Our roads are bursting at
the seams. Every government which assumes power has made it a burden of their
political song that roads should be widened. Their list of prescription to
remedy the situation spreads from simple road widening measures to super
fast corridors. Not to speak of those who pipe dream about raised roads which
stay on pillars to monorail to bullet trains. But there are differing takes on
the uses to which the roads may be put. One section of the political spectrum
swears by the people-centered utilities of roads which includes roads-
as-protest venues and roads-as-meeting-places. One disturbing use to which our
already burdened roads are forced is ‘political Rallying’.
Political rallies which
accompany or synchronize with local to national meets of the political parties take
over the space for vehicular and people movement displaying sheer arrogance of
the laws of the land. Tens of thousands of real (and supposed) party workers
work themselves up to the right degree of ideological spirit and occupy the roads
in the towns and cities where the meetings are held. Care is often carefully
taken to ensure that the lines of supporters are spread as long ( and hence, as
thin too!) as possible so that the length of occupation will be impressive
enough. The political enthusiasts are often heard proudly discussing the time
taken by the long procession to move from one point to the next, taking the
said length of time as a reflection of the strength of the political outfit. Thus
the show is always bigger on the final day of the conferences since that is the
day of reckoning as far as the flexing of the political muscles of the organization are concerned. The media too go to town screaming in high-sized fonts that
rally on the final day was a show of strength.
From the angle of those
who are incurably politicized it will be mandatory to back the feeling that
such demonstrations of ‘Peoples Power’ are an unavoidable feature of an
organization. Such a position has its advantages too. Stock taking and feed
back gathering are compulsory procedures in any organizational set up, whether
political or religious. There should be hierarchical evaluations and an end of
the year summing up too. An occasion where the top brass of a political or
service organization meet an share a platform with those who trust in the same
principles and work together for similar futures is not beyond the intelligence
of the man on the road. In fact, the absence of such a structure will make any organization
turn blatantly autocratic.
But how about the other
side of this practice of emptying the villages into the towns, and the towns
into the cities and the cities into the metros with the intention of showing
the (supposed) numbers off? If one non-politically sets aside the aforementioned
goals of this process, what benefit does this serve for the common man who unknowingly
takes to road on these days? Is it a core necessity that tens of thousands of
common men, who are not holding any flag on the day, should be held in
captivity by the rallying mob which is out to prove a point? And what exactly is
the point these outfits are out to prove? How can the number of people on the
road on the particular day be a measure of the strength of an organization ? Have
these organizations ever spared a thought about the people denied their
fundamental rights of movement, all because a political party can parade its
(supposed) supporters before a band of outlookers who are simply stuck
helplessly? How captivated will be the people in captivity by the political
circus unraveling in the form of a rally of blockade? If these road shows of
political parties, religious groups and service organizations are the ‘popularity
meters’, how popular are they?
Road-blocking political
rallies are against people. No citizen in the right frame of mind will ever feel that a rally is an honest
reflection of its actual strength. To begin with, many among the people are not
unaware of the ways by which rallies can be populated. Secondly, as political parties, or for that
matter, any organization, are for people, what they should attempt to achieve
are measures by which people can be helped. No political party meet or the rally of
this kind is a spontaneous overflow of political feeling. It is a preplanned,
orchestrated event. Why should a pro-people organization plan an act which
denies thousand of people their right to travel? Why should a service organization
deny the children the choice of reaching home on time? Why should they hold a
patient on the road when they are meant to serve the people? Why should they
force people to watch a parade under the impression that the common man will fall
for this show when they themselves know that people are capable of better
intelligence than rush to politically convenient conclusions? Why should a
responsible political party stop a mother/ father from joining her/ his child at
home? The degree of inconvenience to which the road filling, people blocking
rallies subject the mass is severe.
If the time taken by a
rally to move from one point to another is the indicator of the success of the
venture or popularity of the organization, then what about the time lost by
thousand who are caught on the road? If each one of them is denied 30 minutes,
how much time is lost together? Does it add to the good of the society? How about
the thousands of litres of fuel burnt in the meandering, snail-like traffic? Is
it pro-future? Pro-development?
One pro-rally argument states
the necessity of people to compromise on the said day of the rally. This sounds
‘modest’ and interesting. The modesty lies in the feel which the statement
creates that it is just one day out of so many on which the public have to give
in to the necessary occupation of the roads for a few hours by the moving column of humans. It also has the thought embedded in it that, for all the
good deeds done by these organization, can’t the public spare them a couple of
hours of rallyhood? The argument is ‘interesting’ because if one considers the
number of political or otherwise organizations in our midst and the kind of
roads available, and invariably the afternoon hours during which these rallies
are held, one can’t help wondering how this will work out.
Politics may be (arguably)
for the good of the people. But it would take Himalayan amount of persuasion to
convince the public that the road-denying brand of rallying is in people’s
interest. Nothing positive comes out of these parades of (supposed) political strength
shows except self glorifying pleasures of those who organize them. Meetings minus
the road blocks should be the way out of this serious crisis. The organizers can
also think of identifying vast spaces where the train of people can idle of at
a pace of their comfort and political convenience, without forcing an ailing
old man out of doctor or a stopping a student from taking a test. it is always
advisable that the roads should be left to the purposes for which these are
made. If politicians are never tired of speaking of the working hours lost when
the opposing factions strike work, or blockade the parliament, what do they
feel when hundreds of thousands are cut
off from their legitimate tasks on account of their meeting concluding road
rallies?
The common men read the
media report or watch the TV clippings which will make a serious mention of the
lakhs who turned out for the rally which brought life to standstill. That would
sure impress them. Spare them the agony on the road. If the idea of the parties involved is to
prove literally to the lay man that their life was brought to stand still by the
rally, this will prove counterproductive in the long run. The road denying
rallies are unknowingly beginning to rally support against them.
Comments
Post a Comment