I recently led a discussion on democracy at the immensely successful Community Library Project, at the Deepalaya/Shiekh Sarai library in Delhi. Here are some further thoughts about why, published on
the project blog:
Of, by, for ourselves
It’s the simplest, cleanest,
easiest to remember definition of democracy: Of the people, by the people, and
for the people.
These days, I often think back
to my school Civics book. On the first page was printed the preamble to the
Constitution. I have to confess here that I often feel guilty for not having
read the full text of the Constitution yet. Some day, I tell myself, I will. But
for now, the Preamble alone suffices. The very first line reminds us of what we
set out to be as a nation:
“We, the people of India, having solemnly
resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN, SOCIALIST, SECULAR,
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC…”
And so it goes on to justice, liberty, equality,
fraternity and our other rights and freedoms. But here’s the key thing: we the
people. We gave unto ourselves these rights. We gave ourselves our own
sovereignty and our democracy.
I wonder sometimes if, in our everyday political
discourse, we have not forgotten that democracy is not a gift that anyone
bestows upon us. It is not a handout. It is of our own making, and if it to
survive, then it must be re-made, re-constituted every single day by as many of
us as possible.
One of the ways in which we renew a democracy is
to engage with it. Not just about political events or elections. Democracy is
much bigger than one election, or even 29 + 7 elections.
Democracy is a cultivated habit of thinking and
choosing. Choice is also not just a question of choosing the better party, or
the best candidate. It is also about choosing the best systems, and allowing
ourselves to seek modifications in the electoral system when it serves our
Constitutional ideals better.
India is known as the world's
largest Democracy. This is on the basis of the sheer numbers of people who participate
in the elections. We are also a nation of people that love discussing elections
and politics. Yet, we have very little discussion about whether the core
democratic principle – of the people, by the people, for the people – has been
upheld. For instance, if our elected representatives push through decisions
that are actually opposed by the majority of the population, or if the core
values of equality and social justice are threatened by certain decisions, what
can citizens do?
The response is: wait five years
and punish the politicians. One of the major definitions of a democracy is that
citizens are able to change their government. But what happens if the next lot
also does the same thing? Or, what happens when the same people return to power
via new alignments?
Also, how exactly does the
democratic edifice hold up? Elections give us a Parliament, the state
Assemblies, the Panchayats and municipal corporations. But the average citizen
does not experience Parliament directly. How does democracy filter down the
average citizen?
These are questions that any
committed democracy must engage with, and with that hope, I had gone to Deepalaya
with some notes on Democracy/Loktantra. Organised by the Community Library
Project, the discussion was open to men and women, boys and girls above 18. Those
who joined the discussion included teenagers, mothers, a grandmom, activists
and library volunteers.
One of the areas of shadow in
most political conversations is global suffrage history. I felt quite strongly
that we cannot fully grasp our system, its strengths and weaknesses, unless we
look at how other people have enacted their own versions of democracy and what
it leads to. So we traveled the distance from ancient Greece and Rome to
England to India and Australia.
We had very little time (just
about an hour), but we talked about half a dozen key aspects of democratic
systems – limited forms of suffrage/disenfranchisement, party funding,
preferential voting, protest votes, distance/postal votes, and the role of the
media as the fourth pillar of democracy.
It
was an invigorating hour, edged with questions that spilled over into tea. I am
hoping those conversations are spilling out further, out of the library and
into the suburb, and out into the city, and further, and further.