DEBATE:New wave agitational politics is the right way forward?

Indira Mukherjee

Karl Marx in his “Theses on Feuerbach” said – “Philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point however, is to change it.” Now the moot question is - who will bring this change? Let’s try and answer.

Respected Director Ma’am, Judges, members of faculty and friends – a very good evening to all. I, Indira Mukherjee will be speaking for the motion.

We will answer our question for two different political regimes – one democratic, and the other non-democratic. Now democracy, as we all understand, revolves around the idea of periodic elections. Our representatives become our voice and they bring about changes. But what happens, when a simple, innocuous, harmless, vivacious, young girl is brutally raped and left to die on the streets? Now my worthy opponents, who are non-believers in agitation will answer this by falling in two categories – one group will say, that we should wait for the next elections!! And the second group members are clones of Narayan Shankar of the movie Mohabbatein who will say “I don’t like changes”.

But ladies and gentlemen, lets not forget that revolution is the indispensable midwife of social change. And a revolution, either violent or non-violent is inextricably entwined with the concept of agitation. Now some may ask – does and agitation really work? Well, appointment of the Justice Verma Committee and the 2013 criminal amendment act, says “Yes”. Again, it is not a one-off example. A simple Gandhian and few members of the civil society protested against the widening tentacles of corruption as they assembled at the Ramlila Maidan in favour of a strong Lokpal. Was it a total failure? The parliament proceedings on the Lokpal bill say “No”.

The entire concept of agitation has got a new meaning now – it is no longer restricted to sloganeering, it encompasses candle-light march, not-mere-scribbling over facebook, and intense marketing/advertising. And this phenomenon is not unique to India. Self-immolation of a brave-heart like Mohammad Bouazizi, a simple fruit seller on the streets of Tunisia, sparked off the Arab Spring. My friends from other side may say that this agitation was a failure much due to the Syrian crisis and Libyan quagmire. However, the fate of Hosni Mubarak, Zine Abedin Ben Ali, Gaddafi point to a different story.

Dictatorship, absolute monarchy, Human Rights violation, oppression, hegemony, tyranny, political corruption, economic decline, educated joblessness – you just can’t bring these issues to the forefront without a new wave agitation. In fact, not only the developing world but even the developed world believes in agitation. The biggest and recent most example in this regard is the Occupy Wall Street Movement – the reasons and results of which are well known.

So you see, Ladies and Gentlemen - a rape in India, a self-immolation in Tunisia, and a movement on economic grounds in the US, tickled the conscience of the common man and they agitated to bring about quick changes, showing that social, political and economic – all three genres of change can be brought by new wave agitation.

I ask this august gathering, tell me – why should a person not agitate? Even if we live in the kulags of Stalin, the rice fields of Polpot and hounded by Gestapo of Hitler, should we not protest? We might not get all that we aspire for via agitation but if we don’t, we get NOTHING at all.

Coming to the Indian context, let me remind you that democracy is not only about voting, it is about deliberation; democracy is not only about a party manifesto, it is about participation; democracy is not about remaining a mute spectator, it is about exercising one’s freedom of speech. And it is not only me, who believes in the potential of an agitator. Even the TIME magazine in its December 2011 issues, named “The Protestor” as the person of the year.

If we wish to see India as not only the largest but also the strongest democracy of the world, if we wish to stop an individual from becoming a mere intellectual, mummified mannequins and if we wish to prove that socio-economic-political inequity is nothing but a terminological in-exactitude, then we have to protest, we have to contest, we have to agitate because, at the end of the day Ladies and Gentlemen – New Wave agitational politics is the right way forward. Chaos, is sometimes; order.

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Indira Mukherjee is an IPS probationer currently undergoing training at  SVPNPA,Hyderabad. This post is her replication of the debate held there.

Election Duty-an Experience

 India, the largest democracy of the world had the mammoth voting task in 2014. As this year began, politicians started with their strategy as never before. 2013-end witnessed Assembly election of 5 states, which was the forerunner for the election to the House of People.

As the Model Code of Conduct came into force in the month of March, gradually the Ministries in Delhi observed a lull in the work. More so in Planning Commission (PC), which has job of coordinating with all the Central Government Ministries and the different states?

Being posted in PC, I heaved a sigh of relief in March. Being bogged down with Appraisal works related to 5-6 ministries, this was my party time-I felt. I was soon going to be proved wrong.

On 12th March, around 6:30 pm, a message came-"you are directed to report to Dayal Singh College at 2:30 pm on 14.03.2014. Failure to report is a cognizable offence under the Representation of People Act. My goodness-the thing that is dreaded by a govt. servant has happened-election duty!!!!!!!!!! Although Delhi witnessed Assembly election towards the end of 2013, I was exempted. But this time it was not the case.

14th march-I went to the college along with my batch mate-E. Renbi Jami, who is also posted in PC. It seemed 50% of PC was virtually present. Some people have worked as Presiding officer for 6-8 times. Their countless anecdotes, which were all of the negative flavour, did nothing to boost our courage. The machine seemed nothing better. How to seal it, use it, clear it after conducting a mock poll seemed to be the biggest puzzle I have faced in my life. More so because I was a first timer. With a heavy heart, I returned that day with an exceptionally fat "Presiding officer's handbook", which I was supposed to read. 

The next training was fixed at the same time and place-but on Saturday, 22nd March. So election training has already started interfering in our weekends, reminding us that we are 24X7 Government o value addition happened on this particular day is what I felt.

3rd training-Sunday, 30th March at 10 am-ITI Pusa. This day seemed a better one. We were divided into numerous compartments-all belonging to the Karol bagh Constituency of New Delhi. In this training, we met our team mates. I was glad to see that the team comprised of 3 gentlemen, all of whom have been on duty before and knew the election process in and out. I was assured by them that it is a team work and there is no point of being nervous or hyper. This assurance continued till the end of the polling day and I am grateful to each of them.

 In the 4th training, this time from 9am and again on Saturday-we were provided with our kit. My team mates shared their knowledge and requested me to complete all the envelopes. So we headed to the house of the person which was the nearest and completed the job-which took about an hour.

The training also seemed to make us ready for the D-Day. The final training began at 8am. As soon as it was over, we completed all the formalities relating to the forms which could be done before hand. It was just a day before the election. So we got to meet our Sector Officer also. He seemed to be a cool person and urged us not to panic unnecessarily and promised to be by our sides throughout. His only request was that we should make it to the booth at 4:45 am the following day.

10th April-the D-DAY. I had a cab booked at 4 am, although my team mate gave me the option to stay back at his place. Getting up at 2:45 am and getting ready by 4am seemed to take half of my energy. But this was just the beginning of the day. We reached the venue on time and were soon greeted by the Sector Officer. He handed us the Electronic Voting Machine, popularly known as EVM. We made all the set-up. Now this time the directive was to conduct 50 Mock Polls in front of the polling agent. But lo-the machine was not working. Keeping in mind the sector officer's directive, we gave him a call before putting our knowledge in it. He came and cleared the machine properly. The machine was now ready. We conducted the mock poll, cleared the machine and the day started. The machine is now ready for use.

The polling started at 7am sharp. The presiding officer has no work now. So I carried on with all the formalities that are needed at the end of the day. We have already got our incentive-cash for the day's ordeal. The sector officer made occasional visit-to boost us as well as to give directives so that at the day's end the submission at the reception counter becomes easier. The time flew quickly. Soon we heard the clock striking 6 pm. No one was waiting outside to vote. We closed the door and the post-election formalities started. Putting the forms in the respective envelopes, getting sign of the polling agents-sealing the machine-it took 1.5 hours to do everything. We finally boarded the bus at 7:35 pm. 

It was a great journey. The reception counter was at NPS School, popularly known as Bengali School at Gole Market. With police escort, it took hardly 15 minutes to reach there. We seemed the lucky few to have reached so early. Immediately, took a token number to submit the machine. Around 9:30, submitted the machine, with around 20 different forms. As we left, we found people finishing their last bit, sitting on the chairs or on the ground. We felt elated to have completed our part and let the submission happen in a hassle free way. This also needs the mention of the Sector Officer, who stood throughout during the submission process.

Scores of buses from all part of South Delhi were now heading towards the counter. We saw heavy traffic from our way to CP from Gole Market. People, tired of the day's journey were now witnessing the last and most difficult part of the day. I reached home around 10:30 pm. My roommate had made food for me and was waiting for me. It seemed such a relief to see her and lie down on the bed after the long day.

Some lessons that I re-learnt:

1. It is always better to do a home work before such mammoth task.
2. Team work is always essential. Even more is to have better understanding among the team people. We had lunch one by one, without having any problem, thanks to this unity.
3. Public dealing should be done always without losing temper.
4. A little bit of flexibility doesn't cause harm.

This was an experience of a life time. I won't say that I would look forward to it, but I definitely cherished this arduous journey.
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Third in the series , the anonymous author spells out the ground realities which speak of the experiences of the official on poll duty.