Is India Democratic?

The big question is - Can a country be democratic if the very organizations that form the political landscape are NOT?

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Here is a senior cabinet Minister in India publicly and on record stating that he is devotee of Sonia Gandhi and in future anyone who is in position of head of Gandhi family. He further goes on to say that practically every Congress party worker (for there are no leaders) has the same servile attitude, from PM of India Manmohan Singh (who refers to Sonia as his Guarding Angel) to every low life in the Congress party, who feeds on morsels thrown by party bosses.

It will actually be waste of space to be rhetorical about something that is a common knowledge and something which has never been contended by Congress party itself, rather I believe that almost all the parties (major ones that matter at national/state level) are more (not less) the same - undemocratic, ruled by an individual like a family holding, opportunist and filled with crooks and back-kissers; except may be 2 political organizations; ironically on two opposite side of spectrum.

All others SP,LJP,BSP,DMK,Shiv Sena,RLD,BJD,AIADMK,TDP (you can name any that I might have missed and they will all pass litums test of being run by individual/family writ)

BJP and Left are the only 2 political establishments where the individual whims do not steer the organization and some form of structure and decision making process exist (however crude it is - in case of left parties which still run like Communist party in Soviet Union). Left as everyone knows is comprised of bunch of fools who live in denial that world has moved on and that communism will never revive as it revolts against the very spirit of humanity - individual enterprise, competitiveness, a spirit to grow and excel. So that necessarily leaves only one organization that actually befits a democratic nation and that's BJP. With all its flaws - real and media created, it is the best amongst the worst that we have. To be very honest there seems no viable alternative to an uncomplicated mind.

But elections are won and lost not by logic of an uncomplicated mind but by successfully maneuvering the million currents (religious, social, regional, linguistic etc etc) that flows in all directions. It is this complexity that does not make Indian election a "no brainer" and actually makes it a "rocket science".

This brings us to another aspect, which undermines democracy in India and that is importance of political arithmetic and lack of representation, in some other form it is also called "first past the post"

Some shrewd politician who can strike on a strategy to leverage one current and get 10% of the vote in some clusters can actually be a king maker (or king himself). Unfortunaltely we do not have too many bright people, since for last 15 yrs practically every non-BJP party has been largely trying to attract muslim votes and lower caste Hindu votes by some very-very un-imaginative ways. Muslims never vote for BJP and will continue in the same way, but hyper-competitiveness of non-BJP parties actually create a very big dilemma for them to select which way they should turn around. Traditionally they have voted en-block for candidates that have best chance to defeat BJP, but this time around since the landscape is so murky they have no clue where to cast their lot with.

Now where does this leave major issues and agendas that are must for development and growth of a nation? I believe no one actually bothers or talks about it since these factors are not part of the equations that help candidates and parties win election.

Elections are won and lost in India on basis of individuals winning and loosing seats on very localized issues (or national level issues that are easily deconstructed at local levels by cunning politicians) that hardly adds up to a significant national level movement and hence issues like economic reforms and lack thereof, will never become a winner. Every individual or formation that wins are then out in open market for trade and trade offs to form the government.

This brings us to the third most important aspect that renders govt formation in India as undemocratic - the "post election bazaar".

Who had voted for Manmohan Singh as PM, no one I am sure, since he was not in picture till Sonia decided to play the "Christ"! For that matter who had voted for Deve Gowda or ChandraSekar or IK Gujral - who all evenetually became PMs and then there are scores of others like Lalu, Paswan, Mayawati, Jyoti Basu (used to think he can spring from CM to PM without effort), Arjun Singh, Pranab Mukherjee and many others whose name I do not even know, who suddenly become hopeful of filling the top spot as a "compromise candidate". It is a shame that a PM of the country has to be a "compromise candidate" rather than "Best Candidate". Healthy democracy has no space for mediocrity.

It is not just the office of PM that is compromised but every democratic institution that is controlled directly or in-directly by executive. So we have had ministers like Taslimuddin from RJD, who has numerous cases of murder, extortion etc and runs an organized mafia. Shibu Soren - who actually got convicted of murder etc. Arms of govt that should inspire confidence in people by impartiality and propriety like CBI, Judiciary, EC etc, becomes slave to their political masters. There are endless number of components in the chain that have become junk over the years because of abuse by the govt in power and have become appandages or are largely ineffective.

When international media hails India as the largest democracy - there is something that stirs inside all of us, for we know that nothing can be further from truth. If something does not stir then we are actually living in denial or are as un-connected with India as the foreign press.

We cannot excuse all this as part of evolving democracy, when we know that all the politicians are conniving to weaken it further, rather than trying to strengthen it.

How can something get better if all the constituents are trying their best to destroy it! How can a family prosper when the head of household is an alcoholic maniac who is selling family silver for carnal pleasure?

Coalition politics actually represent the worst form of democracy since it represents lack of leadership, absence of vision and visionaries and no cohesion in the society.

India does not show signs of an evolving democracy working hard to overcome teething challenges, rather represents a decaying one, on last stages of a terminal illness. Anyone who thinks otherwise is fooling oneself.