of life to every man and woman.”

This is our proud legacy as citizens of India and our sworn duty, so let us not allow meaningless conventions to come in our way of enabling India to truly become a sovereign socialist secular democratic republic where all her citizens enjoy justice, liberty and equality and where the dignity of the individual is assured.

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