Are We Not a Stupid Democracy.......

These were the questions I once received with the same subject title – (1) What happened to our Nation and when we shall have abundance for all; (2) All problems stem from our Constitution that cannot separate criminals from the rest. It is the very same Constitution that once we celebrated; (3) Biggest Democracy! Where people cannot choose their representatives and leaders are picked by the Boards and common people do not have any say; and (4) Why are we not revolting like the French Revolution. Are we a nation of soft people, born to bear all this shit and would continue doing this, etc, etc.

There is a saying, "when you are around your mother, you do not really feel her absence". Similar is the case. Those who ask the question, are we not a stupid democracy, are, as I feel, really stupid. It’s because they have not experienced the situation in a non-democratic country. They are the privileged sections of our society. My brief answer would be –

(1) What have we done with the extra money we earn beyond our necessity? Have we distributed them among the poor and hungry people? No, it’s easy to say than doing anything concrete.

(2) Its not the Constitution which needs to be blame. It you and I - we the people are to be blame. We should be thankful that this Constitution has provided us the freedom to speak and because of that we are allowed to criticize. Neera Chandhoke (2003) makes a distinction between the authoritarian and democratic countries. According to her, the former grants you the economic rights by providing a comfortable living. However, it snatches away the civil and political rights of the citizens. And this kind of state can also snatch the economic rights of the individuals in society. The citizens lose their right to assert rights. However, the later may not guarantee the luxurious living standard of the authoritarian states, but it does guarantee the citizens to assert their rights in the court of justice. The most marginalized of the citizens can also demand the accountability of the state. Democracy does not guarantee you economic wellbeing; but it does guarantee the civil and political rights to its citizens within the sovereign political territory. Go to the non-democratic/ authoritarian countries and experience; they will tell you what you are and are not allowed to speak. Do not blame the Constitution; blame ourselves that we have not done anything to implement those rights and duties enshrined in the Constitution. Instead, we have twisted them for our personal benefits.

(3) Again, it is not the democratic system to be blame. It is the people who decide how the system would work.

(4) Why do not we revolt? It’s because people like you and me are bonded by patronage relationship. We get our work done through the patron-client relationship and our "self" has been compromised. We have no moral to raise fingers towards others. As explaining the ‘politics of patronage’ in rural Rajasthan, Mr. Ajay S. Mehta (2007) – the Executive Director of NFI – told me, “many, many people over past sixty years have been compromised either with an extra samosa or with an extra muster roll where you have not worked and you have got the wage. If you have got half the wage, you are happy because you got it by standing in the shade. And none of us – civil society activists or voluntary organizations – are telling the workers that this is the way that you are compromising the autonomy”.

To make democracy work, we need to rethink about the structure of power in society. Who holds the power? Who controls the society? To conclude, When authority will make its way to the hands of the autonomous mass, all these questions will lose their relevance.