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A week from now, the world's biggest celebration of democracy begins. Over 700 million eligible Indians are registered to vote for the country's 15th Parliament in five phases over a period of one month. Three states will also go to the polls to elect local governments. There are seven national political parties, over 30 regional ones, and a 1,000 other parties that the Election Commission lists as registers but unrecognized. The two main national parties are the centralist and grand old Indian National Congress (Congress in short), and the Hindu nationalist, right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Easily the most colorful and raucous elections anywhere in the world, these polls are an exercise of mammoth proportions. To keep this digestible, I'll stick to three tricky aspects that interest me -- multi-party democracy, women and the Internet.
A Fractured Democracy? A "democracy index" put together by The Economist (Economist Intelligence Unit's Index of Democracy 2008) ranks 165 independent states and two territories under four categories of full democracies, flawed democracies, hybrid regimes, and authoritarian regimes. The ranks are based on electoral process and pluralism; civil liberties; the functioning of government; political participation; and political culture. India placed 35th but was categorized as a flawed democracy. (The U.S. was ranked 18 as a full democracy).
I say, not bad. Not bad at all for a 62-year-old democracy like none other. For those who wonder why India is so hard to comprehend or govern, try to imagine the European Union as one country. That's the closest one can get to start picturing the radically diverse forces that tear at a country's core. Had it not been for a vision of India that our founders had and worked toward, India could easily have been group of over 20 countries. As historian Ramachandra Guha points out in this BBC article, not many had imagined India would survive for long as a democracy. It has and is thriving.
Now that democracy as a fundamental system of governance has been established, the debate has shifted to our multi-party framework. India's political fabric is interwoven with several players based on region, language, caste and religion. That splits the vote wide enough to force the two major national parties to form coalition governments, which, people have argued, has made governments unstable and dependent on keeping the regional coalition partners happy at the cost of important national policies. Calls to bar regional parties from participating in the general elections have been on the rise. Calls for a two-party system like the U.S. are picking up.
I don't think that will work in India for two reasons:
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Had the national parties been able to meet the aspirations of people across India, regional/caste-based parties would not have flourished in the first place. Millions of Indians are feeling left out. They need their voices heard. Caste, regional and religious issues are very much alive. They are on the wane, but nevertheless in practice.
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The only way India as a nation will survive and remain united is if diverse groups feel free to express themselves. No single party has thus far been able to achieve that. Not just regions, now several independent candidates and smaller parties are entering the fray to deal with issues like education and corruption. In fact, over the years, regional parties have been gaining ground as national parties have been losing their sheen. It will be a while before all Indians feel they have access to a good, free life, no matter who they are, where they come from, what language they speak or what religion they follow. Until then, regional parties will retain their appeal and stature.
Arguing in favor of regional parties, Covert magazine editor Seema Mustafa writes in her Rediff.com column:
It is time for the elite to shed its prejudice and intolerance, and realise that India is best represented through the regional parties. And that if these did not exist, violent struggles would have broken out in different parts of the country as the deprived are learning to recognise their rights and are not willing to be shackled and silenced by a two party system that does not meet their aspirations and does not recognise them as equals.
