Quest for democracy

Tunisia's government collapsed, due to food price inflation , unemployment, and WikiLeaks expose. Wikileaks exposed the corruption of Tunisian President's family, and its influence into business in the country, and ability to overstep the rule of law. Protests and discontent toppled Tunisia’s autocratic ruler,Abidine Ben Ali.It was followed by the Egyptian revolution against Hosni Mubarak, president for more than 25 years ever since the assassination of Anwar Sadat.Thirty years of oppression, poverty, and injustice came to the fore and was backed by the Muslim brotherhood movement to overthrow Mubarak.Protesters focused on political issues including police brutality, state of emergency laws, lack of free elections, free speech, corruption, as well as economic issues including high unemployment, food price inflation, and low minimum wages. Arrest of a human right activist triggered the revolt against Gadaffi in Libya .Gadaffi used his military might to crush the protestors.It is note worthy that Gadaffi is also ruling Libya for the past 4 decades.Libyan National council is the rebel body fighting to oust Gadaffi.These kind of movements gained strength through out Middle east and North Africa.There were protests in Beharin Yemen and Iran also.It is widely percieved across the world ,these protests were pro-democracy uprisings against the incumbent governments.Especially countries in South East Asia have percieved the protests as a quest for democracy .It is believed democracies have grown from 40 in 1970 to 121 elctoral democracies in world today.The message to the rest of the world from the Arab world uprise is that unity and solidarity can ovethrow any regime.But the road to democracy is very long. The middle east protestors must remember democracy is not a remedy for all their ills.India is one of the largest and oldest democracies of the world.Our experience shows we have all the maladies they have fought against in their country.But the silver lining is of course the freedom of speech not enjoyed by the Arab world brothern.

Our country has in the recent past witnessed decline from the benchmark in various fields like judiciary,sports administration,corporate ethics and politics.We have observed  corruption, nepotism, scandals in armed forces,Himalayan scams by politicans and bureacrats,undue influence by political lobbysists,horse trading by politicians to remain in power,hawala operations , money laundering by politicans and beureacrats.But all these maladies were brought to light only because of the freedom of expression guaranteed by our democracy.And the Indian public has an option once in every 5 years to elect the ruler of his choice.But the choice can be exercised only to select the lesser evil ,as often said by eminent journalist Cho Ramaswamy.Over the years the Indian electorate has learned to elect the 'best among the worst '.The disturbing factor is there is a decline in voter turn out in elections in democratic countries.More than anything else our democracy provides for ousting an unpopular government through a democratic vote of confidence on the floor of the house.There has been a proliferation of political parties with divergent ideologies in India in the last three decades. This has provided a platform or a space for diverse views from an essentialy diverse population .Gradually single party rule with brutal majority vanished in the states and the fedral government at the centre.Democracy thrived in India because of the coalition governments at the states and centre.No party or leader could become autocratic in a coalition government.Survival of the government depends on compromises and quid pro quo considerations amongst the coalition partners.Instead of coalition I would like to call them as participatory or representative governments.Though democracy is deep rooted in India the decline in ethics among politicans,bureacrats and judiciary is a matter of concern. More than anything else the periodic and regular elections in India have affirmed faith in democracy.India will continue to be the biggest democracy in the Eastern world.