Democracy - For The People, By The People

We have always been so proud of us being Indian, and of India being a democratic country. Ever boastful of our rights, of our power to elect and decide the fate of our country. We have shown strong emotions on every political, economic and social event that happened around us. We promote and praise NGOs that work for the betterment of under-privileged. Yes, we are a true democracy in every sense of it.

Yes, we do crib about social injustice and corruption that has crept in. We wonder what went wrong and what should be done. Let’s take a step back and look at it. Let’s look at the meaning of democracy and the premise it sets up. Let’s for once be truly proud and appreciate our constitution and the favours it has given to all of us.


Let us re-iterate our fundamental rights, as it should mean to me:

Right to Equality: “I am equal as any other person and so has a right to demand equal favours given to it irrespective of its beliefs, or abilities”.

Right to Freedom: “I am free and thus demand a favour to condemn and stand against any one who restricts my freedom. I am free to choose the way I want to live and where I want to live and thus demand that I be provided the necessities to do so.”

Right Against Exploitation: “I have to stand against any exploitation and thus demand a favour to punish the one who exploits. The specifics of exploitation be left to a moral court, with a basic outline as the gain of individual or small group of people as against the masses.(minority rights)”

Right to Freedom of Religion: “I should uphold my beliefs and thus demand a favour to denounce any one who contradicts it, and has the audacity to say it on my face.”

Cultural and Educational Rights: “I have the right to reciprocate by beliefs and thus demand a favour to help spread it. I demand a favour of admission to any house of knowledge, and thus demand a favour to understand my need and ability.”

Right to Constitutional Remedies: “I should be given a favour of justice against anyone who breaches my fundamental rights. Against the one who doesn’t treat me as equal or exploit me.”

Right to Property: “I have the right to own, and should always be willing to give it up for public purposes. And thus demand a right over any property that can be made to public use.”

The only word where you would have doubted my intentions is when I attached “demand a favour” with every sentence I have used. But isn’t it true. Doesn’t it come as a part of human nature and so is very natural to be in a constitution, by the people and for them? We always tend to create an exception for the under-privileged. We always tend to doubt anyone who has done more than average. Stand united against him to protect our fundamental right to live.

Favour, is what we demand in a democracy. Not as a bribe, but as a right. It is our fundamental right to live and hence no one can ask a “Why” against it. We have earned it because we are born as a human being. It is the duty of all to provide me a living. The one who is capable is not because of his will, intelligence or virtue. It is because I have given him the liberty by not matching or exceeding his abilities. It is I who has chosen to be average and thus provided him a chance to be above average. He has not earned it, but was there at the right time and right place, again not because of his virtues but luck. We cannot accept that someone within our reach has exceeded our abilities. We always denounce one who does not acknowledge us, because we demand an acknowledgement as a right for his success. We always tend to hide behind the screen of social equality to hide our own failures and for not giving us a chance to reach for our dreams. We demand the one with abilities to compare with us. We never ask or expect them to deal with us in anyway but to repay what they have earned from the society back to it.

Anyone famous should give us a right to peep into their life and expect the same to be done by him. We ask then to stand naked as we do in front of them. The problem comes when we encounter someone with lesser abilities than ourselves and he demands the same from us. It is then that we cry foul and start talking.


When choosing our representatives we do the same. The abilities or virtues of a human being do not matter because we cannot see through it. Abilities are nothing but a twist of fate that can usher on anyone and so should be discounted. Virtues are views and change from one to another. The one who denounces someone whom we are not able to condemn openly is virtuous. We expect our leaders to be human and so should be prone to human emotions and errors. We expect a promise of something that we have not earned, without realizing that it is taken away from someone who has earned it.

This is the basic premise set by democracy. A democracy is only as good as the people who make it, only as virtuous as its constituents. If we demand a favor by definition we should be ready to give it. We cannot allow someone to take anything from anyone unless we can volunteer the same from our side. We cannot hate someone for earning more than us unless asking the poorer to condemn us. A relation where one accepts without offering something cannot be real. It can only lead to a democracy like ours, created by us. What is given to us as favors is nothing but a small portion of what is taken away from us.

Let us analyze and see whether some of these events or thoughts have there roots in the way we define fundamental rights and where do they contradict with the way they are stated in constitution. Let us see how we have used the power called constitution

Partition: Well one may argue the role of constitutional rights in partition, But as I see it, it is one event which has its roots deep within. It tried to impart every single right to everyone, Right to Equality, Freedom and Religion. It is even more dangerous as it was done on morality of doing the right thing, justified by sacrifice. Sacrifice has always been the single most indicators of morality and being right.

Reservations: Unearned preferences given to backward classes in the name of equalizing status and in repayment against injustice done to them for generations is a straight forward noncompliance of the first and the very basic right to equality. It clearly shows why a democracy can never give equal rights. The irony is that it is done in the name of these fundamental rights and we believe in it.

Demand for separate states/ formation of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh: Why do we need to have different states if it is our right to move, settle and earn in any part of the country. The demand for new states does not come out of the need of administration but as public revolutions and a cry for a state of there own. Isn’t it a mockery of the right to freedom? Certain political parties and groups oppose others to live and sustain in some part of country in full sunlight solely on the basis of their origin.

Licence Raj: For more than 4 decades after independence, we have seen the full wrath of licence Raj; it looted till there was not enough left. Although regulations are much reduced, it has left a permanent scar on psychology and philosophy of economics rather than economy of India as such. The crime once again done in the name of protection of public and supporting indigenous industries, saving right to freedom and against exploitation. It is one "overbearing, unfair, undemocratic system" gift of democracy.

The list is endless and I will continue to bring up the points and this blog has become big enough. So to conclude do we really understand the meaning of democracy and where is the current form leading us.