Indian freedom struggle is a manifestation of the misdeeds of British Rule and the quest for justice of millions of Indian. The struggle for independence was not fought simply for national independence. The establishment of democracy in free India was an important aim of the freedom struggle. It was in view of this goal that is the essence of “constitution of India”. Among all the goals of Indian freedom struggle the establishment of democracy was the most important goal .
MacIver once said “Democracy is a form of Government that is never completely achieved … Democracy grows into its being”. It may take a long time before we say, Now India is a democracy in its real sense. Is anything left of that democracy today?
Democracy means freedom and equality through rule of law. What is happening in India is the radicalization of right wing politics where the rule of law is violated. The voice of dissents is systematically killed. Criticism and Discussion require vigilance on the part of a citizen which in the worlds of J S Mill, is the price of democracy, in other words, Indian has a democracy lacking the spirit of democracy.
Judiciary is no more an indicator of a nation's political civilization. With the deep love of right wing political ideology judiciary has given its portative hands of people’s rights. We live in the time of majoritarian democracy. We lack a sense of responsibility particularly the side of the majority with reference to social equality. We can see “dictatorship under the grab of democracy”. Without social and economic equality and the sense of brotherhood that is the essence of Fraternity, Indian democracy may become only a care structure of bureaucratic government without any life in it.
We are forgetting the teaching of Gandhi and Tagore who taught us 'culture of tolerance and acceptance'. we can see the attack on minorities everywhere. We lack compassion that is the keynote of the sense of fraternity to be fostered in Indian society. Politicization of religion led to the killing of compassion in the root of religion and without compassion there can be no religion. Even Srimad Bhagavata said “ Kamaya duhka taptanam praninam arti nasanam “ means the only desire that lingers in me is to wipe the tears of those that suffer from the anguish of pain .
If Indian democracy has to be the way of life it has to free from the majoritarian rule which is constructing “The other” .That is millions of minorities.
The idea of Local self-government has become insignificant with the Americanisation of Indian democracy. Centralization spells death of democracy, for it means power and initiative are taken away from the people and concentrated at the center. The whole project of decentralization of democracy (73rd and 74th amendments) are unfulfilled . The actualization of Gandhi's dream is unfulfilled. Besides this , The rise of One-party rule and insignificant opposition are dangerous for the democracy of India .
The objective of Independence seems to me incomplete. We can see the degradation of the idea of freedom from communalism, freedom from the unjust system of capitalism. Besides this, The insignificant land reform , powerless state in terms of privatization , De-socialization of Principal industries, WTO effect on policies , in context of neo-liberal development . These are important considerations as far as the impartial view of the development of democracy is concerned.
With the rise of media constructed public opinion in terms of fake news and propaganda creates a culture of hate and fear. The narrow growth of cultural nationalism based on fake communitarian belief is to be seen as the emergence of Indian state which is based on the idea of uncommon citizenship. With the rise of the right, the great challenge is to act even to an intellectual without being anti-national.
We can see the differentiation between the discourse of patriotism and the discourse of nationalism. One is based on love and peace ,another one is based on fear and anger .Indian struggled for her political independence inspired by her belief in the means of non-violence, ahimsa and won her freedom with goodwill of all nations. That is why liberal democracy and cultural tolerance are the whole mark of Indian democracy. Unity in diversity and diversity in unity are the principles of Indian democracy .
We can see the missing discourse of Idea of the nation of swami vivekananda , Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore that is the idea of Internationalism . History tells us Love based nations make Humanity and vice a versa.But fear based Nations do not make humanity .
I hope some day , perhaps in the not very distant future , Mahatma Gandhi , Bhagat singh , Bhim Rao Ambedker , subhash Chandra Bose , Jawaharlal Nehru , Jaya Prakash and Lohiya’s dream may be fulfilled .
We need a democracy where we should neither be the slaves of capitalism nor fundamentalism. People will be free to express their opinions. Let us replace “my’ with “our” then only we can end capitalism and begin socialism in the context of individual , society and state .
In the concluding remark, I would like to sayy if Indian democracy is really of the people, by the people and for the people , we all are responsible for this state of affairs. I think a nation is sure to die , when the main purpose of it is hurt. In order to save it's purpose or in order to save the spirit of democracy we, have to inculcate constitutional morality . we have to be critical towards the government, we have to be aware that we are the masters in democracy, we have the right to question our government for not adhering to certain principles in the constitution of India. We have to acknowledge the fact that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.
Let there be collective thinking in India and let us all help in the creation of real, working, living, democracy in our country .
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