Democracy in India
Sir,
Democracy is more
a way of life than a form of Government. Till
people are democratic in outlook, democratic in
thinking and democratic in behaviour it is not
possible for democracy to stabilise itself. That
is why it was generally thought that the Asian
countries were not suitable for democratic set
up. A number of European political thinkers
expressed doubts about the future of democracy in
India. Immediately before the 1977 elections a
state of emergency was declared and the freedom
of people was limited. European observers started
thinking that democracy would come to an end in
India. Even after the elections there were
dissensions among the ruling party and so the
government seemed to be unstable. That was also
taken to be a bad omen for the democracy.
For the proper
working of democracy there should be healthy
opposition, educated voters, independent
judiciary free press and moral integrity. In
India we do not have a healthy opposition, it is
very weak and it cannot assert itself; this means
danger to the country. Moreover, there is no well
organised opposition, because the leaders are
more interested in retaining power than in
working for welfare of the people. It was only
during the 1977 general elections that the
opposition became quite strong.
Similarly, Indian
voters are not much educated. In spite of the
best efforts that have been made by the
government only 50 percent of the people in India
are educated. Uneducated votes can never make a
correct judgement and may not cast their voters
with a sense of responsibility. The latest two
general elections have shown that there is some
sorts of political maturity on the part of the
voters.
Judiciary and
press have been independent since we got freedom
from the colonial rule but there were attempts on
the part of the ruling party to make judiciary
committed to certain policies. Some of the Chief
Justices were superseded. This does not mean that
judiciary is no longer independent. Indian
Judiciary has been trained for a quite high
standard of impartiality. Similarly press,
despite certain checks upon it during some period
has been quite independent in its opinion.
One of the serious
dangers to Indian democracy is the lack of moral
integrity on the part of the leaders. There have
been defections in the political parties and no
leader seems to act upon his word.
Under such
circumstances, it seems that the future of
democracy is not very bright. But it is a wrong
inference. No institution can establish itself
immediately; there are always certain initial
hurdles and initial difficulties. It seems that
with the passing of time, democracy will
stabilise itself and this experiment of adopting
democracy on such a big scale would be
successful.
Yours etc...
Lucky Mahajan
Dhar Road Sattani
Udhampur.
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