Sunday, November 21, 2004
Kanchi Kamakoti
I have been following closely the arrest of the peedhathipathi of kanchi kamakoti,
While the history of the kanchi kamakoti peedha is in itself interesting, [none of the other four madh's accept its existence or its supremacy over them.] I am more concerned by the way in which he was arrested,.
There is an oft repeated quote that being a democracy,all are equal and as a corollary, no one is above law, which, while at first site seems quite nice and fundamental, seems not implemented by the system itself.
The system, like many other systems based on abstract theories,ignores the co-existing systems, and assumes an ideal world, and gives power to transgress its own fundamentals to the institutions it has created.
This is why you need the speaker of the assembly's permission to arrest a member of the parliament, and why you need a superior officer's permission to arrest a military or a police guy. Obviously if 'every one was equal in the eyes of the law' was a true [non transgress able] fundamental this contradiction would not have arisen,.
My gripe is that when a system accepts being imperfect [as democracy does in permitting the transgression of its own fundamentals], It should handle its absolutes [like the above stated laws ] with care. It should open its eyes to the institutions other than its own, that still exist in the society be that familial, religious, or other grouping that exist in society. The custodians of these institutions should also be treated on par with the custodians of democratic institutions.
There are obviously more deeper issues involved in identifying these institutions and their custodians, and also on judging the relevance of these institutions, but these i leave for a later date :) ¶ 3:04 PM
While the history of the kanchi kamakoti peedha is in itself interesting, [none of the other four madh's accept its existence or its supremacy over them.] I am more concerned by the way in which he was arrested,.
There is an oft repeated quote that being a democracy,all are equal and as a corollary, no one is above law, which, while at first site seems quite nice and fundamental, seems not implemented by the system itself.
The system, like many other systems based on abstract theories,ignores the co-existing systems, and assumes an ideal world, and gives power to transgress its own fundamentals to the institutions it has created.
This is why you need the speaker of the assembly's permission to arrest a member of the parliament, and why you need a superior officer's permission to arrest a military or a police guy. Obviously if 'every one was equal in the eyes of the law' was a true [non transgress able] fundamental this contradiction would not have arisen,.
My gripe is that when a system accepts being imperfect [as democracy does in permitting the transgression of its own fundamentals], It should handle its absolutes [like the above stated laws ] with care. It should open its eyes to the institutions other than its own, that still exist in the society be that familial, religious, or other grouping that exist in society. The custodians of these institutions should also be treated on par with the custodians of democratic institutions.
There are obviously more deeper issues involved in identifying these institutions and their custodians, and also on judging the relevance of these institutions, but these i leave for a later date :) ¶ 3:04 PM
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I am not concerned much about his guilt, rather I used that event to highlight a failing of the democracy as practiced now. The problem really is that democracy allows instistutions with in the system to override it in good faith, [even where such good faith is often unwarrented] while it absolutely refuses to accept the existance of other institutions outside its ambit it that has even predated it, and has provided valuable service to the society. My contension is that a system that is as patched up as democracy is, should not pretend that it's institutions are the only ones in existance.
Peethathipathi's arrest is simply a dipstick test on the nature of the system, Thus his guilt does not have any bearing on my observation.
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Peethathipathi's arrest is simply a dipstick test on the nature of the system, Thus his guilt does not have any bearing on my observation.
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