01-24-2008, 07:09 AM
<b>Quality of democracy is not fine</b>
By Dr P.C. Alexander
The latest annual survey conducted by the New York based Freedom House, a watchdog organisation for democracy, shows that only 90 countries among the 193 countries of the world have been found eligible to be called democracies. Sixty countries are considered as "partly free" and the rest are considered as ineligible to be named free. The criteria for judging whether a country is free or democratic are the generally accepted principles such as free elections, free press, independent judiciary, commitment to human rights, respect for Opposition parties, etc. These criteria cannot be clearly measured in tangible terms, but are reliable indicators about a countryâs commitment to democracy. <b>India, of course, finds a place in the list of democracies, but certain trends which have set in recent years in the functioning of democracy, are causing concern about the state of the strength and stability of democracy and of its future in India.</b>
The most important among the causes of concern is the increasing tendency in India for substituting elections with nominations within political parties. It is an axiomatic truth that no democracy can be considered as healthy and sound unless there is a healthy and sound party system based on inner party democracy with regular elections at all levels of the party hierarchy. <b>With the exception of a few, practically every political party in India has found it convenient to dispense with elections and to resort to nominations by the partyâs high command. </b>
Whenever elections are held (which have become now rare occasions) they are more "command performances" at the behest of the high command than free exercise of the will of the members of the party. Much has been said and written about this trend in the last quarter of a century, but very little has been done to correct it. <b>If political parties continue to replace elections with nominations, it may not be very long before India finds its place in the list of "partly free countries."</b>
An equally disturbing trend in India, today, is to treat political parties as instruments for manoeuvring for power without any consideration for principles or ideologies. There is nothing wrong in considering acquisition of power as the main objective of political parties in democratic countries, but it is important that the means for it have to be clean and fair. <b>The tendency, however, is to go ahead with the chase for power without bothering about any principles. </b>
Several instances of compromises on principles can be cited to prove the dangers involved in the practice of politics bereft of principles. When the Morarji Desai government collapsed in 1979, Charan Singh the number two leader in the Janata Party, had no compunctions to form a coalition government on the basis of the offer of support from the Congress from outside. The Congress had been the target of the harshest and severest criticism by him till then, but all these were set aside in the pursuit of the prime ministerial chair. Charan Singh had to resign without facing Parliament even for a day, as it became clear to him that the offer of support made by the Congress was only a snare to ensure the fall of the Janata regime. In 1989, the National Front government of V.P. Singh was kept floating through the support given to it by two political groups, the Leftists and the BJP, which had nothing in common with V.P. Singhâs party except their common anti-Congressism. Then followed another unprincipled arrangement by which Chandra Shekhar who had just 54 MPs in a Parliament of 543 formed a government with the offer of support by the Congress Party from outside. This government could not last even six months and it collapsed because of the withdrawal of support by the Congress.
After the 2004 elections, the Congress Party which had only 145 members in the Lok Sabha chose to form a coalition government on the support of a group of Left parties led by the CPI(M) from outside, even though the history of governments based on support from outside had been quite discouraging. The CPI(M) and the Congress are bitter political rivals in West Bengal and Kerala, the only two major states where the CPI(M) is in power, but neither it nor the Congress had any inhibitions in entering into an agreement for running the government with CPI(M)âs support from outside. <b>This has led to the incongruous position of the CPI(M), which secured just 5.5 per cent of the votes in the general elections, exercising veto over several important measures, which the Congress, which had secured 26.7 per cent of the popular votes, wanted to implement.</b> But the Congress has been putting up with this thoroughly frustrating handicap <b>because of its keenness to remain in power. </b>
The political developments in some of the states also, in recent months, have served to expose how politics has been reduced to a game of chasing power without any respect for principles. In Karnataka, the JD(S) had no hesitation in going back on its pledged word that it would support the BJP in leading the government during the second part of the tenure of the coalition. Though political pundits have been asserting that in future no political party will make any alliance with the JD(S), no one need be so categorical in making such forecasts in the present state of political morality in our country. On the other hand, one can safely predict that if JD(S)âs support is found necessary again to form a government in Karnataka, there may not be any hesitation on the part of the parties aspiring to form the government to secure such support forgetting JD(S)âs past record about keeping its word.
The recent developments in Goa where attempts were made to bring down the government through resignation by some MLAs, again illustrate how principles have little place in politics in India now. The reports in the media show that "the crisis has been satisfactorily resolved" but there may not be many takers for such assurances. Since these are crises which arise in the fight for power without any basis of principles, it will be difficult to believe that the crisis is really over.
<b>An unfortunate aspect of the Goa crisis has been the controversial conduct of Constitutional authorities like the speaker and the governor, particularly the latter.</b>
The governorâs action in proroguing the Assembly before it could pass the Appropriation Bill has invited the criticism that he was helping a government which had lost its majority to buy time for its survival. Such an action by the governor is not anything new; the memories of similar decisions in states like UP, Jharkhand, Bihar, etc., are quite fresh in our memory.
<b>The danger that democracy in India faces today is that most politicians seem to believe that departing from the norms of decency and fairness are part of the political game and therefore not anything to be overly worried about. If this feeling gains general acceptance in the country, we may end up by having the shell of democracy minus its true content and quality without even our being conscious of it. </b>
<i>Dr P.C. Alexander was the Governor of Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu and is at present a member of Rajya Sabha </i>
By Dr P.C. Alexander
The latest annual survey conducted by the New York based Freedom House, a watchdog organisation for democracy, shows that only 90 countries among the 193 countries of the world have been found eligible to be called democracies. Sixty countries are considered as "partly free" and the rest are considered as ineligible to be named free. The criteria for judging whether a country is free or democratic are the generally accepted principles such as free elections, free press, independent judiciary, commitment to human rights, respect for Opposition parties, etc. These criteria cannot be clearly measured in tangible terms, but are reliable indicators about a countryâs commitment to democracy. <b>India, of course, finds a place in the list of democracies, but certain trends which have set in recent years in the functioning of democracy, are causing concern about the state of the strength and stability of democracy and of its future in India.</b>
The most important among the causes of concern is the increasing tendency in India for substituting elections with nominations within political parties. It is an axiomatic truth that no democracy can be considered as healthy and sound unless there is a healthy and sound party system based on inner party democracy with regular elections at all levels of the party hierarchy. <b>With the exception of a few, practically every political party in India has found it convenient to dispense with elections and to resort to nominations by the partyâs high command. </b>
Whenever elections are held (which have become now rare occasions) they are more "command performances" at the behest of the high command than free exercise of the will of the members of the party. Much has been said and written about this trend in the last quarter of a century, but very little has been done to correct it. <b>If political parties continue to replace elections with nominations, it may not be very long before India finds its place in the list of "partly free countries."</b>
An equally disturbing trend in India, today, is to treat political parties as instruments for manoeuvring for power without any consideration for principles or ideologies. There is nothing wrong in considering acquisition of power as the main objective of political parties in democratic countries, but it is important that the means for it have to be clean and fair. <b>The tendency, however, is to go ahead with the chase for power without bothering about any principles. </b>
Several instances of compromises on principles can be cited to prove the dangers involved in the practice of politics bereft of principles. When the Morarji Desai government collapsed in 1979, Charan Singh the number two leader in the Janata Party, had no compunctions to form a coalition government on the basis of the offer of support from the Congress from outside. The Congress had been the target of the harshest and severest criticism by him till then, but all these were set aside in the pursuit of the prime ministerial chair. Charan Singh had to resign without facing Parliament even for a day, as it became clear to him that the offer of support made by the Congress was only a snare to ensure the fall of the Janata regime. In 1989, the National Front government of V.P. Singh was kept floating through the support given to it by two political groups, the Leftists and the BJP, which had nothing in common with V.P. Singhâs party except their common anti-Congressism. Then followed another unprincipled arrangement by which Chandra Shekhar who had just 54 MPs in a Parliament of 543 formed a government with the offer of support by the Congress Party from outside. This government could not last even six months and it collapsed because of the withdrawal of support by the Congress.
After the 2004 elections, the Congress Party which had only 145 members in the Lok Sabha chose to form a coalition government on the support of a group of Left parties led by the CPI(M) from outside, even though the history of governments based on support from outside had been quite discouraging. The CPI(M) and the Congress are bitter political rivals in West Bengal and Kerala, the only two major states where the CPI(M) is in power, but neither it nor the Congress had any inhibitions in entering into an agreement for running the government with CPI(M)âs support from outside. <b>This has led to the incongruous position of the CPI(M), which secured just 5.5 per cent of the votes in the general elections, exercising veto over several important measures, which the Congress, which had secured 26.7 per cent of the popular votes, wanted to implement.</b> But the Congress has been putting up with this thoroughly frustrating handicap <b>because of its keenness to remain in power. </b>
The political developments in some of the states also, in recent months, have served to expose how politics has been reduced to a game of chasing power without any respect for principles. In Karnataka, the JD(S) had no hesitation in going back on its pledged word that it would support the BJP in leading the government during the second part of the tenure of the coalition. Though political pundits have been asserting that in future no political party will make any alliance with the JD(S), no one need be so categorical in making such forecasts in the present state of political morality in our country. On the other hand, one can safely predict that if JD(S)âs support is found necessary again to form a government in Karnataka, there may not be any hesitation on the part of the parties aspiring to form the government to secure such support forgetting JD(S)âs past record about keeping its word.
The recent developments in Goa where attempts were made to bring down the government through resignation by some MLAs, again illustrate how principles have little place in politics in India now. The reports in the media show that "the crisis has been satisfactorily resolved" but there may not be many takers for such assurances. Since these are crises which arise in the fight for power without any basis of principles, it will be difficult to believe that the crisis is really over.
<b>An unfortunate aspect of the Goa crisis has been the controversial conduct of Constitutional authorities like the speaker and the governor, particularly the latter.</b>
The governorâs action in proroguing the Assembly before it could pass the Appropriation Bill has invited the criticism that he was helping a government which had lost its majority to buy time for its survival. Such an action by the governor is not anything new; the memories of similar decisions in states like UP, Jharkhand, Bihar, etc., are quite fresh in our memory.
<b>The danger that democracy in India faces today is that most politicians seem to believe that departing from the norms of decency and fairness are part of the political game and therefore not anything to be overly worried about. If this feeling gains general acceptance in the country, we may end up by having the shell of democracy minus its true content and quality without even our being conscious of it. </b>
<i>Dr P.C. Alexander was the Governor of Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu and is at present a member of Rajya Sabha </i>