We can not say democracy in India,is in danger.No.Not yet. But it is visibly symptomatic of passing through a torrid transition syndrome,propelled by those who are power hungry and who want to spread their intimidating tentacles of power,to every nook and corner.Power is crazy to rule and rule alone,not much with the goodness to govern,but to govern with unquestionable authority,by conquering the power sharing principle,towards gaining overall control of the dissemination of power.
Democracy with its cliched interpretation of "of the people,for the people and by the people"makes no sense for those,who are power centric to rule with unopposed power. In a similar vein,it can be said that democracy without effective opposition can not be considered to be meaningful,on account of the policy paralysis and lack of credible presence of unity and collective responsibility among the opposition parties.Unless and until the body called the opposition,goes under clinical diagnosis and retrieval treatment process,healthy democracy is a far cry for India.
It can be categorically stated that the major and the once nationally most relevant political party,suffers more than others, from serious self destructive, internecine groupism and want of unifying leadership.The other opposition parties have been losing ground by their own weakening projections and void of ideologies.The absence of a convincing and commanding opposition, signals the absence of democracy.
The transition times of democracy have opened the doors for the exit of rightful devolution of power.Wherever the toes of centralized power are not followed by 'democratic footsteps',dictating fingers pick up swift action against them,by invoking newer devices of power control,to pull every one to toe the line,in order to instituitionally install the pan India programme.
How does this power expansion programme happen? Does it happen by disciplining those who are indisciplined,in the name of freedom? No not at all. Power expands by favouring,purchasing and threatening the erring blocks,as well as by cutting down the limbs of those,who cannot be tamed.This cutting course is executed through imposition of bills of power, for an extraneous control of the elected body,thereby causing insult to the electorate and hurting the dignity of the entire electoral system.It is here the transition of democracy into dictatorship begins.The creation of extra limbs of power,makes the elected poles of power,futile and frustrated.
While violation of personal freedom norms leads to anarchy,encroachment of the right to privacy and freedom and infringement of the rights of an elected body,sow the seeds for endangering the very power fabric and its governing integrity.In fact,it is integrity in governace that lays the stepping stone to national integration.
The reasons for the creation of extra constitutional limbs of power may be many.Two predominent but paradoxical reasons could be (1) the arrogance to rule all,by increasing the length and width of the power margins and/ or( 2) the fear of losing the power gained,after a prolonged period of waiting.
The second reason might be closer to reality than the first,because only those who have waited for power for quite long,know the value of power and the imperative need for strengthening and sustaining the channels of power,without giving any room for even an accidental loss of their power perceptions.Power born of fear of losing power,is more precarious than any conferred form of power,because it speeds up the transition of democracy to despotism.
A similar transition in democracy occurred in India in the mid Nineteen Seventies, when the then Prime Minister declared a state of emergecy,that lasted for a period of twenty one months between 1975 and 1977.In a big onslaught on democracy,elected state governments were dislodged from power and opponents were maltreated under the clutches of the Maintenance of Internal Security Act {MISA}.
But in the midst of many undesirable events,several good things also happened during that period.Some of them were,abolition of Privi Purses and nationalisation of banks.Work culture improved in everybody either in order to comply with the expectations of the government,or to avoid punitive measure from the government. Subsidised food was available to all and the people in general,did not feel too much,the pinch of their purse.But democratic values did undergo the acid test,through suppression of opposing voices and active sterilization programmes carried on by a section of the authoritarian mode of governance.
If we can say dislodging elected governments under article 356 is an anti democratic move,introducing bills to create super imposition of powers,to contol elected governments which are not politically amenable,is an equally undemocratic move to clip the wings of democratic governance.Besides this,ill timed,motivated raids against rivals,also betray unfair and foul means,to abuse power to the extent of undermining the principles of democratic governance.
When opportunism and bias blind political vision,falsehood takes the driver's seat,steering the wheels of power to wrong roads and taking clear diversion from democratic destinations.It is at this juncture,the transition path reaches dead ends and real danger shrouds the body of democracy.
Note:- No names of individuals or political parties mentioned in this article.
P.Chandrasekaran.
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