Aaj ka gunda raaj.
Indian democracy and Indian political parties are best depicted in the violence that is celebrated in B-grade movies in all the major Indian languages.
The angry young men runs into the Indian system in the neighborhood. In the Panchayat and Municipal wards. The pillars of Indian democracy are the muscles of the local goons and it is their muscles the hero usually tries to break. They succeed only in movies. Reality is Keenan and Reuben.
There's an aptly named party. Trinamool or Grassroots. When the grassroot goons of the grassroot party was arrested for gooning about, Mamta barged into a police station to flex her muscles. She came to power because she was fighting the kings of the game is grassroot goondaism anyways - the Reds.
It's the same here too. We have a lot more options. The unity in the diversity is the muscle.
When Sharad Pawar is slapped in Delhi, he flexes his muscles through the goons of the local ward in Kopri gaon. They also fill the party fund with their extortion. It's the same with all other parties. After failing in everything he tried, Rahul Gandhi is probably trying to puppet some gundagiri in UP. It's a tried and tested formula.
What if we do not have these goons at the local level?
What if the Mumbai police is actually free of political control to police?
What if we care who we will elect to the local ward?
If we had, we wouldn't have had the muscles that killed Keenan and Reuben.
