Monday, April 30, 2012

Beware of Majoritarian excesses in search of consensus

Politics is the art of the possible, the attainable, the next best . An inexact science though it may be, it is true to arithmetic to the extent that a bigger number is more than a smaller number ! Constitutional dignitaries in India have been candidates who were being neutered from active politics. It was a dignified retirement. To be ‘kicked up’ before fading out. Toadies were the preferred species but always put together of the best tack and gear. They carried themselves with an empty feudal grandeur and they were there in the first place because someone exalted had done the anointing. Those days seem to be gone. Toadies, they still may be but increasingly disparate considerations are leading to such appointments. It is no inspiration that an opposition recommended candidate may eventually become the consensus choice. It is not democratic sobriety that election to this office won’t divide the ground between an effete government and the opposition circus like a fissure in the earth that may take two neighbours a mile apart. Quetelet asks - Why the people are not being asked if we need these exotic birds in their golden cages in the first place ? write in with your feedback to india.political.report@gmail.com