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Challenges
to Democracy:
8th Lecture in the series on 09-11-2007
By Dr.
(Adv.) Sebastian Paul, MP
Distinguished
lawyer and lecturer in law, political thinker, parliamentarian
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"We do not know the
worth of democracy, and we have never paid for it. Hence, we don’t
seem to be bothered about what has been happening to our democracy
in the sixty years. We were steadily declining in all the spheres in
the case of protecting the treasure of democratic legacy."
-
Dr.
Sebastian Paul M.P. |
Democracy was
totally a new concept and an unfamiliar perception to the people of
India when it was introduced in the Country. Further, the common man
in the country was not prepared or mentally tuned to embrace this
new system at all. Nevertheless, India was able to remain wedded to
democracy for the last sixty years, that is something the world is
marveled over.
There are other
countries, in the East as in the West, that were declared
independent just before and after India came out of colonial rule
and became an independent nation. But many of them, in few years,
returned to military/dynastic/ autocratic rule, parting with
democratic norms and structures. In other words, Democracy became a
casualty in many Asian countries, more especially in the Indian
neighbourhood.
Indira Gandhi
declared national emergency in India and it was a testing period for
Indian democracy. Our judiciary desperately failed to uphold the
fundamental principles of democracy. It had no shame to pronounce
that the people of India had no more democratic rights other than
what was benevolently given by those in authority. But now what is
happening in Pakistan? The Pakistani judges, even after they have
been sacked by the military ruler, continue defending the democratic
and constitutional rights of the people. No matter what happens to
them, they fearlessly stand with the people and readily face the
consequences. This was unknown to our judges while a similar
situation took place in Inida.
Indian press and
mass media was not better during emergency in India. “When they were
asked to sit, they went to the extent of lying flat” was the comment
made by L.K.Advani on Indian media while referring emergency in
India.
We do not know the
worth of democracy, and we have never paid for it. Hence, we don’t
seem to be bothered about what has been happening to our democracy
in the sixty years. We were steadily declining in all the spheres in
the case of protecting the treasure of democratic legacy.
Globalization and
democracy goes together. Globalization indicates continuous flow of
huge and unlimited capital. But it happens only where there is
strong and sound Rule of Law, judiciary and impeccable legal system.
The investors should feel, their capital is deposited in a country
governed by safe and sound legal system where it would return to
them with huge profits.
The clear example is
China. Look at the paradigm shift in China, from socialistic economy
to market economy. First they brought in strong Rule of Law. To
facilitate effective changes in law, they did amend their
Constitution. Consequently, China was forced to acknowledge and
approve freedom of religion and religious practices.
Investors demand for
arbitration as they have no time to wait for the decisions from a
judicial bench. Further, they demand that the arbitration process
shall not be subject to any judicial review or intervention. The
most spectacular change in the judiciary with the advent of
Globalization is that it interprets Constitution and various
provisions in the Constitution in the way the large investors prefer
to. If judiciary stooped this extent, the case of the executive and
the legislature are worse, if not worst.
Indian Parliament
often fails to vindicate the sublime principles of our Constitution
and to get them implemented. The current parliament is the 14th
Parliament in Independent India. Never in the past, had we such a
useless body doing absolutely no business in or out of the
parliament. Unfortunately we have an Opposition in the parliament
who invariably does not understand that they are out of power. There
is no serious business transaction in the parliament. We have reason
to apprehend that there is some hidden agenda behind the passivity
of the opposition in the parliament. It appears that there is
organized attempt to destabilize the parliamentary democracy in
India.
The only hope is in
the fourth estate – the mass media. It has to be noted that the
Indian democracy has completed sixty years, not because of the
achievements by the political parties but because of a well knit,
well founded print and visual media.
Democracy is a
spiritually transcended style of social life. It is profoundly
philosophical and human in nature. Bernard Shaw once commented that
democracy was like a balloon filled with hydrogen and released out
to the air. It goes higher and higher till the balloon is emptied
and falls down. Once election is complete, the democratic leadership
goes in oblivion until next election.
In other words, the
Indian democracy is a pageant though it shouldn’t be. It is reduced
to be a celebration by chosen number of people who enjoy at the cost
of the majority who are not aware of what has been taking place. We,
by no means, have any apprehension whether the governance of the
nation will be taken over by the military. So much so, we have deep
rooted faith in democracy and democratic institutions. |
