The Times are a Changin...

"Parliament is Supreme", scream the Politicians, Pseudo-Intellectuals and the cocktail crowd. That is granted. But "Parliamentarians are Not". It is clear that these "Parliamentarians" have done a poor job regarding corruption and have misused the "power" vested in them. Our "Parliamentarians" are drunken with power and are hell bent on resisting the "political flogging" meted out to them by Team Anna.


One of the major criticisms of Team Anna’s Satyagraha is that it was undemocratic and extra-parliamentary in approach and that Civil Society does not represent the majority opinion of the citizens of Bharat. Times have changed and people who prescribe to this opinion are ostriches with their head buried in the sands of time. 

With the advent of modern communications technology a broader base of citizens distributed Nationally are able to participate and voice their opinions on issues of National importance. An elected politician represents just his or her constituency, whereas the issue raised by Team Anna energized people across the country, who showed their support by their presence and participation in support of Team Anna’s Satyagraha. Their sheer numbers probably exceeded the votes garnered by many Members of Parliament, to get themselves elected. 

Anna said it best indicating that the people of the country are the owners and that the elected Members of Parliament and Bureaucrat’s job is to serve the owners. There is no argument that the politicians and bureaucrats have failed the owners when it comes to curbing corruption. 

In the absence of a process for a National Referendum, Team Anna has effectively utilized the process of Satyagraha on which the very foundation of our country was established as demonstrated by the Father of our Nation, Mahatma Gandhi. This is the beginning of a trend and heralds a change in the role of the politician in the Democracy of the Future. 

On a local level, politicians will continue to champion the causes of their constituents. On a National level or for that matter at the State and City level, more and more issues will be thrown open to citizens to vote upon and decide. The politician’s role in this aspect will be to ensure that the referendum does not discriminate between a particular community based on their religion, affiliation or gender. 

In the absence of such a process, Team Anna has taken the first step and demonstrated effectively how a National Referendum can be “demanded” in a non-procedural manner.

Currently, the demands have only been accepted for consideration. They still have to be formulated into a Bill and it has to be voted upon by Parliament. In the Democracy of the future, the parliamentary vote would be eliminated, by the issue voted upon by the citizens. While we may claim that “Parliament is Supreme”, let it be noted that Parliament is accountable to the citizens of the country and that the citizens of the country collectively, supersede the “Supremacy of Parliament”.

This process has been implemented in smaller democracies and the time has come for the world’s largest democracy; Bharat and the world’s richest democracy; the US, to pay heed to the issue of National Referendum and institutionalize a process by which it can be done. In the US many State and City level issues are voted upon as Ballot Measures, by the citizens. So for the ostriches whose heads are buried in the sands of time, this is an indication, that a time may come when certain issues may be decided directly by the citizens of the Country, State or City, with the Parliament being a shared body of power as opposed to the sole body of power.