Several comments have been made and are still being made by numerous people on the bizarre and mindboggling post Indian parliamentary elections scenario. What will Chandrababu Naidu and Nitish Kumar do? What will Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar do? Who will get the Lok Sabha Speaker post? Will Andhra Pradesh and Bihar get a special status? These and many other questions are being spoken about.
But there is one thing no one talks about: how will all these permutations and combinations, these twists and turns, matter to the lives of the common man? Will all this have any impact or even a dent on his life?
The test of every political activity is one, and only one: does it raise the standard of living of the people? Does it give them better lives? From that standpoint it is evident that all the present activities of our politicians are irrelevant to our people. Massive poverty, massive and growing unemployment, appalling level of child malnutrition (every second child in India is malnourished according to Global Hunger Index), skyrocketing prices of essential commodities like food, fuel and medicines, and almost total lack of proper healthcare and good education for the masses, will continue as before, with the prospect of the situation getting worse in the future.
Only some rulers will change, nothing else.
One is reminded of the slave Manthara’s bewail and lament to Queen Kaikeyi in the Ramayana:
“Koi nrip hoye hamein ka haani
Cheri chaand ki hoib rani?
(Translation: How does it matter to me who will be the king?
I will remain a slave in either case.)
Justice Markandey Katju retired from the Supreme Court in 2011.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of THE WEEK.
