Friday, May 26, 2006

Proud of Our democracy

Two events involving our political leaders took place nearly side by side. One was marriage of Lalu Yadav’s daughter; the other was the sad demise of Pramod Mahajan.

Though both were simple events, common to the life of any society, but they conveyed a special message. Leaders cutting across party lines were present in both. The bitterness of politics was nowhere to be seen in Nitish Kumar blessing the daughter of Lalu or Sonia Gandhi giving condolences to Pramod Mahajan They must have criticized each other severely in public debates, thrown abuses, charged each other of corruption, yet they all realize the difference between personal life and professional life. Isn’t it democracy, to have ideological differences, to criticize policies, yet being together in times warranting it.

The magic of democracy is that though the surface looks turbulent full of clashes and differences, the stream is calm at depth, accommodating all conflicting views, giving space to everyone according to his hold on society. Every contender identifies the legitimacy of those in power owing to the public support and thus avoiding any bitterness, a virtue which can never be implanted in any dictatorship.

This is certainly a good sign of healthy Indian democracy, an institution in which issues are contested, not human beings.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Anurag,
U touched some thing not highlighted very often, but you know you have to be extremely optimistic to really believe in something like it.

The current events in the Indian Politics have been very disappointing and if you could still see light at the end of tunnel- I wholeheartedly wish you were right.

Anonymous said...

May be I sound a bit too optimistic...

Wiston Churchill once said about Democracy "It is the worst form of governance but only better than all other forms ever tried!"

Anonymous said...

Agreed..