I have a question burning inside me, which has been unanswered for a long time. Everybody says at their top of their voice that we are the world’s largest democracy. But something in me doubts it?
We have read the definition to be rule of the people, by the people and for the people. We know it is definitely rule of the people, with the monarchies abolished. But whether it is by the people and for the people is still to be answered.
We are no longer the democracy of the past. I doubt we have the rule of the majority, which the democracy used to have. Yes it seems a majority if we simply take the fact that if one has 272 seats out of the total 543 seats, they can form a government. But an astonishing fact that came to my mind when I did a bit of study on the issue is, in India on an average taking both the city and the rural areas into account; hardly the voter turnout exceeds 70 percent. We cannot take the 30 percent who did not turn out for voting into consideration because they were not even worried about doing their duty to the country, so they obviously have no right to criticize the system on which our country is functioning.
Taking into consideration the remaining 70% of people who vote, any party which garners a minimum of 40% of votes comes to power. To make it clearer say 70 voters out of 100 actually vote. Of these 70, party A gets 28 votes, party B gets 25 votes, party C gets 10 and the independents get the remaining 7 votes. Thus with only 40% of the total votes casted, any party can come into power. The question is what about the 60% of the votes that went against the party. Is this a Democracy wherein a Party with majority of the votes should be in Power? This above system would be justifiable in a two party system which is not the case in our country with a multi-party environment.
The total voters registered to vote in India is 723,586,418 and the total number of votes registered is 417,158,432, and the total number of votes won by the ruling UPA is 153,100,493 including congress, Trinamool congress, DMK, NCP, JK National Congress, JMM, Kerala Muslim League, Viduthalai siruthaigal TN, Kerala Congress (Mani) and Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen. This is indeed a majority with reminder of the votes being split by the NDA alliance, Third Front and others. But my question is there are 63% of votes casted against the UPA, and what meaning does those 63% of the votes casted actually provide. We say that every vote is important, but what happens to a vote which is casted on a losing cause and how is that actually important? Shouldn’t it mean something in an actual democracy?
If we check in some states for example take Assam, the percentage of votes won by BJP is 16.2% whereas that by Assam United Democratic front is 16.1 but the number of seat won by BJP is 4 whereas that by AUDF is only 1, even though the mere difference in the vote registered between the two is a mere 0.1 percentage.
Let’s check with another state, the state of UP where all the major parties stood individually, BSP with 27.4 % of votes won in 20 seats, but Indian national congress and Samajwadi with a % of 18.3 and 23.3 got 21 and 23 seats respectively which is more than that of BSP even though the % of votes received was way too less.
The next point that comes to the mind is, with just 28 percent of votes required out of the total votes that are to be casted; it merely becomes a system of arithmetic calculation and a study of statistics based on Caste and Creed. Each constituency is then segregated into different voter base depending upon the caste, say 15% of dalits, 20% of Brahmins, 15% of Muslims, 10% of Christians, 20% of this, 20 % of that etc. The list is never ending. For example consider UP again as an example, BSP is known for its dalit vote base, Samajwadi for its muslim vote base, BJP for its hindu vote base and congress for some here and some there.
This is followed by the wooing of a particular cast, suppressing another one, which turns into a blatant display of caste and power politics. Then comes the policy of alliances, no party in India knows what their actual strength individually is.
It is always A + B + C, i.e. 10% + 15% + 13% and here the percentage is always an assumed proportion since no one really knows what the real strength of a particular party is since they never really contest an election alone, and even if they contest, it is mostly due to the caste factor or the anti-incumbency wave against the ruling party or the death or assassination of a national leader which turns into a sympathy wave for them or they try to turn incidents such as a terrorist attacks against the ruling party to garner votes. Sometimes they contest in elections as an allied partner for one, and immediately after elections does a U-turn and support the other party after the election. Shouldn’t that party be disqualified because the votes were casted for the policy which it changed immediately after the elections?
Blatant cases of money flowing in all directions, Booth capturing are just another ways to get the required percentage of votes to come into power. If one have huge money, then it’s even possible to buy the MP’s or MLA’s to show the majority and break the other parties.
Finally all that matters is to come into power by hook or crook rather than serving the people who voted for you.
It’s becoming more and more a display of caste, violence, money power and brute force rather than a peaceful display of a democratic act.
So the question still looms large, are we really the world’s largest democracy?
Gone are the days where leaders lived by example showing great commitment to democracy irrespective of their caste, creed & sex and the number of votes garnered by their party
I’m waiting for the sun to rise again, to see those days of the past return and pave a way for a glorious India and show the way forward. I would certainly love to see that happen, with my eyes wide open. It’s a change that needs to come, not only from the parties, but from every citizen. We practice a representative democracy, but it does not end there if we have elected a representative and sent him. It should be a participatory democracy were every individual should be aware that he is a part of a big way forward and should be responsible for choosing the right person who is fit to represent him. Should have the responsibility of questioning him in case he fails to do the job, and more the people vote more it leads to a good governing body. Hope all of this happens and we proudly say to the world on top of our voice that we are the world’s largest democracy. Wish a very happy Gandhi Jayanti and hope to see this day without any act of violence or death in any part of the world.
Jai Hind.
Regards
N.Maharajan
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