Four decades ago, the greatest show on earth was a circus named Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus. I had the pleasure and privilege of watching this three-ring circus from a ringside seat in Boston in 1981.
There were a large number of animals, including 10 polar bears, a rare attraction.
A movie was made on this circus, which had once been burnt down. But, the spirited owners and employees did not accept defeat and staged the show with the men, animals, and materials they could retrieve, following the leadership of the brave manager, who declared: “The show must go on”. The movie, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, won many awards.
Today, circus is travelling on rough waters. Pressures from societies such as Peta have led to the banning of animal shows in circus and modern technology has made the movie more impressive and enjoyable. The circus, as a means of entertainment, is fading away. It is difficult to understand why prevention of cruelty to animals is limited to circuses only and not extended either to the cruel biped’s eating habits and slaughter houses or to the cruel treatment of a large number of human beings in different situations, the female of the species in particular.
India is the largest democracy in the world and once in five years, we present the greatest show on earth for electing our representatives to our Lok Sabha and Assemblies. A country of 120 crore people takes part in this activity with great enthusiasm and enjoyment and this gigantic exercise is watched with wonder bordering on disbelief and, now and then, an element of amusement.
The show has begun now with selection of candidates from the political parties, who are given “tickets” to contest from different constituencies by the high command of each party. There is a scramble at these offices. The desire to serve people is so great that the aspirants go to any length to obtain these tickets and the denial of ticket to an applicant may lead to violent protests by his friends and followers, who go berserk in righteous indignation and indulge in all kinds of antics — staging demonstrations and burning the effigies of the decision-makers in the party, attacking party offices and vandalising them.
Sometimes, the protests take other forms such as climbing up a tall tower threatening to jump but waiting for others to rescue them or dousing themselves with kerosene for self-immolation but waiting for somebody to supply a match box. Recently, one such protester climbed up a tree with a flaming torch and sat on a branch until some good Samaritans brought him down.
These tickets do not ensure entry into the great halls of power, known as Parliament or the state Assemblies. They only qualify the aspirants to file their nominations as candidates on behalf of their parties for election to the halls of power, which make laws for the whole country or the state as the case may be.
Once they are elected, they gain entry into those august Houses for a period of five years and it is up to them to participate actively in the show or remain passive spectators saying only “yes” or “no” at the appropriate time or abstain from voting. Parliament, as the supreme governing body of the country, can make war or peace, partition a state into two or more pieces, and make laws on a variety of subjects.
On rare occasions, when the matter under discussion is serious and dissent threatens to create disorder in the house, the doors are shut and dissent is silenced and order imposed by those more equal than others in that power-house, which symbolises the great Indian democracy.
The large electorate of our great country exercise their power only on one day for a few moments when they cast their votes, but they are kept in good humour for five years or part of it by those, whom they elect, like Caesar and his senators, who kept the Roman populace in good humour through the Colosseum and other channels of entertainment.
The great leaders of the first generation of Independent India such as Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabhbhai Patel, J.B. Kripalani, Morarji Desai, Ram Manohar Lohia, Jayaprakash Narayan, Syamaprosad Mookerjee, Hiren Mukherjee, and C. Rajagopalachari have left us a heritage to be proud of. So have some good writers and poets such as Harindranath Chattopadhyaya, who regaled the Parliament from the Opposition benches with his wit and humour.
“This is not a welfare state; this is farewell to all principles of a welfare state,” he had said. Another of his jewels is: “These are not treasury benches; these are treachery benches!”
All said and done, ours is the largest democracy in the world, and the dirty linen our leaders wash in public during their election campaigns stinks to the high heavens, and unwittingly we provide country-wide entertainment and world-wide amusement in the election season through the greatest show on earth.
