How we are  rated in the world is a cause both for thought and worry

 I have a  word or two on this, this week, read it at leisure and without hurry

And by the way what was so bad or unwanted about Padmavat, I simply wonder

The Karni sena did no good:  for the country or for Rajputs by its needless thunder

             Is India a 'flawed democracy'?

                               

The  other day, The Tribune news item made me sad. The heading was: ‘India slips 10 ranks to 42 on democracy index’. The shocking thing is that this slide  on the global democracy index has happened in just a year. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) we are a ‘flawed democracy’ with an overall score of 7.23 points. We are good on electoral process with a score of 9.17 but have slipped on: political culture, government functioning, political participation and civil liberties. On the freedom of press also India’s score is dismal. Norway, like before, tops the list and countries like New Zealand, Australia, Ireland, Canada, Finland, Switzerland sit and shine among the top 10. Luckily, we are better off than Bangladesh (92), our pesky neighbour Pakistan (110) and worrisome China ((139).
 EIU is a credible UK- based body of 70 years’ standing which makes these evaluations on certain well-known and universally accepted criteria which define democracy. These ratings come handy to foreign investors in deciding which countries would be safe and risk-free for investments.

Days later I read Ramchandra Guha’s thought-provoking essay in the Republic Day Special issue of Outlook magazine dated 5 February 2018 only to feel sadder still. Ramchandra Guha is our well-known historian and an intellectual. He minces no words in expressing his anguish over rapid erosion of India’s democratic values in his piece carried by the magazine. Not just Mr Guha. Increasingly strident and louder voices of dissent and anguish over India’s steady shift from patriotism towards jingoism are emanating from several other quarters as well. And are becoming increasingly audible too.

According to Guha, a distinct line has to be drawn between 'constitutional patriotism' and ‘jingoism’. These are “…two distinct, different, opposed varieties of nationalism. Patriotism is suffused with love and understanding. Jingoism is motivated by hate and revenge.”  The founding features of patriotism, Guha argues, are:

1.      An appreciation of individual and cultural diversity

2.      A readiness to enact one’s citizenship at different levels

3.      The recognition that no religion, nation, or leader is flawless

4.      The ability to feel shame at the crimes of one’s religion, state,                     society or nation

5.      The willingness to learn from other countries

What about jingoism? Its founding features, as Guha points out, are:

1.      The belief that one’s religion, culture, nation and leader are            perfect and infallible

2.      The demonising of critics as anti-nationals and deshdrohis

3.      Violence and lumpenisation, not just abusing your critics                but harassing and intimidating them, through the force              of the state’s investigative agencies and through vigilante             armies if required.

In this lucid essay, Mr Guha also lambasts the Congress party for having let the country down, having promoted and perpetuated dynastic Nehru-Gandhi culture and having “turned its back on its own founders".

Friends, I don’t know how you feel about this diagnosis of our country’s ailing or “flawed democracy”. But when EIS says so and a man of Guha’s standing strikes a similar note, I think we need to sit up and take notice. Well, not just take notice.  Those of us who deem themselves to be patriots and not jingoists must fight to rescue and safeguard our values. Values like “pluralism”, “democracy”, “decency” and “non-violence”. For, these are the values that are enshrined in our constitution...that our great leaders like Gandhi, Tagore and Ambedkar blue-printed for us. And these are the values we all need to imbibe, preserve and foster among ourselves, and will take India forward  on the path to greatness. These are the values that will help India rise in global standing and empower it to rub shoulders with countries like Norway, Iceland, Sweden and Denmark in all the parameters that define a country’s overall wellness.
                  
                                                      

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In passing

"What was all the fuss about?" I asked myself at once after watching Padmavat. It is a neat and clean movie. And quite a good one to watch compared to the trite, trashy stuff habitually served out by the Bollywood’s fan-pampered bigwigs. If anything, the movie just extols Rajputs…maybe a tad too much. What on earth was the ground or reason or justification for the rage, anger, hooliganism, rampage let loose by the Karni sena’s goons and hoodlums? Why did some governments let them run amuck and hold so many cities to ransom? And look, what a roaring success the film has been at the box office. I am sure each and every one who saw the movie had just the same very question in mind after coming out of the theatre: “What was all the fuss about?”

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