One of the reasons why we are not a mature democracy is because our political parties do not believe in democracy, despite paying lip service to it.
In Britain, for example, whose political system we have adopted, the leader of the party is elected through a ballot, and there are many rounds of polling, till the winner is assured of at least 51% of votes. Note how Ed Milliband outwitted his brother David Milliband to become the Labour Party leader a few months back. And candidates for each constituency is elected based on primaries. And there are certain limits to the tenure. The US President cannot hold office for more than 2 terms. This allows for leadership at various levels to grow.
Contrast this with India. Congress hardly conducts any elections. Sonia has unanimously elected for the 5th time in a row. No one knew what was the election process, if at all there was one. Technically the PM and the CMs are to be elected by the party's parliamentary party members. But hey no! Every single time, this group of MP's and MLA's 'authorize' Sonia Gandhi to 'nominate' a PM or CM, who turns out to be not acceptable to any one in the end. The case of Kiran Reddy in AP is the latest example. Same is true of all the other parties, whether it be BJP, CPI (M), SP, BSP, DMK, AIADMK, TDP, BJD, RJD ................... All the political parties are one leader centred who in turn rules like an autocrat. Is it any wonder that our Parliamentariens pay scant respect to democratic traditions, debates, raising public issues, maintaining decorum, accountability? This also sees, people close to the leader, who do not have mass support hold constitutional positions, our PM being a classic example He is yet to be elected to the Lok Sabha. He owes his position to Sonia Gandhi, and his tenure is at her discretion, and not at people's. Why then should he care about the common man?
The Election Commission has wide ranging powers including ensuring elections in various political parties. But they are found wanting in implementing this when it comes to political parties internal functioning.
There is a leadership vaccum at various level in our country. It is not because we lack people with leadership qualities, but the leaders dont get an avenue to show their leadership qualities. This needs to be corrected if we were to become a super power one day.
