Is democracy in India in peril ? This is one of the subjects hotly
debated today. Why such doubts arises in the minds of independent
thinking people of India ? Is there any base for such conclusions? Sure
,the events unfolded in the recent past give strong base for such
conclusions.
Democracy doesn’t survive simply simply because of
regular elections .Whether there is opportunity to use their franchise
without fear? In many parts of the country people are prevented from using
their franchise freely . This was very rampent in West bengal ,Thripura
and many part of Bihar.Footages of electoral malpractices are still in
circulation in social media . It is widly reported in the national media
about mismatch of votes polled and votes counted . In the midst of
such a big confusion the election commission went ahead with declaring
the results. It is astonishing to note that even after the laps of two
weeks the EC could not publsh the final figures on the number of votes
polled and number of votes counted!
As stated earlier democracy
doesn’t mean elections only. Its vibrancy lies in the strength of
democratic institutions . Now attempts are underway to undermine all our
constitutional institutions.The process of destabilisation began with
the dismantling of Planning commission,dissolution of UGC, undemining
the statutory powers of RBI, unholy intervention in the functionig of
collegium system for selecting judges of upper judiciary. Even attempts
were made to capitalise the valour and reputation of armed forces for
narrow political gains. Attack on secular ethose dividing society based
on ethnicity , racking up communal passions ,attack on journalists
minorities etc are great challenges faced by Indian democracy. Those
who are interested in healthy dialogue can express there opinions
feely in this platform .