Future of democracy in India

Future of democracy in India

(By Aadesh Sharma ) 

Image By:- Shrut Kapadia

Democracy is a form of government that has been defined variously by different thinkers.   Abraham  Lincoln,  the  famous President  of  the  United  States  of  America,  described  democracy as  ‘the  government  of  the  people,  by  the  people  and  for  the people.’  Mahatma Gandhi’s notion

Democracy was that under it the weakest would have the same opportunity as the strongest. There have been political thinkers and statesmen who have rejected the philosophy of democracy by designating it as a bourgeois conception being wretched and masquerade. 

There is no doubt that  present age  is  the  age  of  democracy  and  it  has  developed  into  a very   strong  movement  all  over  the world.

On January 26, 1950, the country will be truly free. What will happen to his freedom? Will he be able to retain his independence or loss it. This is the first thought that comes to my mind. It is not that India has never been independent; the issue is that even before it has lost its independence.

Will it lose its independence again? It is such an idea that makes me worried about the future. The thing that bothers me the most is that India has not only lost its independence once again before, but it happened because some of its own people betrayed it. When he was attacked by Muhammad bin 

Qasim’s army, he bribed some of the generals of Dhar .These generals later refused to fight on behalf of the king of Dhar.

If we want to save not only the form of democracy but also its contents, what should we do? The first way I think is that we should use constitutional methods to reach social and economic goals. This means that we should abandon the bloody revolution. It also means that we should also give up things like civil disobedience, non- corporation and satyagraha .When there is no constitutional way to achieve social and economic goals. Such methods can be justified .but when the path of the constitution is open to all, then the use of non constitutional methods will do nothing but create a grammar of chaos , the sooner they are released , the better.

The other thing that comes to my mind is John Stuart Mill’s warning. It is for those who want to preserve democracy. He says that he should never surrender   his freedoms at the feet of nay person, however 

great he may be, never trusting him and giving him powers which degrade the institutions of democracy .If a great people has done great service to the country, then there is nothing wrong in being thankful to

 him, but it also has a limit. In the words of the Irish patriot Daniel, no man can be thankful at the cost of his dignity and no country can be thankful at the cost of his freedom.

This is more important for India than other countries. The kind of devotion seen here in politics is not seen anywhere else in the world. In the case of religion, bhakti  can be  the path of liberation, but in politics , bhakti  will surely open the path of dictatorship.

The third thing is that we should make our political democracy a social message .if we have not prepared the basis of social democracy, then political democracy will not do much. What does social democracy means? It means a lifestyle that recognize  the values  of freedom, equality and brotherhood .These three value will not have to be seen separately, these three have a trinity  and to separate one of these means to leave  behind the purpose of democracy. You cannot separate freedom from equality; equality cannot be separated from freedom. Similarly, you cannot separate freedom and equality from brotherhood. If there is no equality and freedom, some people will rule the rest

Needless  to  say  that   democracy  is  a  philosophy  that  has  to  be put  into  practice  with  certain  degrees  of  variations  in  different parts  of  the  world,  without  sacrificing  its  essence.  Indian democracy  is  comparatively  young  and  not  as  strong  as  western  democracies.  It  does  still  suffer  from  many  ills,  which are  likely  to  linger  for  some  time  before  they  are  completely removed.  The  greatest  ill  of  our  democracy  is  that  a  large number  of  people  in  India  (approximately 70 per cent)  are illiterate.  They do not properly understand the functioning of democratic institutions.  They are unaware of the great value of their votes. These  ignorant  and  illiterate  people  are  easily swayed  by  cheap  propaganda,  empty  slogans  and  attractive promises. Shrewd  and  unscrupulous  politicians  misguide  them with  tall  talk  and  exploit  their  ignorance  for  their  selfish objectives.

  

  

Disclaimer:-

The opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of Light de Literacy and LDL does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.