AB KI BAAR KISKI SARKAAR…???
“Hey Vj I am an NRI, I don’t follow Indian Politics much, but I definitely do not want to see Rahul Gandhi as the next Prime Minister of India. Therefore, you guys have no other option but to vote for Modi.”
This conversation with a friend of mine got me thinking that we have forgotten the basic Polity which we learnt in school in Civics subject. It has made me realize how much social media influences our day to day thinking and how the previous election and the recent propaganda of the ruling party which has made a mockery of Indias Multi-party system.
Therefore, this is my attempt to bring to notice, some facets of the wonder that is Indias Multi Party system democracy.
Indian Democracy is a social experiment in itself. Given the vastness of the country, the diverse demography, the vast history and culture of this country could survive for more than 70 years owing to the practice of Democracy as a form of government. It is the beauty of this democracy which seeks to achieve the Benthanian greatest good of greatest number while assimilating the good for its diverse minority as well.
India follows Parliamentary form of democracy and has given recognition to multi party system which has evolved over the years given the diversity of the nation. We borrowed the Parliamentary form of Government from our Colonial rulers which is completely different from the Presidential form of democracy followed in countries E.g. United States Of America (where majority of my peers are settled or have dreams to settle.) The Indian variety of Parliamentary democracy is different from its former Imperial Rulers in many aspects, one of which being that India follows Multi Party while her former rulers follow two-party system.
The propaganda in the last few years have been anti democratic since it has reduced the Multi Party Indian political set up as a battle between an individual leader v/s the oldest political party in the country. The common citizens do not necessarily have to make a choice between the worst two options!!
It became easy for our current Leader to create such a propaganda since all the political parties are autocratic and the constitutions of the political parties are presidential. They are characterized by Ad-hocism, have yet to evolve a reliable mechanism and workable solutions for managing their internal conflicts. All the political parties have over the years became a mechanism of centralized, autocratic, unaccountable instruments of power in the hands of unscrupulous self seeking categories.
One of the biggest paradox in the functioning of the political parties is that these parties characterized by undemocratic and authoritarian internal practices run our democratic system. The ordinary cadre or Karyakartas have no role in the decision making process of the party.
Political parties of the country are themselves yet to reach the stage of democratization. The Indian democracy suffers not because of lack of enthusiasm of common people, it fails because of failure of political parties to work harmoniously with a sense of history.
The mirage of one person running the entire political system is an attack on the roots of Indian Parliamentary setup. It is anti-thesis of the democratic value system.
The next government in power may be BJP, Congress, AAP or any other political party or party coalition, but it should definitely not be bound by high handedness of any one particular person.
