Sari fact: leaders minus politics

This was happening, not in some remote tribal area of Orissa, but in the capital of the county’s largest state, in the prime minister’s ‘apni’ constituency, all under the strobe lights, at a birthday bash to honour Vajpayee’s close colleague of 30 years, Lalji Tandon, who has been looking after his constituency. For all the uproar that followed, Tandon continued to be close enough to the PM, defying speculation that he would be sent packing, and stood right besides him as he filed his nomination papers.

There was no FIR, no inquiry ordered, hardly any relief worth the name. The way the bodies were thrown about made a mockery of all the promises made by parties to bring dignity and honour to women. It demeaned every woman.

The effort was to try and control the damage. Tandon washed his hands off the whole affair: The BJP had nothing to do with the affair, he claimed, some obscure organisation had organised it — they did it every year, and he had only gone there for a short while, to distribute “four, five saris”, and then had come away.

Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav came to Tandon’s rescue, saying that stampedes can happen at any time and no one was to blame. The local administration washed its hands off the whole affair, saying no permission had been given for such an event. Why then had they allowed the function to take place? In any case, the administration was completely preoccupied in preparing for the prime minister’s visit the next day.

After initially making a dash to Lucknow when he heard about the deaths to commiserate with the families of the victims, the PM fell in line with the “this is unfortunate but elections can’t wait” stance.

One would have expected the Congress to go to town on the incident, but there was nothing but the routine noises. Mahila Congress chief, Rita Bahuguna, addressed a press conference, and held some kind of a demonstration. But there, too, the Left’s reflexes were sharper and CPM’s Brinda Karat was quick to lead a protest march. Indira Gandhi would have dropped everything and been in Lucknow, visiting the families of the dead, going around hospitals, making everybody jump to her command.

What really added insult to injury was the line doled out by almost all parties: Don’t politicise the issue. Just look at the dictionary meaning of the word “politicise” and you will know how wrong such a view is. Politicise means to “become politically conscious and organised”. What are political parties there for, if they cannot raise an issue like this, give voice to the pain and helplessness of the women and their families, ensure that relief reaches them, push for the punishment of those responsible for the callousness, arrogance, negligence, and defiance of the election code of conduct that marked this event? Today, unfortunately, political parties seem to have become more understanding of each other’s compulsions than of the woes of the people they claim to represent. At this rate, they will soon be arguing for the depoliticisation of politics itself.

It was the Election Commission which gave some voice to the public outrage over this incident by strongly coming out against what Tandon had done. Like the Supreme Court’s verdict in the Best Bakery case, the EC’s directive showed that, despite everything, there is still health and vigour in our institutions. Politicians complain that institutions like the judiciary and EC are encroaching into what is clearly their domain. The truth is that it is they who have abdicated their powers by failing to act and act justly.

This abdication has been all too evident in the way political parties have chased film stars for campaigning and contesting elections. The BJP could not find anyone other than “Tulsi” of the Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi soap to take on Kapil Sibal in Chandni Chowk or the Congress no one other than Nafisa Ali to fight Mamata Bannerji in Calcutta.

The sari stampede is one more grim reminder of the growing disconnect between the people and politicians.