FUTURE OF INDIAN DEMOCRACY

“The spirit of Democracy… requires the change of heart… requires inculcation of the spirit of brotherhood.” – Mahatma Gandhi.

Democracy is a system of Government elected by the people of the country and run by the elected representatives of the citizens of the country. Here, the power lies in the hands of the countrymen. Till date it is referred as the best form of Government because of the principle of keeping the happiness and welfare of the people before the power of the administration. 

India is one of the best democracies with the largest and most detailed Constitution in the world. The Constitution has given the citizens the power to elect the representatives and establish the government they want to. This fulfils the basic need of a democracy. Moreover, the Constitution also provides its citizens with their fundamental rights and duties towards the country. Despite the presence of Multi-party system, the government-making exercise is always orderly and efficient. The change of one-party system into a real multi-party system and the transformation to develop coalition rule, demonstrated the ability and the maturity of the Indian Democracy to evolve with the changes of the society. So theoretically, India is the best democracy where the people enjoy their rights and the government is completely in the hands of the people. However, the question that arises here is: ‘What is the reality and how long it will last?’

This question leads us to the answer that the spirit of Democracy is endangered by activities of the masses and those in power. Democracy is successful only when there is progress and development in all the dimensions of the society but in India only political dimension has overrun the socio-economic dimensions of the country. In spite being the fastest growing conomy of the world, poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, rural under-development and slow development is making the democracy weaker and pulling down chain of progress. In addition to these the social and economic inequalities, gender injustice, regional imbalances, social evils, and a continued caste-based social system have always acted as limitations to the success of Indian Democracy. 

The real picture can be drawn from the life of the people at the grass root levels of our country where the social challenges are more eminent than those in the urban area. Lack of education and understanding of the political scenario is the biggest blockage in the path of their development. This situation has occurred due to the negligence of the citizens as well as the negligence of those who have the power to change the situation. The political leaders use their power to intimidate these people who are unaware of any of the rules and regulations, or their rights, and influence the votes during the elections. These are the places which are mostly exposed to the communal violence and even elections are influenced by the same. The blind faith in religion and community also hinders their development which in turn hinders the growth of the democracy as a whole. The political leaders here too misuse the concept of communal leadership and use this to influence people to vote for those belonging to the same religion. This goes against the major concept of secularism which has posed a great challenge to this mighty democracy.

Regionalism is another challenge to the path of success. This in other words is a rebellion, where the unity of the nation comes under threat. People following regionalism make regional and narrow interests which are generally opposed to the interests of other regions or the country as a whole. This sort of rebellion tantamount to negative energy and poses a big strain upon national interests and limits the strength of the nation as a whole. Through this even the political leaders just for their greed of power and seat in the assemblies exploit their regionalist thoughts for gaining votes. The scheduled castes and tribes are also used as vote banks by these corrupted political leaders. The people belonging to the backward classes are so deprived of their basic necessities of life, that these political people can easily influence them by promising a better lifestyle. 

The corruption and power in the hand of few in India, which has developed over time is now betraying the main spirit of democracy. Indian democracy is no more based on the welfare of the citizens but has now changed for meeting the aims and objectives of the Party which enjoys the majority in the Lok Sabha. India is facing these kinds of situations only because of the majority of the people who live in the villages are lacking education and are blind folded by the political leaders. If this continues in the future, Indian Democracy will lose its spirit of democracy and will change into the Absolutism used by the leaders of the particular party who’s at power. 

As the youth of our country it is our responsibility to help the Indian Democracy get rid of the social evils. The major drawbacks of the country can be overcome by spreading education at a grass root levels and extensive awareness programmes. The people need to be aware of their rights and specially understand the responsibility of electing a representative. 

In the last seventy years, India has absorbed a lot of shocks and evils that has weakened the system of democracy and thus, people are losing faith in this form of government. ‘Time’ has now come to take steps and secure the future of our majestic democracy.