The Democratic Process of RWA Election Is Turning into An Ugly Slugfest of Egos
Hope These Elections Do Not End Up Dividing the Residents & Robbing Them of An Easy & Friendly Togetherness
The RWAs of the different pockets have made a great contribution towards making Vasant Kunj an attractive destination for the people looking for a safe home. The RWAs managed the com-
munity halls, streets, lighting, parks, garbage collection, security etc and made life of residents comfortable. The celebration of religious festivals in community centres strengthened mutual friendship, good humour and bonhomie.
RWA is a voluntary organisation of flat owners wherein the president and other members are chosen by a democratic process to run and manage the common facilities. It’s purely a non-remunerative work for the public service. The Bhagidhari programme provided the heads of these association an important position to hobnob with local legislators and bureaucracy to demand better services for the residents. Consequently, the office bearers gained a lot of importance while residents received better services. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement.
However, soon some residents started putting a high subjective value for these honorary positions because of the presumed prestige of these positions. Thus, getting elected in these bodies became a matter of prestige for some individuals.
A few residents thought of these elections as a stepping stone to local politics and some ambitious ones wanted to gain publicity to become councillors. Once a very friendly contest has turned into a fiercely competitive one. The charges and counter charges are freely traded. The character assassination or backbiting has been normalised. The hapless neutral residents have been made an unwilling party to all this bickering. The polarization is complete and any social interaction with any competing office -bearer is seen as siding with a party/group. Thus, everyone seems to be assigned a group pro or anti. The association meetings have become a battle ground for inflated egos and a display of exaggerated self-importance. Any good work is castigated by the other group as frivolous or a product of corruption. There are allegations of misappropriation or wastage of funds against the current office bearers or the incumbent ones blame bankrupt state of finance on the previous office bearers. The changes mirror the prevailing political mood of the country… criticism for the sake of criticism, cynicism, fake charges, personality clashes and so on. The aim of these associations to bring harmony among the residents and promote a community living, is taking a beating because of polarization. The constant endeavour to hog the limelight or credit is destroying a consultative approach to decision making.
The democratic process of RWA election is turning into an ugly slugfest of egos and juvenile behaviour. Hopefully these elections do not end up dividing the residents and robbing them of an easy and friendly togetherness, the very essence of peaceful community living.
Let’s not let this politics become the show business of ugly individuals.
The beauty of democracy’s that a random, unremarkable, average citizen can lead it!
by Dr Rajeev Sudan (D-3/3590)
