Team Herald
VASCO: Noted Indian historian Dr Ramchandra Guha said that democracy in India is in danger of being reduced to ‘Elections only Democracy’. He said that in fact it is high time that democracy has to be married with diversity.
Guha was addressing the students of BITS Pilani Campus, Sancoale during the convocation ceremony on Sunday.
“Unfortunately in our country, both the major parties including Congress and the BJP and even the regional parties are in danger of reducing democracy to what I call ‘Elections Only Democracy’,” Guha said.
He opined that presently elections are completely free and fair as proved by the election commission last week in the Gujarat Rajya Sabha case.
“Today the Election Commission is correctly regarded as the competent transparent and non-corrupt institution. But democracy should be above and more than elections,” he said adding, “We are in danger of reducing democracy to have elections where somebody wins and then for the next five years that person or that government feels that they are immune to criticisms.”
“This is happening not only at Central level but at the State level too. I feel that democracy has to be cherished; it has to be deepened and be married with diversity,” he said.
Apart from Sri Lanka, he said, India is the only country in the post-colonial world that has consistently held regular free and fair elections since Independence.
