Lord Acton was right when he said that “power corrupts”. He forgot to add, though, that petty power corrupts more absolutely. But then, the British peer did not have to live in a housing society in 21st-century India, under the often small-minded tyranny of a Residents’ Welfare Association (RWA).
A housing society in Bengaluru has barred maids from using common areas, for reasons that are now all too familiar in the country’s metropolitan landscape. The RWA reportedly ordered: “It is difficult to see them hang out everywhere in the park, amphitheatre, gazebos.
Residents can feel uncomfortable when being surrounded by maids everywhere we walk.” Apart from elitist and entitled upper-class discomfort at workers being “everywhere”, the notice cites the all-too-familiar bogey of “security” vis a vis the poor. The notice, like so many others in housing societies, smacks of casteism, class prejudice, etc.
Those chosen to run administrations can reflect either the worst or the best in their constituents. Which way this pendulum swings depends on who the powers that be report to. In constitutionally-mandated elections – from panchayats to Parliament – every citizen has a right to be heard, and in the system’s best version, their concerns and problems become a part of democratic negotiation.
Not so in the RWAs. Here, residents (and sometimes, only homeowners) are the ones with a voice. Their prejudices and bigotries masquerade as concerns for “security” and “hygiene”. And the part-time politicians of the RWA impose their will on those who do not have the means to object. The ones that can – the “open-minded” residents – are perhaps fighting the good fight. More likely, though, they are only busy composing outrage tweets.
