As I had argued previously, Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi and Greek
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras are running in the same marathon – against their electorate’s
expectations. By calling for a ‘referendum’ on whether to accept the strict
conditions imposed by lenders, Tsipras has unburdened his responsibilities on
the people of Greece.
All across the globe, whenever a question on relinquishing basic
amenities – “do you think we should cut your salary for a possible better
future?” – will be asked to the populace at large, the answer will be
resounding ‘No.’ It will come as a big surprise if the Greek think and vote
contrary to this, and perhaps in the future this may serve as an indicator to other
struggling nations in the Euro Zone.
Back in New Delhi, Kejriwal’s government, is also taking a
leaf out of Tspira’s book. Decisions which an elected government should take on its own
are being posed backed to the voters. The recently presented Delhi budget is
also said to be formulated after taking public opinion on various issues. We
have already seen the party’s attempt to remodel their strategies based on
feedback over the phone.
Seeking public opinion is welcome, it is a part of the
overall democratic structure. In some cases it may help to gauge the
public mood, which the elected representative, may not be able to convey for
reasons of fear, sycophancy or simply that they do not have an ear to the ground. But going to the electorate repeatedly defeats the very
purpose of the whole election process.
A voter has voted you in power because
he trusts you, or he thinks that you are the lesser evil amongst all others. In
politics it is ok to take a step ahead and retreat two, but to shrug off responsibility
and tell your voters to decide on nearly every issue is equivalent to abdication. On that, Tsipras is close
to the finish line, Kejriwal still has some time left.
