- Suppressing people works against democracy
In the aftermath of the creation of the UN and the demise of colonialism, democratic political regimes have grown worldwide. Democracy distinguishes itself from other forms of governments in recognition of peoples’ involvement in a state’s functioning, and recognition of their social, economic and political rights. While giving a Darwinian explanation, Tatu Vanhanen, a Finnish political scientist and author, terms democracy as a government of many in relation to autocracy as a government of the few. He further contends that: “The concentration of power and resources leads to autocracy, and the distribution of resources leads to democracy.”
Various contemporary political analysts and research organisations while keeping a close watch on states’ performance maintain a comparative democracy index. The Economist has been publishing The Democracy Index since 2007, based on five categories: electoral process and pluralism; civil liberties; the functioning of government; political participation; and political culture. The Democracy Index 2018 considers only 20 countries (12 per cent) ‘full democracies’. A whopping 55 are rated ‘flawed democracies’, 39 countries ‘hybrid regimes’ and 53 ‘authoritarian regimes’. The five top-ranked countries are: Norway, Iceland, Sweden, New Zealand and Denmark.
India’s elite and academia have long claimed India the world’s largest democracy. The claim is debatable. By virtue of its population, India is the world’s largest democracy, but certainly not its best one. According to the Democracy Index, the state of India has never been among the world’s top democracies. In 2007, India was rated a flawed democracy at number 35. True, general elections have been a regular feature. However, New Delhi’s power politics has finally reverted back– from the alliance-politics of the post-Nehru era – to single-party rule since 2014. However, the country’s performance has not demonstrated any improvement. Since 2007 New Delhi has been confined between 35th and 41st positions on the index.
The prevailing state of democracy is alarming in India. How long will democracy survive if the situation continues? And, how long shall Indian oppressed classes tolerate this decimations?
All experts agree that ‘people’, being the real essence of democracy, cannot be divorced from state functioning. Indian political history reveals the country’s leadership has always preferred their political interests over the people’s social needs. The Indian National Congress (INC) had dominated the country’s domestic politics and remained in power for almost three decades. Though the INC had abandoned its socialist philosophy and worked for societal development, its glacial pace never brought about any phenomenal change in the quality of life of its people– especially that of the lowest castes like Dalits and Other Backward Classes (OBCs). The economic policies of Congress government with a measly 3.5 per cent GDP growth had never helped lifting the booming Indian population out of poverty. Same was the case in other sectors like education, health and employment.
By late 1970s, a large majority of the oppressed class had reached the peak of frustration against the system and started challenging the state’s powerbrokers. Even in the 1980s, when the Indian GDP growth rate was around eight per cent, the chances of INC success in election were merely 50 per cent. Dividends of high economic growth had never reached the general masses which became the ultimate reason of Congress demise. Today, the INC– having lost its long-sustained pre-eminence– is no more a shareholder in the state’s power politics.
The BJP’s story as the INC’s successor is even worse. The relegation of the INC in the race for New Delhi had created a vacuum in Indian political horizon and many new actors emerged to fill it. The new political players tried to win popular support by addressing their grievances. The BJP proved to be the most successful political force out of the atypical and phenomenal growth of political parties which– like many others– had emerged on caste, creed and religious basis. Charged with Hindutva ideology, the rise of the BJP has totally transformed the social fibre of Indian society, whereas, the question of social uplift of the country’s subjects is still a fantasy, presenting an extremely desperate picture of today’s India.
In a population of 1.4 billion in India today, over 300 million (21.9 per cent) live below the poverty level and over 350 million (26 per cent) of its citizens are illiterate. These figures are more than the collective population of all Indian neighbouring states less Pakistan. Similarly, the country’s GDP per capita is less than $2000 compared to that of USA at almost $60,000 and Japan and Germany with over $40,000. With 10 per cent unemployment and the same inflation rate, Indian citizens are suffering from uncontrolled price hike. Above all, with the alarming corruption in its public departments, India is 78thon the list of cleanest nations.
The most appalling statistics are related to human rights. Like any other country, the Indian constitution provides six fundamental rights to its citizens: equality, freedom, right against exploitation, freedom of religion, cultural and education rights, and rights to constitutional remedies. Early this year, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights released a report on gross violation of human rights in India and state-sponsored mob attacks on religious minorities to marginalise them and force acceptance of Hindu supremacy. The Human Rights Watch reports as many as 18 such attacks in November 2018 alone by BJP activists against minorities. The main target of such attacks and discrimination in education and job is not just Muslims, rather low-caste Hindus, especially Dalits and OBCs, without whose votes BJP would have never won.
The report also explains that the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) grants license to Indian security forces to commit gross human rights violations in Kashmir on the pretext of establishing the state’s writ. The government decision to revoke Article-370 in Kashmir and deployment of over 700,000 troops there has generated serious human rights concerns in the Valley. The whole of Indian-Occupied Kashmir today is locked down and over 14 million people are suffering for seeking their just right of freedom.
The prevailing state of democracy is alarming in India. How long will democracy survive if the situation continues? And, how long shall Indian oppressed classes tolerate this decimations?
