The inanity and superficiality of Indian journalists and so called ‘intellectuals’ By Justice Katju

The raging controversy and highlight news in India nowadays, which has gone viral, is about the order of the Election Commission of India ( EC ) called SIR ( Special Intensive Revision ) which allegedly will deprive 60-80 lac ( 6-8 million ) voters in Bihar from voting in the forthcoming Bihar State Assembly elections ( due in October/November this year ), and Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi’s ‘expose’ of the alleged electoral fraud in a constituency in Karnataka. 

Opposition party leaders have screamed and shouted, and many mediapersons have vehemently asserted, that the EC is hand-in-glove with the ruling party and obeying its orders, instead of being neutral and impartial, and its rigging of the voters list is murder of democracy in India.

The basic fallacy in the thinking of these heroes ( journalists like Ajit Anjum, and ‘intellectuals’ like Yogendra Yadav ) is that they have a fetish and obsession for democracy. They treat democracy as an end in itself, when the truth is that it can only be a means to an end. The end must be raising the standard of the people, and giving them better lives. If democracy helps in attaining that end it is a good thing, but not otherwise.

Everyone knows that in India democracy runs largely on the basis of caste and communal vote banks. Casteism and communalism are feudal forces which have to be destroyed if India is to progress, but democracy, as practised in India, further entrenches them in our society ( because it largely runs on their basis ). How, then, can democracy be a good thing in India ?

So if democracy in India is a bad thing, why raise such a hue and cry and hullabaloo about rigging of the voters list ? Even if the voters list was not rigged, and elections are fair, will that help improve the lives of the people of Bihar, will it reduce the massive poverty, massive unemployment, appalling level of child malnutrition, almost total lack of proper healthcare, and skyrocketing prices of essential commodities like food, etc ?

Moreover, even if the voters list was not rigged, most people in Bihar will still vote on the basis of caste and religion, not on the merits of the candidate.

All that can happen if the voters list is correctly prepared is that after the elections there may be change in the leadership of the state government. Instead of Nitish Kumar, Tejaswi Yadav may become the Chief Minister of the state. But what difference will that make to the lives of the people of Bihar ?

I am reminded of Manthara’s statement to Queen Kaikeyi in the Ramayan :

” Koi nrip hoye hamein ka haani

  Cheri chhand ka hoib rani ”

i.e.

” What difference will it make to me who is the king ( Ram or Bharat ) ?

 I will remain a slave, not become a Queen ”

It is evident that Ajit Anjum and Yogendra Yadav, who seem to have shallow superficial minds, do not understand this, but are gloating on their ‘khulaasa’