When the vast majority of the people have no ownership or control on the wealth of the country there cannot be economic democracy.
ALEX TUSCANO
India is the largest democracy in the world. The world is convinced that democracy has endured in India from the time it became independent. It was only during Indira Gandhi’s rule that Indian went through a period of emergency when the constitution was held in suspension. But soon the elections were held and Indira Gandhi and the congress party were punished for their misdeeds.
There have been regular elections to the parliament, to the state assemblies and even to the local bodies, like municipalities and panchayats. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that every year there are elections in India. Now we are witnessing the elections in four states and in one union territory. How do we view these elections, do they uphold our democracy?
Democracy becomes the central issue of governance of our nation. We are proud that from day one of independence India has adopted universal suffrage that gave right to all adult member of the country to vote and elect a government of his or her wish. But this electoral democracy has not delivered much.
“Even the universal franchise where we
give one vote to one person in a country like India it poses a problem. Our way of life has been communitarian. Either we behave as a caste group or behave as a religious group or we behave as linguistic groups in certain situation. Our way of life is never based on individualism. The entire idea of democracy in the west is based on individual rights – my conscience, my belief, my faith, and my family. Whereas in India, it is “I as a Hindu”, “I as a Muslim”, “I as a Brahmin”, “I as a Lingayat”, “I as a Dalits”, “I as a Thakur”! Therefore, democracy with universal franchise on the one hand and communitarian way of life and outlook on the other hand is the situation in India. We tent to vote as Brahmins, for example, and not as individuals. Those who vote as individuals are a tiny minority. This leads the political parties to field candidates on the basis of castes and communities” (Communalism and Democratic Perspective, Asgar Ali Engineer.)
The essence of democracy does not consist in the casting of vote every five years. In a nation whose population is illiterate or mere literate, the people have been hoodwinked by the powerful and have defeated the idea of democratic election process. Our governments have never represented the will of the majority of the people. In majority elections not more than 50% of the people cast their votes. And in any election the parties that get barely 30% of votes out of the 50% of the voters, form governments.
The Normative Core of Ideal Politics
The normative core of ideal politics is to create a democratic ethos among both the voters as well as the political leaders. Voting has to be made one of the most responsible acts that has to be necessarily exercised in crafting the ethos of democracy. It is needless to emphasise that the future of democracy depends on the creation of such ethos; ethos that is defined in terms of the degree to which the internalisation of democratic values takes place among the citizens. Such ethos defends these values by taking a moral initiative without waiting for the lead from political leaders. Citizens as voters should campaign among themselves for the candidates who can genuinely promise to strengthen such an ethos.
Politics with an idealist orientation is necessary to built the society around the distributive principle of justice and values of equality and dignity. Making political judgements and decisions commensurate with such ideal, thus, becomes a moral responsibility of both the voters and the political parties. In
fact, parties do have higher
levels of responsibility
to convert these
ideals not only
into an agenda for election campaigns but also to involve voters into the collective project of creating a democratic ethos, not just periodically but almost on an everyday basis. Voters as citizens, however, have their own responsibility to impress upon the leaders to integrate this agenda into their politics of electoral mobilisation. Citizens have fundamental responsibility to seize the deliberative opportunity to not only create and stay with the democratic ethos but also exert necessary moral pressure simultaneously on the political leaders to take equal responsibility to create and participate in the creation of democratic ethos. Did it not happen in the recently held presidential elections in the United States?
Democracy and Ownership
Further, when the vast majority of the people have no ownership or control on the wealth of the country there cannot be economic democracy. The poor are offered doles and freebees to make them vote for a particular party or candidate. The government keeps the poor on doles. Beyond this there is nothing they benefit from a democratic state. “Parties that invest too much not in persuasion but in creating illusion (abhas) among the people cannot treat illusion as a resource that is permanently available for garnering electoral support.” (EPW, Vol LVI 8) For the rest, the governments implement the agenda of the industrialists and the corporate houses. The governments take away the land of the people and promise them 100 days guarantee of work. They are promised employment in place of their land. But this employment does not last long. When the rate of profit of the industrialist employers begins to fall, they fire the workers from employment. This leaves the vast majority of the people out from the development agenda of the state and therefore out of the democratic system.
The Panchayati Raj system and decentralisation of power would hold the hope for the nation to be truly democratic. But the problem is that whatever power the 73rd constitution- al amendment has given to the panchayats is often usurped by the state level assemblies and bureaucracy.
When the citizens are kept in jail without trials or bails because they have expressed views opposite to the views of the ruling dispensation; or because they fight for the human rights and the rights of the Adivasis and Dalits are branded as urban Naxals and are put behind bars, in such situation where do we go to look for real democracy?
“The government has become more intolerant. We see this particularly in the context of farmers’ protest. This is so, because these farmers represent a solidarity of conscientious activists across caste, class and gender backgrounds. This solidarity is rooted in a democratic assertion against incarceration of these activists, as well as challenges the state and party nexus aimed
at dismantling the farmers’ protest. The government, through its action, is inverting the essence of a free and democratic society, where freedom from fear is now a fear of freedom.” (EPW, Vol LVI No 8, Feb 20, 2021)
In a capitalist society the state comes in conflict with democracy. The state stands behind the corporates and big business at the expense of the rights and livelihood of the working masses. In the case of farmers’ protest, the government
is not willing to budge on the farm laws that clearly go against the long-term interests of
the farmers. These people experience the state as repressive. “The state’s passive response to violence and, some time, active involvement in such violence against women leads women to characterise the state as patriarchal. For Dalit women it is not only patriarchal but also Brahminical. For Adivasis, the state is both coercive and callous. For minorities, the state, led by the right-wing party is necessarily communal.” (EPW, January 2, 2021)
What we have been witnessing in the last seven years is outright denial of even rudimentary democracy. Use of money and muscle power during elections has become common. As elections are approaching directing enforcement directorate, income tax raids, anti corruption squads against the leaders of the opposition parties have become common. These are used against the prominent leaders of the opposition parties to make them leave their parties and join the ruling dispensation so that the opposition is rendered powerless.
Sometime elections are rendered meaningless. By using money power and threats the elected majority is turned into minority and the elected governments are thrown into dustbins.
The idea of the Indian nation revolves around three major principles: secularism, socialism and democracy. These three are like three lions of our national emblem or three colours of our national flag. They are not standalone elements. Democracy is meaningless without secularism and socialism. Similarly, the two principles are hocus-pocus without democracy.
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