DC Edit | Engage Sonam In Dialogue To Ensure Democracy Wins
The national conscience is being awakened by the personal sacrifice of one person even as the protests are making a mark, but the government has so far remained indifferent. And the court has only spoken about every life being precious and pointed out the need for daily medical supervision
As the Cockroach Janata Party’s protest at Jantar Mantar is into its 28th day and the educationist and activist Sonam Wangchuk’s fast enters its 20th day today, they raise fundamental questions about the democratic process in the country. Those who are protesting are carrying a message about youth disaffection while the prominent person undertaking a fast in a nation that has had a long history of fasting as the most peaceful form of protest is acting as a messenger of how badly things may be going wrong for the youth to feel so restive.
To respond to a peaceful protest by nominating government representatives to talk to the protesters on the issue, which is all about irregularities in the medical entrance test and other examinations, is the democratic way. The national conscience is being awakened by the personal sacrifice of one person even as the protests are making a mark, but the government has so far remained indifferent. And the court has only spoken about every life being precious and pointed out the need for daily medical supervision.
The basic objective of the fast was stated to be a demand that the Union education minister resign owning accountability for the various irregularities that were noticed in the conduct of a vital medical entrance test which over 20 lakh candidates took and in which 11.21 lakh candidates qualified for around 1.3 lakh medical seats plus 28,000 in dentistry and allied areas of study. The sheer statistics portray the ardour with which a section of the student population strives to take up the medical profession.
It might be the greed of individuals who run the test that invariably leads to leaking of question papers which undermine the integrity of the test. However, it is the system that must be tuned to be foolproof in conducting such an exercise that affects the lives and careers of lakhs of students. Asking for the resignation of the education minister is only to sustain public accountability which is the cornerstone of democracy.
The government may have moved heaven and earth to ensure the retest ran without major glitches and disruptive leaks but doing so is not an achievement to be boasted about as much as the duty of people elected to supervise those selected to run the system and ensure that it is error and leak proof. The rolling of one head may be just a political outcome of a protest being sustained by a new party of nameless youth, but it carries the message that governance may call for hard decisions to ensure answerability is upheld.
It might not take much to arrive at the decision that the fast be broken by putting the activist in hospital and force-feeding him to save his life. A logical step before that would be to talk to him and try to persuade him into giving up the fast. That may mean accepting there is an issue but there is no loss of prestige in accepting it and addressing the issue.
No government should place itself above listening to citizens who have a grievance or who project an issue of public importance. The issue is not just about the integrity of entrance exams but about the education system itself and it must be confronted and a resolution sought. Dissent is an integral part of democracy, acceptance of which will make the government stronger. An immediate test of the government’s resolve in dealing with education issues is coming up in the Winter Session of Parliament.
