Where are we heading?

Where are we going? This is an expression often used by Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president N Chandrababu Naidu. But it now seems to be more apt for the common man to exclaim.

There was a time when Opposition parties used to hit the road to protest against certain decisions of the government. But then over a period of time, the dharnas and protests started getting on to the nerves of the common man as it had become a routine affair affecting the life of common man.

The people also started wondering where we were going. However, in the last one decade, the strikes and agitations have gone into the background and people have felt happy.

But now, the wheel seems to have taken a full round. In the absence of a strong Opposition and no one to effectively question it, the State governments in general and the two Telugu States in particular have become too sensitive to criticism and feel that what they do is law and anyone who even remotely questions them is their biggest enemy. The kind of language the leaders use against their opponents including the media is highly objectionable.

There is no freedom for the Ministers or other top leaders in ruling parties to give any information to the media. There is a ban on the leaders sharing any information even during informal chats. Every leader is under scanner.

The Ministers whether they belong to the ruling party at the Centre or in the States are under instructions not to speak. The same formula is being followed in the two Telugu States as well.

While in Andhra Pradesh, the Ministers are parroting what their leader says, in Telangana some Ministers are not even willing to shift to Minister's bungalows fearing that there would be hawk eyes recording who all are coming to meet them.

While this is the situation among the lawmakers, the officials are no less scared. They say that they are under strict orders not to speak to anyone or share any information and they need not reply to any questions asked by the media.

There used to be a popular TV English serial called "Yes Minister". It was a satire on how the bureaucracy functions in the United Kingdom. We seem to be following exactly the same thing now.

When it comes to political parties, till late 80s the party general secretaries were considered to be the key persons and used to not only share information but also had the spine to check with party leadership if there was any query and clarify the next day.

Now the situation has changed. Every party has a long list of official spokespersons. While some of them are heavily tutored, others kick in the air and cannot give any credible information.

On the other hand, the media too is now a badly divided house. The new emerging trend is that a good number of them are migrating as PROs for Ministers and officials.

Those who are influential are competing for posts like Information Commissioners or media advisors to Chief Ministers.

Another problem is that almost every political party has its own media house and this has made the journalists to forget their main job of questioning.

Against the backdrop of this situation, reasoning and questioning has become a casualty and if anyone dares to do so, he is branded as a mouthpiece of the Opposition or is blacklisted by those in power saying he is anti-development.

As far as the political parties and leaders are concerned, they find that it is easy to take to twitter handle or other forms of social media and resort to accusing and abusing the opponents and do not hesitate to hit below the belt as well.

A personal digital war is on instead of questioning the government and its policies or highlighting the omissions and commissions.

The political parties have forgotten what an agitation is. They were not able to assert their right even when certain places like Dharna Chowk earmarked for holding agitations have been done away with. The Congress party in Telangana is sulking.

It has not been able to take up any major fight on any issue and has not been able to make its mark. In Telangana though it has been lucky to be win some seats both in 2014 and 2019.

It lost many of its members who fell prey to operation Akarsh. Of course, this is something which the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) does not accept.

It says that the Congress MLAs merged the legislature party into ruling party and hence has no right to criticise the TRS. There cannot be different rules for different States, the Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao thundered in the Assembly recently.

The Congress party in Andhra Pradesh which was decimated in 2014 failed to rise from the ashes. Even after 2019 elections, it refuses to make any kind of effort to revive the party.

The State party president N Raghuveera Reddy is missing from action for long time. Of course, even at the AICC level, things seem to be in disarray and the century year old party seems to be fading out.

The TDP which is the major Opposition is yet to shed its baggage and recover from the defeat it had suffered. It is facing a tough time and is finding it difficult to exercise their right to make their voice heard even in legislative bodies as the governments have become hypersensitive and does not allow them to speak.

Irrespective of which political party is in power, the people who are supposed to facilitate smooth functioning of the House are heavily leaning towards the government sometimes even appearing to breach the practices and conventions of the legislative bodies.

Using harsh (read as unparliamentary) language by ruling party members has also become the order of the day. The people in chair conveniently brush the issue under the carpet saying that they would examine the records and expunge it if any unparliamentary words were used. But this exercise does not seem to be taking place unless it becomes a major issue and rocks the legislative body.

Another new political trend that is emerging is that to slap cases against leaders who try to raise any issue so that they will be busy fighting it out. This scenario certainly does not augur well for democracy.

Against the backdrop of this situation, people are now left wondering, 'Where are we going'?