GK Rathod: The many pitfalls of civil society

The menace of corruption is prevalent in almost every section of society in India. Attempts to contain it have met with failure which leads to frustration, aggression and chaos. A team led by Anna Hazare calling themselves self-appointed civil society has launched a campaign against corruption by way of the proposed Lokpal Bill. This protest cannot be categorised as a social movement but is a political event as it has a one point programme.  Certainly corruption is a major issue and needs to be fought, but according to procedures and norms adopted under the Constitution.

We understand that this group of people has the right to give advice on introducing the Bill. But the action being demanded by it has no legal backing. Therefore, the movement has been condemned by most Indian intellectuals as undemocratic. This does not mean other civil society initiatives are entirely legal and democratic. The initiatives by civil society can be justified on the basis of public scrutiny. Clearly, the challenge to make the quality of our democracy more salient can be met by public scrutiny. Public scrutiny ensures that executives are held accountable and   decision-making processes are accessible to the public. It also ensures that there are opportunities for the public and their representatives to influence and improve public policy.

The concept of civil society has enjoyed a new life in recent years throughout the world. Civil society is central to a form of government and it focuses on the processes of civilization and discipline. In the Indian Constitutional democracy, we have adopted the principle of separation of power. Accordingly, concentration of power in one institution threatens to undermine the functions of other state institutions.

Populism has come to mean many things but it can be seen as a style of politics and rhetoric that seeks to arouse a majority. Leaders believe this majority thinks it is outside the polity. Populism implies that the democratic spirit can get out of hand.

We should understand the difference between what the public is interested in and public interest. There must be some better democratic, not populist, way of deciding matters. The populists' mode of democracy is a politics of arousal more than of reason, but also politics of diversion from serious concerns that need settling in either a liberal democratic or a civic republican manner. The currents of populism run deep in the country's political life and they too have their own moral compulsions. It would appear therefore that the people of India are destined to oscillate endlessly between the two poles of Constitutionalism and populism without ever discarding the one or the other.

Dr Ambedkar attached great importance to Constitutional morality in the working of the Constitution. He endorsed the view of the Greek historian Grote, that Constitutional morality required a paramount reverence for the forms of the Constitution, enforcing obedience to authority acting under and within these forms. Constitutional morality is not a natural sentiment. It has to be cultivated. We must realise that our people have yet to learn it. The Constitution also insists on cultivating the habit of being self-restrained. Violation of Constitutional morality leads to 'grammar of anarchy'. Thus Dr Ambedkar regarded any civil disobedience movement as against the spirit of the Constitution.

He also cautioned that while Bhakti in religion may be a road to salvation of the soul, in politics, Bhakti or hero-worship is a sure road to degradation and to eventual dictatorship.

One of the virtues of civil society is civility that is an important component of Constitutional morality. It calls for tolerance, restraint and mutual accommodation in public life. Civil society is not innately virtuous.

Political philosopher Nancy Rosenblum concluded that in the flush of this utopianism, it is sometimes assumed that civil society can substitute for government. But, as we have tried to make clear, civil society and government are complementary constructions. 

— The writer is ex-deputy secretary & law officer to Gujarat Goverment