The west has given the world many ideologies – Capitalism, socialism, liberalism, fascism to name a few. Some of them proved to be malevolent for mankind but a few proved otherwise. The most profound idea that it ever gave was the idea of democracy - the idea that people could rule themselves through an elected representative. The fact that the democracy originated more than 2500 years ago, just indicates the level of sophistication the Greek thought and civilization had achieved. This is not to say democracy is the best level of governance, it is in fact not. But nevertheless, it is arguably the best form of governance among all available, conceivable options.
Cutting through all the lengthy explanations, what is the core of democracy? Abraham Lincoln simplified it for us “It’s a form of government – by the people, for the people and of the people”. To simplify further, it’s apt to say that it empowers people. In other forms of government, power rests with a very few people or a clique but in democracy it’s with everyone. Now, we know with power comes responsibility. We’ll come to that part a bit later.
Now consider the situation in India. There is hardly anyone who doesn’t complaint about the politicians of India. Begin a political discussion anywhere; all you get to hear is unending lamenting on the contemporary political scenario and the mess the politicians have made out of India, which was once a great land. Some go to an extent of calling it a kakistocracy. But, is it really so? Let us see. I am not going to quote Cleisthenes or Karl Popper or someone of that sort to make a point. But instead, watch this video.
This is the video from one of the world’s greatest stand-up comedians of all time: George Carlin. Now, if you did not watch the video, let me give you the transcript:
Now, there's one thing you might have noticed I don't complain about: politicians. Everybody complains about politicians. Everybody says they suck. Well, where do people think these politicians come from? They don't fall out of the sky. They don't pass through a membrane from another reality. They come from American parents and American families, American homes, American schools, American churches, American businesses and American universities, and they are elected by American citizens. This is the best we can do folks. This is what we have to offer. It's what our system produces: Garbage in, garbage out. If you have selfish, ignorant citizens, you're going to get selfish, ignorant leaders. Term limits ain't going to do any good; you're just going to end up with a brand new bunch of selfish, ignorant Americans. So, maybe, maybe, maybe, it's not the politicians who suck. Maybe something else sucks around here... like, the public. Yeah, the public sucks. There's a nice campaign slogan for somebody: 'The Public Sucks. F*ck Hope.
Just substitute ‘India’ in the place of ‘America’, it perfectly fits in. I’ll add a few more adjectives to what Carlin has said: If you have docile, passive, corrupt, insensitive population all you get is exactly similar kind of politicians. So, I find it unfair to blame only politicians for all the mess that India is. People share equal blame, if not more.
The primary problem seems that the idea of democracy hasn’t seeped completely into the minds of the people and there were no momentous efforts from the concerned leadership after getting freedom. So, many people are still the same old feudalistic mindset and democracy has become a make-believe idea. Democracy won’t work like that. It works only through people’s active, responsible participation which severely lacks in India. Coming to responsibility, as I mentioned early with power comes responsibility. If there are inept leaders, perhaps the responsibility is not handled properly by the populace.
If you have corrupt, inept leaders, perhaps the large chunk of population comprises that kind of people. To give an analogy: all these politicians are like samples taken from the large data pool of entire population. They do represent the population at large. In democracy, we get what we deserve. Nothing is undeserved. So, all the politicians you loathe, hold them in contempt are perhaps deserved after all.
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