Building political infrastructure - need of the hour

Declining standards of political culture, growing political violence, obsession of political parties about winnability of the candidates unmindful of their past credentials, criminalisation of politics, corporate capture of politics, increasing exit of middle class from political processes are all tell tale signs of political decay being witnessed in the country.

Though we do not have one stop solution to this, Building political infrastructure would be an important tool to address this problem. In this context it is pertinent to elaborate what a political infrastructure in 21st century is?

Political infrastructure begins with a strong and disciplined party cadre mobilised purely based on one's ability and willingness to contribute but not based on financial, caste and other motives.

It requires a clear pronunciation of party ideals and ideologies, and ensuring adherence to them at all levels.

It is about establishing well functioning intra party communication channels and institutionalizing them.

Educating masses and party cadres on political programmes and policies as a responsibility of various political parties is an essential prerequisite.

This should be a norm rather than a onetime event to build political infrastructure.
Ensuring that political contestant’s posses sound knowledge of different political institutions, instruments of democracy which can foster accountability, and most importantly constitutional values.

What are the benefits of building a strong political infrastructure?

It is not difficult to appreciate the benefits of developing a strong political infrastructure, which can stimulate healthy debates on political programmes and developmental politics, whereas the present discussions are largely confined to electoral politics.

It can bring to forefront all those passive voices, which are under self imposed exile, cursing the fate of direction of the Indian politics.

It can substantially alter the developmental paradigms for good and brings a new lease of life to various institutions of public service delivery.

It improves accountability and transparency among legislators and motivates them to work hard on meeting developmental objectives.

Imagine a Social Audit in a rural area where all beneficiaries are well informed about different schemes of development of ruling dispensations.

It can break the backbone of casteism and caste based mobilisation of people and attempts of social engineering for vote bank politics by vested interests.

An election campaign in which only developmental issues are invoked by leaders of the day would be a reality then.

It effectively counters communal forces, which tend to polarise people by raking up emotions and manipulate people’s ability to think and decide autonomously. Last but not least it will ensure that a citizen is more informed, an informed citizen is an empowered citizen, an empowered citizen is an enlightened citizen.

Why are political parties reluctant to develop political infrastructure?

It is relatively easy to mobilise people based on caste lines. Also a durable support to any political party requires greater financial and human resources , participation of all in decision making, keeping eyes and ears closely grounded to understand peoples aspirations, which political parties are not willing to actively pursue.

low literacy among party cadres in general, cultural and societal attitudes which willingly accepts feudal style of organisations which in turn is being reflected in running

political parties, is emboldening some political parties to not invest adequately in developing political infrastructure. Fear of loss of authority by few vested interests alongside deeply entrenched dynastic politics are coming in the way of developing a formidable political infrastructure.

What must be done to build Political infrastructure?

For this a large scale political awakening of masses is essential. To begin with Self Help groups a successful model of investing social capital can be used as a platform for educating masses on various avenues for political participation and other democratic accountability tools like Right to Information. For this to happen we must realise that political and social capital are not two isolated entities but feeds on each other.
Role of digital infrastructure and literacy is indispensable in this process, owing to its non discriminate access and equalizing power, which must be put to optimal use in training party cadres.

A larger nationwide movement to inspire, motivate and bring back large number of youth into active politics is also need of the hour.

In this era of rolling news on Twitter walls, and short attention spans, it requires great efforts in channelisation of youth energies for this noble cause. Even at the top levels of political leadership there must be orientation courses for all legislators and active politicians,

to enhance their capacities and build awareness among them about various policies, programmes of ruling dispensation and issues of national interest. For this process to be institutionalised every legislators and political contestants should be given score based on their performance in carefully designed modules which evaluates their commitment and aptitude to serve people.

This process can be outsourced to an independent and autonomous organisation with expertise.

A good model worth emulating is in The House Democracy Partnership (HDP) a bipartisan, commission of the U.S. House of Representatives that works to support the development of effective, independent, and responsive legislative institutions.

It uses peer-to-peer exchange programmes, training seminars for members and staff, and targeted material assistance to build capacity in key areas such as legislative oversight, budget analysis, committee operations, constituent relations, and library and research services.

Its singular focus on the legislative branch of government and its unique ability to bring together American legislators and their peers from around the world has made the commission a valuable forum. We must work to establish such institutions or strengthen and revitalise already existing institutions to fulfill above mandate.

As Suggested by APJ Abdul kalam former President of India and a statesman, developmental politics should take centre stage relegating significance of electoral politics to only election year which would automatically contribute to strengthening of political infrastructure.

Thus keeping in mind beneficial impacts of developing a political infrastructure in deepening democratic credentials of the nation, we must leave no stone unturned in building it.

Decentralisation, Devolution, Discussion, Deliberation, Debate Dissension and Decision making which are considered essential tenets of democracy would be realised only by developing a well functioning political infrastructure.

The author is Assistant Director, Department of Revenue Budget, Air Force Headquarters
(VayuBhawan)

By Dr Vivekananda