Myth # 1 - We are a democracy
Are we really? True, we have elections once in 5 years, but more often than not the choice is between tweedle dee and tweedle dum, both nominated by autocratic leaders. Does any of the parties have a democratic set up? Do they conduct elections of their office bearers or are they nominated by someone in Delhi? How are the candidates selected by the parties for a constituency? Ever heard of a thing called primary, which is common in US and UK, where card holding party members of a constituency vote for the candidate of their choice, who will fight the elections? And who gets elected? A guy who gets 35% of the votes polled, which itself is 60% of the total voters (meaning the winning candidate gets 19.8% of the total votes!!). This means the guy who is elected as MP or MLA has been rejected by 80% of the electorate!!! And we call this guy a 'representative'? Why can't we have a system where we have candidates elected by each party based on primaries, then have a first round of polling, and then allow the top 2 contenders to have a face off in second round, with a minimum 51% of the total votes polled mandatory for election?
The myth of us being a democracy doesnt end there. What happens in Parliament and Assemblies are nothing short of a national disgrace. Hardly any debate takes place, governance is done through ordinances, as no one is bothered about their primary duty, law making. Even a simple thing like a vote of confidence to prove the majority of the government cannot be held with dignity!
Then there are the cases of failed Loksabha candidates entering the parliament through the backdoor - Rajyasabha, by giving fake addresses. Our third longest serving prime minister, Manmohan Singh, has headed the Government for 9 years WITHOUT WINNING EVEN A MUNICIPAL ELECTION!! And then we have our current Finance Minister whose election was rigged and the courts have not found it fit to pass a judgement for the past 3 years, and he has taken decisions that affect millions without a proper mandate. Both A K Anthony and the till recent trouble shooter of the Government, Pranab Mukherjee are/were both not members of the Lok Sabha. And to cap it all, the real decisions are taken by Sonia Gandhi and her cocus who have no statutory rights whatsoever.
And how many States have conducted local body elections and have working gram panchayats? Your guess is as good as mine.
We are not a participative democracy. We need to rechristen ourselves as a Fully Autocratic Limited Democracy
