The Tradition of Democracy in Theory and Practice

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India became a sovereign democratic Republic at 10:18a.m. on January 26,1950, along with the inauguration of its Constitution. The last Governor-General of India, C.Rajagopalachari, read the proclamation announcing the birth of the new Republic. If we look at the political and social history of the last 55 years, we found a dramatic change in the democratic setup of India. 

Since independence, our country has fastly deteriorated to become the ‘Wild West. In fact, the present state of things makes one wonder if the country has any constitution or laws at all.

The democratic values preserved and practiced by the founding fathers have been configured to the dustbin and the institutions meant to safeguard the democratic fabric have been undermined and devalued. 

The educationists or the freedom fighters must be wondering, whether it is the democracy we gave ourselves? 

No Room for Blame Game 

The answer is simple, “Blame not anybody else, blame ourselves, for we have not risen to the lofty ideals incorporated by our founding fathers into the constitution. It is the cumulative failure of the politicians, the bureaucrats, the traders, the professionals, and the people from different walks of life.

Let’s not blame the institutions and the statues that reinforced the foundation of our democracy. 

Who is to be blamed if a State Assembly turns into a replica of a busy street of Mumbai, where hoodlums are seen exchanging stones? Who is to be blamed if MPs rush up to a Minister to tear off the Bill he is going to introduce in Lok Sabha?

Some analysts believe that the prevailing problems are nothing but the result of the maturation of the so-called civil society and the emergence of more democratic political practices. However, the backward and marginalized classes have refused to rest content with the patronage and populism characteristic of the Indian political system.

The Never-Ending Political Chaos  

Does political development in India exacerbate the existing problems or give birth to better democracy broadly hinges on the efforts done to resolve three key issues which are -  How will India’s political system accommodate the changes taking place in its hierarchical social system? 

How will the state balance the need to recognize the interests of a country's heterogeneous society with the imperatives of national unity? How can the Indian State regenerate its legitimacy and at the same time redefine the boundaries between state and society?

  These issues with their intrinsic tensions will continue to serve as a source of change in the continuing evolution of Indian democracy. 

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 Politics has tattered and tainted with time. The moral values of our politicians, policemen, and criminals are inseparable from each other. Even the thin line dividing between the politicians and criminals has disappeared giving rise to criminal politicians nexus. 

Politics has been criminalized and crime politicized. The people have lost faith in the political system as the promises of the leaders have proven hollow time and again. 

Presently, there is a distressing trend in Indian public life and that is the growing cynicism about politics and politicians. Many people find it useless to cast votes in elections. The prevailing political scenario in the country the prospects for a radiant democracy are not very bright but it is not perfectly correct to suppose. 

The Evident History of Politics 

The vitality of Indian Democracy was demonstrated well during the tenure of Indira Gandhi as an important minister in 1977. Equally, her return to power in 1980 showed that the Indian people will not be tolerant towards leaders who betray the trust reposed in them. 

The 1999 elections proved that voters won’t accept any idea of toppling a democratic Govt without any concrete reason, thereby reinstalling Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee as Prime Minister of India. 

BJP coming to power after so many years showed the people don’t select a party they love but the leader they find capable of running a vast and diversified nation like India. And now when the farmer bill has again created a tiff between the ruling party, opposition party, and the general public. 

Therefore, it will be wrong to say that democracy in India has failed utterly, but we can conclude that to make the democracy successful in real terms, our politicians have to make a lot of sacrifices and the people of India must use their votes in favor of honest, incorrupt and dedicated leaders so that the value preserved by our founding fathers could be restored. 

 

Written by - Devika Thapar