Is India’s democracy sinking?

          

Democracy is a system of government that provides the authority to people for choosing their representatives directly through their voting rights. “ Democracy is the government of the people, by the people, and for the people” was quoted by Abraham Lincoln. Freedom and democracy are interrelated to each other can be used interchangeably.

India’s Democracy

India is the largest democratic country in the world. After the Independence of India on 15 August 1947, India became a Republic, Sovereign, and Democratic country. Democracy literally means freedom but there is a certain constraint ( they are basically offense or crimes). The democracy of India was one of the most influential examples of the democratic country but from the past few decades, India’s democracy is being in a crumbling state. There are also few instances in the later 20^th century where India’s democracy was challenged but in the 21st-century democracy has been declining stiffly.

Swedish V-Dem Institute’s Democracy Report

It has stated that the health of Indian democracy under the leadership of incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi has caused some concerns. The report has moaned the waning of the democracy global and has also stated that India’s democracy is on the brink. Shrinking space for the media, opposition, and civil society is the major cause of the decline of democracy in India.

Why India’s Democracy on the brink?

The opposition of the government in a democratic country is the largest factor that makes a country full democratic but in India opposition is being oppressed in many ways. Media is termed as the fourth pillar of democracy but these days media are busy in spreading the propaganda of the government.

On September 4, 2020, in Madhya Pradesh, students and youth started a campaign for demanding the government to release the vacancies for the vacant posts in different government institutions and release the results of previously held competitive examinations. It was the right of those youth to get the attention of the government but you know they were beaten and some of them who were leading were taken into custody. I agree that they broke the rule of social distancing but lathi charging was not the only option, they could have co-operated with them and made them follow social distance.

On September 10, 2020, peasants of Haryana ran a campaign against the government rules of Minimum Support Price (MSP) is formulated and to be implemented in the coming days. The peasants running the peaceful movement but here also the same thing took place they were beaten and were pushed back. Peasants were also not following the rule of social distancing but it doesn’t mean they should be beaten for the same.

If these protestors are being beaten for protesting peacefully then what is the role of being a democratic country where one can’t share their grievance through campaigns. There are many instances where the political parties have gathered in large numbers then they were not being beaten. So, these are the partiality that is done by the government. So, it is an alarming condition and people of India should be aware of the coming days.