India has been regarded as the epitome of the word ‘Democracy’. She has the largest democracy in the world. Inspite of being pluralistic society ‘ multi-lingual,multi-religious,multi-culture,India remained democratic. She has gone through many odds and yet followed the democratic regime which many countries failed to do. Hence it is very much essential to discuss the reasons for the success of democracy in India.
REASONS:
Colonial rule: one of the main reasons being British rule. They introduced democracy to India through the acts of ‘Indian councils act of 1861’,1892,1909,1919 which introduced the concept of legislature. It has transformed India from a provincial state to unified state. It had also invoked the feeling of nationalism among people and became a cause for the birth of many social reform movement. They had also introduced western thought which made the social reformers to question the supreme authority of the Vedas. .English education which was introduced by them, enlightened the Indian minds, helped in revoking the social injustice[sati, child marriage] at that time and thus made Indians to civilise with ideas like fraternity, equality, liberty.It had also introduced Indians to modern and social thought. They have recorded any plan, instruction, policy which was later adapted by the Indian government.
Nationalist movements: Indian national movement invigorated all the people irrespective of their caste,class, religion,creed. Values, modern ideals, socio-economic and political vision of leadership became the basis of these nationalist movements. A vision which involves a democratic, civil libertarian , secular India and leader ship that promoted democratic ideas and institutions in India. They fought mainly for a representative form of government and demanded elections on a democratic basis. They also encouraged the idea of freedom of expression and freedom of press and protected them from the attacks of the state . The Indian national congress[INC] which was formed on 1885, main political organ of the national movement, got evolved on democratic lines. In their debates and discussion they openly welcomed the minority opinions. The leaders of these national movements stressed upon the civil liberties. For example, lokmanya tilak proclaimed that ‘ liberty of the press and liberty of speech give birth to a nation and nourish it’. Hence having an experience of democratic functioning, made easier for them after Independence. Thus the nationalist movements paved way towards the present day democratic regime.
Post ‘ independence scenario: India remained democratic even after Independence. But the emergency period[1975-76] imposed by Indira Gandhi become an exception. However it was through democracy the then ruling party was overthrown. Independence arrived in India not only with multiplicity of heritage but also with partition which has led to a lot of bloodshed. The type of regime that India adopted was not exactly identical to britain’s. it is a mixed parliamentary- bureaucratic authoritarian system inherited from british India. India has also adopted several other aspects from various countries. Consrtitution of India provides special provision to the oppressed classes. By adding ‘secular’ to the preamble, India conveyed that it would not discriminate people on the lines of their religion. This was one of the reasons for the smooth functioning of democracy. Even though it is said that poverty, deep social differences is not conducive for democracy, India defied all the odds and remained democratic.
COMPARING WITH OTHER POST- COLONIAL STATES: There are various countries which failed to maintain democracy. Few of them being Pakistan and Nigeria. Reasons for the failure of democracy in Pakistan were it’s socio-political system, self imposed leaders,inherited politics, feudalism. Pakistan is a feudal state where most of the leaders are feudal lords and establishes their political identity and where millions of people were illiterate ,landless peasants.they could not express their will freely .it would be a will of the landlord. Where as in India,leaders even visit their respective constituencies .Another main reason for the failure of democracy was mass illiteracy. According to 1998 census ,the literacy rate was 43.92% and the literacy rate among the rural population was 33.64%.An economically improverished person would be more worried about how to feed his family rather than about the true spirit of democracy. When people were economically and socially improverished,illiterate they eventually produce corrupt, opportunist leaderaship.where as India was ruled by efficient leaders after Independence which helped to maintain democracy .Moreover Pakistan inherited the british legacy of civil ‘military relations. In addition to that , a coup was took place in 1958 which gave the military the privilege to rule for 33 yrs.elections were always monitored by the military instead of police which shows the influence of military on the state politics.
NIGERIA: got liberated in 1960. After the independence they formed a constitution which provides equality and proportional representation for the multi-ethnic people in central government and ensure stability. But later the tables got turned,in 1966the militarywith the help of external forces seized the power and made a coup against the democratically elected government.The country had an experience of 11 coups.military tried to grab all the executive,legislature,judiciary powers .This unstabilitygave rise to corruption, unemploymentand sharper ethnic identity. In Nigeria leaders were selectedrather than elected,electorates were subjugated rather than liberated and there was no transparency.the ruling power was so weak and ineffective that it haslittle or no control over some parts of its territory.moreover there are othrrt barriers like economic underdevelopment,mass poverty,centralizationof economic and political power. Thus due to all these reasons, the true spirit of democracy could not be achieved
The concept of pluralism that exist in India appears to be an obstacle to democracy but yet that proved to be wrong as India has the largest democracy in the world. India is a developing nation and poverty still exists. To understand the success of democracy ,one should focus on the power distribution rather than the socio-economic factors. The institutions and the functions of democracy was well accepted in India which made it easier. Thus democratization made India more meaningful and has weakened the rigid social inequalities.
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