By Justice Markandey Katju–
(Justice Markandey Katju is a former Judge, Supreme Court of India, and former Chairman of Press Council of India. The views expressed are his own)
The Aam Admi Party has termed the arrest of its leader, Arvind Kejriwal, Chief Minister of Delhi, the “Murder of democracy in India.”
AAP leaders have called for a nationwide protest, and some protests have already taken place. Opposition leaders such as Rahul Gandhi, Sharad Pawar, Mamata Banerji, Akhilesh Yadav, Shashi Tharoor, etc, and a section of the media too are shouting themselves hoarse that Kejriwal’s arrest amounts to the murder of democracy in India.
I am not going into the merits of the charges against Kejriwal, which principally relate to an alleged liquor scam.
In my opinion, the question whether democracy has been murdered in India or not by this arrest arises only if we suppose that there was democracy in India in the first place. Or, is it just a charade or a sham pretending to be democracy?
Former US President Abraham Lincoln defined democracy as a “government of the people, by the people, and for the people.”
Modern democracies cannot be governments of the people. That was only possible in ancient times, such as in Greek city states like Athens, where there was direct democracy. With alarming population growth, people cannot gather together in one forum and rule themselves. Therefore, it has to be a representative democracy.
As for government by the people, this implies that even if there is indirect or representative democracy, the leaders really represent the people, and thus can be equated or identified with the people, not just in the sense of being elected by them, but by working for their welfare, and securing them better lives.
Does this happen in India? Not at all. Our political leaders only seek power and pelf, and do not have any genuine love for the people, nor do they really care for their welfare. To achieve power they polarize society on caste and religious lines, seeking vote banks, for which they incite and spread hatred, an activity in which they are experts.
Is our democracy for the people? Again, the answer has to be in the negative. As I stated above, our politicians work for themselves, or their kith and kin, not for the welfare of the people. This is evident from the fact that even 77 years after Independence, there is massive poverty, record and rising unemployment, appalling level of child malnourishment (every second child in India is malnourished, according to Global Hunger Index), skyrocketing prices of essential commodities like food, fuel and medicines, an almost total lack of proper healthcare and good education for the masses, atrocities on minorities, etc.
So where is the democracy in India, which is said to have been murdered? One cannot murder a ghost, or something that does not exist.
