DailyPost 2966
DEMOCRATIC SMOKESCREEN
Even in the most conventional or in the most copybook manner, there would be differences between democracy in the constitution and the legal statutes and the way it is practised. We would all have heard of the de jure and de facto versions of democracies the world over. The issue is how much and how far can it be, from the statute book? Is it decided by democratic conventions or it is continuously stretched to see how much of aberration can the citizens be made to digest. For the uninitiated, democracy had its birth and growth in what can be called as the western liberal mould. It is for this reason it is also termed as western liberal democracy.
The western liberal model of democracy is not an abstract one. It is deeply rooted in the concept of the welfare state, and hence not a natural bedpartner of capitalism. It is true capitalism best thrives in democracy. Democracy’s birth and it becoming the preferred mode of state the world over, and deep rooted faith in quality of education, enlightened thought, creativity and maximum good for the maximum people. The leading lights of the democracy were deemed to be men of letters with statesmanship and vision.
Equality legally enabled in every manner was deemed to be the equaliser. In our case secularism became a core cardinal principle of democracy. We will start with where the rot is at its worst. What percentage of the political class can you confidently say are well conversant with the constitution, other laws and law making? The legislature and the political executive are the creation of the constitution. What percentage of the people who understand law feel the present lot of the political class can deliver the democratic ecosystem that has been established as per law.
Elections are said to be the celebration of democracy. The very purpose is to get the votes cast and whoever gets the highest number of votes becomes the winner. Is it not a popular vote meaning the winner may not poll more than half of the votes cast, thinking of getting at least half of the votes of the electorate, sounds outlandish . There is no concept of minimum percentage of votes for an election to be representative and hence valid. What is the choice of candidates the electorate have? The candidates have been dumped on you because of their winnability factor. It has nothing to do with merit, integrity or delivery. Money, muscle and general mode of electioneering is farthest possible from electing a legislature to act ably to perform its responsibilities. Equality does not operate in our DNA. Caste, creed, religion, region, colour and geography are the running currencies of Indian democracy.
INSTEAD OF ROBUST PERFORMING DEMOCRACY WE HAVE CREATED IN 75 YEARS IS A DEMOCRATIC SMOKESCREEN.
Sanjay Sahay
Have a nice evening.