Ethos of Democracy

"Slavery does not merely mean a legalised form of subjection. It means a state of society in which some men are forced to accept from others the purposes which control their conduct"-B.R.Ambedkar

The man considered to be the chief architect of our Indian constitution should have visualised the bounty that one may enjoy under the umbrella of DEMOCRACY.The system established a fabric for the state to be governed by the eminent persons under the will of the people with their trust upheld under all circumstances.The system also further extended and provided the mechanism via Constitutional institutions to make sure that this fabric of expressing the people's will is thoroughly held in a fair manner.This perhaps describes the definition of a democratic state in the contextual sense.But the recent incidents are far from being on the lines of  this standard definition and I doubt that whether the definition of Democracy has got a number of  sub definitions  to be argued with.

A country like India with its prolific geographical and historical background have survived through the regimes of various fresh colours of experiments to be moulded into what is today called as the "world's largest democracy".As a matter of fact ,DEMOCRACY was found to be the panacea for the modern day world that raised up against the "bucking" boots of dictatorship.So its no surprise that besides being gifted with the natural abundance of culture and versatility of gifted population ,we evolved as the largest democratic nation.But the question is ,in what stage are we now..Are we a matured democracy or are we still amateur in dealing with basic "checks" that exists in functioning of the democracy.The answer in my opinion is partly Yes and partly No.

YES.Because,under no circumstances till date the ethos of the democratic definition has largely been violated.One incident that may raise against my 'Yes' statement would be the dark period of 1977 which then was survived by masses rightfully delivering the verdict.Is then the period of emergency not a black mark to the state of Democracy.Yes,it is, but the incident had offered sufficient inferences to be put in motion  in the then evolving phase of democracy.

NO.Because, a black hole still appears and it gets darkened every decade.1984 riots,1992 blasts and 2002 riots stands evidence to the tremors that still shake our claims of calling us a "matured democracy".I don't site these incidents to be grossly deviating from the evolving experimental phases but my point is these incidents narrate that the "popular will of the people" is subjected to be usurped by certain mechanised non constitutional powers.And the irony is that the delegated power given by the will of the whole nation for its people's welfare went largely unprotected.To support my partly 'NO' answer I further quote the recent happenings in the nation.Any conscious citizen will be able to appreciate that when put on a gross level ,the balance is slightly off to us being called "still not a mature democracy" leaving aside the theoretical data.Interestingly,we are not an "amateur democracy" either.

So,having been stuck in the middle way,this functioning  system of democracy can evolve to be the world's best ,provided it  avoids the "black hole" methodology.The moot point is how this evolution can happen.I would like to quote three best changes that currently are happening in the nation.

1.NJAC- The twin pillar debate.

2.The patent of dominant groups and the growing intolerance

3.The identity crisis of elected members.

It can be noted that the topics 1 and 3 are more relatively concerned within the ambit of the constitution and the topic 2 gets a flavour of mob mentality when given a lens view.The reader can best decide as where to fit in these topics under the "Yes" or "No" category of a matured democracy claim.

1.NJAC-The twin pillar debate:

Time and again, the distinguished wings of the government cross swords for the betterment of the system and this decade had seen the NJAC hit the table with strong points of debate from both sides.Staying out from the domains of both Judiciary and Executive(political executive),as a neutral spectator I see that we actually are thriving in establishing the participatory and transparent mechanism and both the sides do agree that the current collegium system demands reforms.Whether these reforms are to rush in radical changes in the structure or curb the flaws within the existing structure is a matter of national debate of the elite veterans.Sticking on to the topic of the article,I see these judgements and the willingness of both the wings to further scrutinise the system is a positive sign and it shows that we are slowly moving to the next level of democratic maturity via the accountability mechanism of highly respected Independent Judiciary.This is a positive sign.

2.The patent of dominant groups and the growing intolerance:

As a nation,India always have survived the harsh waves of the ad-hoc pressure groups.However,the current wave is being sustained for a longer phase and it leaves a harsh trail for the generations to follow.The hate speeches from the fringe groups and the standard silence of the elected representatives is never a good sign for a matured democracy.In the millennium ,where the social media knocks the door of an average literate citizen,these happenings tend to polarise the character of religious tolerance and the repercussions can be seen in his daily social life.When these happenings are taken as an yard stick for the grading system of democracy we as a country are still amateur.A point well agreed is that no democracy is without flaws,but in a nation with a strong cultural mindset it is the duty of the elected representatives to make the system of democracy take its deep root adjusting the circumstances of 'cultural mitigation'.However,it can easily observed that since the date of our Independence to the till date "Digital Indian era" we still are crippling under these factors of cultural mitigation and no single or coalition system of government have actually tried to uproot these flaws rather have crated the existing flaw as a package for the electoral victory.So yet again the popular will of people is used for attaining the power and to retain it at the cost of this mooted politics of multi regional disparity.

3.Identity crisis of the elected members:

Our constitution establishes the democratic structure by "Universal adult Franchise" and its a feature that not a single man/woman could rule the entire nation but the elected representatives.This feature again appears to be at stake when the elected members are not given the due respect in expressing the will of the people."Identity" politics is demanded to be the order of the day in India.The party comes first and the ideology comes second and last comes the representatives in the decision making process.This again is no good sign for the upsurge in the quality of the democracy.This point can be best understood when looked on the regimes of the various elected Prime Ministers and the "charishma" mindset of the voters.

Having discussed these points one may judge whether we have facts to offer or facts to learn.The other side of the democracy also comes from the participatory approach and expression of people's will without being lured by the "vote casting" gifts.A general awakening in understanding what democracy offers us and what are we to do to make it thriving,is needed for taking India's democracy to its epitome of performance.

As the saying goes, "With forms of government ,let fools contest that which is governed best the best".