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‘Vote for the party that can help you help yourself ’
Using examples from across the world, Magsaysay award winner launches a
campaign that urges you to get involved and take control
What can you do if government sweepers do not clean your area? Or if the road
breaks within a few months of having been constructed or if the ration
shopkeeper openly siphons off ration or the policeman refuses to act on your
complaint?
All you can do is complain to higher authorities, who don’t act on your
complaint. People have no direct control over them. Is this democracy? And this
is the reason why there is so much illiteracy and poverty despite the
government spending thousands of crores every year. Roads are broken and cities
stink of garbage and overflowing sewers. In theory, in a democracy the people ,
are the masters. But in practice, we merely undergo the ritual of casting our
vote once every five years and then plead before the politicians and
bureaucrats the next five years, who don’t care to listen to us. Swaraj (self
rule) is about giving direct control over officials and funds to people’s
assemblies (assembly of all voters in an area) called mohalla sabhas
(neighbourhood councils) in urban areas and gram sabhas (village councils) in
rural areas. People should have the power to summon officials and directly
penalise them, if needed. These assemblies should meet
every month and take decisions regarding all issues in their area. Decisions
taken by these assemblies shall have to be implemented by their elected
representative and bureaucrats. The people’s assemblies shall have complete
control over all public funds spent in their area. If elected representatives
act against the will of the people, the people’s assemblies should have the
power to recall them. Only those issues, which cannot be managed at local
level, will go to higher levels of government. If the majority of gram sabhas
and mohalla sabhas vote for a particular issue, the state government shall
implement it, even if it needs amendment to a law. That would be true democracy
— government by the people. This is Swaraj. This is self-rule. Has it ever
happened? This is how it used to be in the pre-British period. Since Buddha’s
times till almost 1830, many villages were directly run by people’s assemblies.
Those who invaded India merely
controlled the central government but did not interfere with village
administration. The British demolished this system and instituted the
‘collector raj’. Powers were taken away from the people and handed over to
British collectors. Unfortunately, we did not restore the powers back to the
people even after independence and continued with the same system. Even today,
in many countries like US, Brazil, Switzerland etc, people collectively take
all decisions regarding their own areas through people’s assemblies. It’s
election time. Who should we vote for? We have tried every political party and
leader in the last 62 years. Merely changing parties and leaders hasn’t helped.
Demand Swaraj these elections. Vote for that party which directly empowers you.
In the past, we put parties in power. In these elections, we want power in
return for votes. (Magsaysay Award winner Arvind Kejriwal is leading the Swaraj
campaign)
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