B L Santhosh

In defense of Indian 🇮🇳 democracy! During Prime Minister Narendra Modi most successful visit to Norway a minor incident happened. A Norwegian journalist demanded that the prime minister starts holding press conferences. She claimed that Indian democracy is in bad shape. May be its time to pause? May be its time to be a bit curious to the world’s largest democracy? Two weeks ago five Indian states and territories held elections. The turn out in the battlefield state of West Bengal was 94%. In the last local election in Norway it was 62%, in many European local elections turn out is below 50%. Can voting in massive numbers be a signal Indians trust their democratic process? In the same election BJP won big in Assam and West Bengal. It lost even bigger in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Can this diversity be a signal that Indian democracy is reflecting the will of the people? The journalist referred to a democracy ranking putting India at 157 in the world, behind many dictatorships and deeply troubled states. When a ranking is so obviously contrary to common sense, why not ask critical questions to those making the ranking rather than demand that leaders shall comment on nonsense? I recommend Salvatore Babones book “Dharma democracy”. The book debunks convincingly the flawed methodology of these rankings. It was referred to a ranking claiming it’s very dangerous to be a journalist in India. Reality is that it is more dangerous to be journalist in the US and far more dangerous in the vast majority of other nations in the world. Let’s be real. India is not perfect. Of course there are incidents. India has a population the size of North America, South America and Europe combined. But India is much more peaceful than Europe or the Americas. That’s remarkable - given the ethnic, language and religious diversity of India and the many development challenges. Unless we consider democracy a form of government only suited for some very small, peaceful and homogeneous Western European nations, may be we should commend Indian democracy? India is the only major former UK colony which became and has remained a democracy. Its sometimes claimed that the Brits taught India democracy. If that was the case why isn’t Myanmar or Pakistan or the Gulf kingdoms democracies??? Reality is that Indian democracy is both homegrown and extraordinary successful.

Recall the Tamil Nadu election verdict? You already had an egg on your face. The people of TN have spoken clearly They won’t let BJP rewrite their mandate .

In a democracy, people decide who will form the Government. People have already decided. Thiru.Vijay will be the CM. BJP is using Governor to ‘buy’ Time and MLAs. Don’t worry, people are with us and buyers like you will have egg of their face.

IMPORTANT: TN governor Rajendra Arlekar has in an official Lok Bhavan release told Vijay and TVK that requisite support has not been established for him to be sworn in. Amidst contrasting precedents, one thing is CLEAR: majorities cannot be decided in Lok Bhavan BUT on floor of assembly. So why is Governor keeping Vijay waiting when no one else is staking a claim? Governor is meant to ensure govts are formed, not block their formation after an election!