Eight years ago, on May 26, 2014, Narendra Modi was sworn-in as India’s Prime Minister after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won a landslide victory in the general elections. A few days prior to this, Modi, as Prime Minister-designate, went to Parliament and entered the Central Hall for the first time.
In a now popular photograph, Modi is seen bowing and touching the stairs with his forehead leading to the Parliament building as a mark of respect to the “temple of democracy”. Modi’s ascension was an apt example of the power of a democracy. For his journey from Vadnagar, in current day Gujarat, to 7, Lok Kalyan Marg, in New Delhi, is proof of that power.
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That said, in the past eight years, democracy and democratic freedoms in India have lost a bit of its sheen. This is captured in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index 2021 which highlights that while India’s score has improved by 0.30 since its 2020 report, cumulatively it has gone down from 7.92 in 2014 to 6.91 in 2021. India ranked 46 among 167 countries — that’s not a respectable spot on the list. There are other reports as well which put a harsh spotlight on India.
One might argue that India is still way better than its large neighbours and is a sanctuary for the millions of who are fleeing persecution in our neighbourhood. The world’s largest democracy must not peg its performance with countries which have a fragile or fledgling democracy, like Pakistan or Myanmar or Afghanistan.
There is a growing disillusionment with democracy, and this is a phenomenon not just in India. World over, from the United States to Europe, there’s a democracy fatigue setting in. Yes, democratic processes can be painstakingly slow, and they are even flawed. But to quote former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, “…it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.…”
The ‘temple of democracy’ is today more in the news for the walkouts and lack of debates that should guide India’s process of legislation. The Opposition is not without blame for this, but, by the virtue of having the advantage of numbers and by being in power, a larger moral responsibility lies with the ruling party to ensure that democratic processes do not suffer.
Any talk about the trajectory of democracy in India would be incomplete without mentioning Amitabh Kant. The Niti Aayog CEO in an online interaction on December 8, 2020, said, “Tough reforms are very difficult in the Indian context, we have too much of democracy....”. Kant was talking about initiating reforms and comparing how China has it relatively easy with reforms, etc. Much water has flown under the bridge since then, but this statement is pertinent even today because the question remains unanswered: How much is ‘too much’ democracy? Of course, is democracy — or ‘too much’ of it — an antithesis to reforms?
Reforms, or ‘development’ — or any other bureaucratic tag we give it — is not an indicator of the strength of democracy. If that was the case, China would be topping the list of countries where democracy is thriving. While China, which has an economy five times the size of India’s, and its approach towards reforms can be enticing to some, one must not forget the prize it has to pay. The suffocating stranglehold of the State might deliver the goods in the short term (as was seen in China) but in the long term such systems fail (China under Mao). Countries that have given democracy a rain check (like Russia) are not shining examples of reforms and development.
A more appropriate example worthy of looking up to for upholding democracy and encouraging reforms is Japan; even South Korea.
The point is that we need to work a lot of make our imperfect democracy better. We need more political freedoms where the State does not morph into a new-age Big Brother, or become a nanny state disrespecting a citizen’s personal choice and space. More importantly, we need economic freedoms where there are greater financial choices, where the rule of law is respected, among others.
Without doubt, democracy in India needs a shot in the arm — and who better than a government with absolute majority in Parliament to do that! Coalition governments, precarious as they are, have limitations; the current government does not have its hands tied. While it has used this to its advantage in pushing for economic reforms, it must do the same to further strengthen India’s democratic ethos.
The year 2022 is important for India, where it is celebrating 75 years of Independence, and 70 years of becoming a parliamentary democracy. This is as good a time to remember that the freedoms we enjoy today were hard fought, and it needs to be cherished, and protected. While the government is vocal and active in promoting economic growth, it can do more to shore up democracy.
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