Is Indian Democracy still Alive and Kicking?

French Nobel Laureate, Romain Rolland said about India, “If there is one place on the face of earth where all the dreams of living men have found a home from the very earliest days when man began the dream of existence, it is India.” 

India, the world’s largest democratic miracle is a country held together, in the words of Nehru, "by strong but invisible threads... a myth and an idea, a dream and a vision, and yet very real and present and pervasive". It is more than the sum of its contradictions.

India is one among those few countries which have sustained the democratic system since their independence. It has been marching its way ahead keeping together all its colors. According to me, what keeps us alive as a democracy is our success in formulating policies respecting India’s socio cultural ethos. This boosts up the morale of each citizen of this country irrespective of the caste, class and creed he belongs to and pushes him to participate in the democracy by voting for the deserving. Democracy is a challenging model in essence but the founding fathers of our country made it point to not let us suffer in the shackles of dictatorship or walk lost in the darkness of instability and uncertainty. We don’t have to look far to eulogize the contributions of the founders. India and Pakistan both got freedom together and we can see what time has brought for both the countries atleast in the political model if not more. In the past 63 years, India has confronted all internal and external dangers but still has managed to protect its democracy against all the odds unlike the unstable neighbor. Truly, the accomplishment is extraordinary and worth celebration.

Lincoln said, “Democracy is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people." All these determinants of a successful democracy are aflame and raging in our country. From Supreme Court quashing 2G licenses and Anna Hazare’s fight against corruption where people reminded the government that India is their country, to putting the goons in authority like A. Raja and Kanimohzi behind the bars, it all speaks out loud of the dynamics of our nation.

My fellow opponents would conveniently remind me of numbers like World Hunger Index, illiteracy rate, inflation rate, sex ratio. Numbers, Numbers and Numbers – but I refuse to define my country’s democracy as flawed just on the basis on a set of malign statistics. I’m not turning a blind eye to facts but essentially speaking democracy does not ensure a full stomach. What it ensures is- that you have the right to vote against a government which keeps you starving. I would love to die flying in the free sky of democracy even If I get no grains to feed than being fed grains in the cage of communism.

A lot of us compare our nascent democracy to 200 years old federal societies like the USA. Doesn’t even the thought of it highlight our irrationality? Our country has seen that success in 65 years which the so full democracies at their stage could hardly imagine. Every year 1% of people below the poverty line are being pulled out. India is the country where election’s results are declared in the minimum possible time. The Right to Information has been given to Indians which is not enjoyed by several full democracies of the world. But still my opponents would stick to their judgment that Indian democracy is passive and muted. Right?

India is a country which keeps the freedom of its citizens at utmost priority. Even the fact that we all can sit here and pass remarks over our country is part of our Indian democracy at work. We have media which has rights to broadcast and opine over anything that goes around even if it’s negative. Our country has a myriad of civil society institutions which go beyond to contours to solve prevalent social problems. 

Also, our judiciary is doing a careful job dealing with sensitive issues, ensuring justice to all. People comment that our judiciary has collapsed. It takes years to impeach the guilty. Yes, I agree to the fact that dispensing justice takes long but the reason for this itself is our alive and kicking democracy. Because of the hierarchy that a case goes through and because each person involved in the process has a say in it, the procedure slows down. I agree justice delayed is justice denied but isn't justice hurried, justice buried?

The whole essence of democracy is to encompass maximum people in decision making, but with it also tags along the pitfall that it is next to impossible to get a mass of 1.2 million to a consensus. Nonetheless, India is still manages to have a democracy in place because we rally behind a very simple consensus which is : In a complex and diverse nation like India, it is very hard to agree on everything, but we can live peacefully as long as we agree on the ground rules of how to disagree.

In the end I would like to conclude by saying that Indian democracy has fared very well in these early years of its existence and will continue to work wonders provided we all place our faith and participation in it. So as a proud Indian, tomorrow I wake up to take a breath of free air and fly in a democratic sky and let no fear of oppression cut my wings.