They say India is the world's largest democracy. But the 'they' in this case are definitely pundits who do not understand the Indian political infrastructure and ecosystem but leverage the classic dictionary definition to draw conclusions.
While India is a democracy, there is hardly anything democratic about the actual election people in highest offices such as a prime minister (national level) or a chief minister (state level). From media to free speech, everything is driven by power and money. For example, if a new political party were to start from scratch to try and compete in the general elections, it would take years if not decades before the media would even mention them at a national level. There are very few people that have the power and money to keep their political interests alive and ensure that their agenda are a top priorities come elections. Once could easily compare it to an oligarchy vs. democracy.
Rahul Gandhi (raga), the almost certain candidate from the Indian National Congress for the position of being a prime minister comes from the famous Nehru-Gandhi family. His family has been an very influential part of Indian National Congress and Indian politics since the day in 1947 when India became a free nation. While his view points are certainly more modern than the Gandhi generation before him, the fact that he is able to contest for the highest position in India (on paper of course) is a classic example of the hypocritical nature of the system. His qualification and resume would not have made him a candidate worthy of the highest position in the world's largest democracy if he did not come from the Gandhi family.
Narendra Modi (namo), the official prime ministerial candidate from the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) lead National Democratic Alliance. While he does not belong to any famous political dynasty, he has been a part of the national political scene since he became the Chief Minister of the state of Gujarat in 2001. He has lead Gujarat to an economic renaissance since then and the state has flourished under his leadership in every segment. The question about scalability of his revolutionary model to a national level is a legitimate one but is a proven achievement on his resume. His power along withe the backing of BJP do ensure that media does not ask a lot of tough questions which is counter to what should be the case in a real democratic election.
Each of the lead prime ministerial candidates should be asked to respond with a comprehensive plan of action to take on the top challenges facing India on the road to India 2020 and India 2025. Each should provide full detail on how under their leadership India will respond to and overcome challenges such as -
- Education Reform
- Economy
- Infrastructure
- Corruption
- National Security
- Vision for India 2020 and India 2025
Instead of focusing on a strategic vision including agenda items such as key topics above, media is always focusing on the sound bites between candidates, their meetings, their popularity, ability to interview on TV, etc. Why not focus on the candidates ability to put forth a plan that the whole nation can read (this is where media can help by focusing on topics such as above and asking relevant questions) and decide who has the best vision and supporting plan for the years ahead.
This is where the lines between democracy and oligarchy start getting blurred to the extent that the word democracy often feels hypocritical in context of Indian general elections.
