No change of scene!
The famous Italian film director Federico Fellini used to call a change of scene or a turnaround, “Volta”. In other words, a new scene was called “Volta” by him. After the two years of the military backed caretaker government rule and after the Dec 29 parliamentary elections, we also expected that we would be entering a new scene. We expected that this time around things would be different and that this time we would see a real “change” in the mindset of our politicians, especially after the two years of lesson they had been through ( for all the flaws of the Fakhruddin Ahmed-led government).
However, our expectations have not been met. The same old culture of the politicisation of the bureaucracy, public universities, police and what have you has been going on unabated, despite promise of a different picture in the electoral manifesto. The front organisations' indiscriminate grabbing of halls, tender snatching, extortion, feuds, etc have also not changed. Law and order has also been deteriorating. To make matters worse, parliament has remained dysfunctional as the role of the opposition has remained as before i.e. a repetition of the traditional boycotts that we have seen in the past. We expected that this time the opposition would actively participate in parliament and thereby hold the government accountable. For all the oppression they are facing from the government, this oppression should not deter them from participating in parliament and rather they must voice their grievances in parliament and raise debates on important national issues.
We are thus caught in this vicious circle of the old political culture. The beginning of a “new scene” or “Volta,” that we had expected is still a hope not a reality.
Comments