Is Democracy our weakness???

Since a very long time, I was wired to think that democracy is the best way to go as far as governance is concerned. Not just that, as part of my school education(ICSE board, set up by the Cambridge University, London: essesntially a follower of democracy) democracy was touted as next to perfect. While communism and dictatorship is touted as evil warlords of some kind. As I read NCERT recently, it still does. Making me a frog in the pond.

But as I gain more knowledge I see several benefits of a concentrated power at the helm, like in China or in Russia.  Sure there have been massive failures of communism and/or dictatorships around the world, but there are several successful examples as well which our education system often tries to underplay. For eg. the communism in China has been a massive success and I cant stop thinking about it. Under the leadership of various visionaries and now Xi Jinping, China has accomplished the unthinkable. Once upon a time, just like us, China was massively poor country and with a huge illiterate unemployed population- was a big burden. Today almost everyone in China has a job, is educated, lives a good life, and travels in bullet trains. That's the very goal, various Indian Governments have been trying to accomplish since decades. No matter whether UPA or NDA! But with a GDP growth rate falling to 6% in the current quarter none have prevailed to do anything close. Why so??

Are our leaders less talented?? Are our leaders corrupt?? Do our leaders don't care about the nation at large?? The answer is Yes and NO.

Probably a better answer would be- Democracy ties their hands and limits the government's power. We have had several brilliant political leaders- from Indira Gandhi to Atal Bihari Vajpayee. But what has stuck me in the recent days of enlightenment is that having a vision or even an intention is not enough in a democracy like ours. As soon as a government gets elected, it has to start worrying about the next election coming up in 5 years. Hence its policies instead of being future oriented, growth providing hard choices turn out to be mass appeasers in order to win the next election. Which means the Country and its overall development takes second priority and mass appeasement takes first. To be honest its not 100% politicians fault. In fact its basic human nature to worry about power and one's future prospects. So whoever comes in power finds its first priority to be- to stay in Power!! And that's how Democracy works. Theres no denying it or running away from it.

Compared to that, in communism like in China's, there's only one party with absolute power embedded in it, which chooses a visionary leader like Xi Jinping to helm it and makes all it's decision. Theres no election to be won in the next 5 years, there's no mass to be appeased. Hence the development of the entire country as a whole takes the first priority, and theres no one powerful enough to stop the chosen leader from taking bold decisions, however harsh, in view of the proper future if its citizens. That's where Xi Jinping and his predecessors succeded- in delivering rather than advertising. Although agreed there are several shortcomings of this system- ranging from human rights crisis of journalists to ban on religious practises and detention of religious minorities etc.

But the biggest problem with communism or overly concentrated powers into a single person is- finding the right person. Imagine if you vested all the power into an incompoop like Rahul Gandhi or into an egotisitic racist villain like Lord Voldemort (although unlikely) in stead of a visionary like Xi Jinping or Vladimir Putin for example, It all goes down hell form there.

A lot has been said about the current NDA government. With Modi at its helm, a proven leader from Gujrat, who became even more powerful during his second tenure. Reputed journalist portals like The Washington post had articles saying- "Modi should become less powerful with time and not more" and went on to further explain how it would be a disaster for minorities and rest of the world. But to be honest, a powerful, popular leader with a massive mandate is what brings democracy closest to communism in theory, thus bridging the gap, filling drawbacks of both the system and emerging victorious at the end, as long as there's a visionary leader at the helm who puts- the country and its people before his own selfish needs. Theres a powerful leader at the helm to take bold decisions for the country. At the same time his power is checked by various democratic measures to prevent a totalitarian state of government. So the best of both worlds.

Of course this apparently authoritarian form of government is going to come with its own drawbacks. For eg- a political chant of 'Jai Shri Ram' becoming a chant of lynching minorities, or the gau-rakshaks torturing minorities. No system of governance is perfect in the world, is the very theme of this article, and as long as the government is truly trying to resolve this issues using democratic means, I am hopeful of the relative 'Utopia', of which even Mr. Xi Jinping is a very subscriber.

So I wont go to say I'm fully happy with the current central government of our country, in any possible ways. But I'm the most hopeful with Mr. Modi helming our state with full majority than any other leader of his stature- including Rahul Gandhi, Mayawati, Mamta Bannerjee, Akhilesh Yadav etc- essentially all of whom are tainted with several cases of corruption. I would rather have a Hindu nationalist party leading my country than a Corrupt government. The power of Democracy being, when I feel it not working, I can easily throw out Modi and Shah, and NDA at large, to give someone else the chance to lead my precious, beautiful country. Hence concluding, We are enjoying the best of both worlds.

So lets be hopeful and give peace a chance!!!