Governance: Religion & Law

today me and my friends abhisek and shaurya were having a discussion regarding what stance we should take regarding imposition on emergency in pakistan. it naturally became a heated discussion, prompting me to pen down my view regarding the basics i have in mind while thinking of such affairs.

if you ask me, governance is what has to create a balance of the following social forces:
1. religion
2. economics
3. politics
4. culture
the method used is usually creating and executing law... with judiciary to decide when exceptions can be made to law...

Lets look at a subset of the governance issue involving religion and law of society. religion is a set of guidelines for society. each individual is supposed to choose the set of guidelines he wants to follow to lead his life. religious "rules" are a matter of personal choice not social compulsion. on the other hand, law is a set of universally acceptable rules. there is no personal choice in law. governance is maintaining the proper balance in society among religion and law.

sadly, religion for the common man becomes a set of inviolate rules by which each man should abide. this is dangerous, because unlike law, religious rules are usually static and do not take into account the dynamic social context. laws change frequently, religious "rules" do not. if the government composed of the elite can not keep a balance between law and religion, the society might go to hell. but if religious "rules" become the law, the society will definitely go to hell.

if you read swami vivekananda's views on the importance of rationality in building a society, these fundas will become clear. sadly even the hindu nationalists are behaving so backwardly... being a forward religion, hindus accepted the divorce law passed in parliament even though its not permitted in the religion... law is for those who dont follow religion, but then religion too should not be such that it makes the majority of society members as law breakers...

coming to governance, i hate it when people over-generalise that one form of governance over other... hitler may be abhored by many but he made germany the most advanced engineering nation of the world and it is like that till date... we need to accept that preferred form of governance is a dynamic thing... for some country it may be democracy today and dictatorship tomorrow... even subhash chandra bose had said india needs dictatorship for atleast 10 years to rid it of the indiscipline of the non-cooperation movement... we didnt have it and thats why government offices are still the kaam pe aao, aur chai peeyo types...

i agree with shaurya's statement that i am least bothered about a nuclear fallout because of dictatorship. the entire world gangs up against any nuclear weapon state with a dictatorial head of state. human rights violation are not necessarily a result of dictatorship. democracy means the right to raise a voice against exploitation, it does not mean lesser exploitation. a country cant justify its existence based on democracy if its laws are based on rules that demand inequality among genders.

coming to my reaction, i would first say that my general order of deciding my priority of issues in descending order is:
1. me
2. my family and friends
3. my country
4. mankind
i dont have even a micron of concern for those who have decided to go to hell, whether it is via democracy or dictatorship or whatever. As long as they dont plan to take me along.

this does not mean i dont play a part in changing things... if there was a petition of the tandoor murder case or S.K.Dubey case or gujarat riots or blue-line killings in delhi i would have voted... i already have voted in such petitions, example the anti-reservatin issue... but jab apni country nahi handle ho rahi hai to doosre ke maamle mein load kyon lena... i would have voted for the pakistan one too, but i feel i am inadequately aware of the actual circumstances to form an opinion... do you ever realise that even the communist rule in china is sort of "group dictatorship"??? why dont we protest about that??? do we ever protest against the monarchy rule of the arab states that is also close to dictatorship???

if you cant have a opinion that is well-thought, dont have one at all... dont open your mouth and convince the people that you are indeed dumb... if by chance US decides to attack US based on some stupid reason, its only India that can intervene and save Pakistan, not the back-stabbing chinese.

(written on 7-nov-2007 on the day of the mail interactions)