Proactive civil society vital for healthy democracy

The state of democracy in a country is not measured by the self-congratulatory statements of power holders, but by the role civil society plays in protecting and defending democracy. All societies are politically organised into the state, but not all states possess civil societies. Civil societies flourish in nations that cherish constitutional democracy. Even democratic governments possess an inherent tendency to augment power at the expense of people’s rights. This propensity has to be controlled by civil society.

The task is admittedly difficult. Political theorists are wary of two factors that can cripple democratic life: demagogues and brute majorities. Addressing the Constituent Assembly on November 25, 1948, BR Ambedkar warned his colleagues and the country that we can only maintain democracy when we observe the warning that liberal philosopher John Stuart Mill had issued to all who are interested in the maintenance of democracy. People should not “lay their liberties at the feet of even a great man, or to trust him with powers which enable him to subvert their institutions. There is nothing wrong in being grateful to great men who have rendered life-long service to the country but there are limits to gratefulness.” He quoted Irish patriot Daniel O’Connell: “No man can be grateful at the cost of his honour… and no nation can be grateful at the cost of its liberty.”

But “in India, bhakti, or, what may be called the path of devotion or hero worship, plays a part in its politics unequalled in magnitude by the part it plays in the politics of any other country in the world. Bhakti in religion may be a road to salvation of the soul. But in politics, bhakti or hero worship is a sure road to degradation and to eventual dictatorship.” Ambedkar’s warning was prescient, for Indians have revealed a troublesome propensity to hero-worship leaders they see as strong and decisive.

Attempts to tame power have not always proved successful. In many countries, Constitutions have been periodically dumped, replaced by another one, and then replaced by yet another one. In other democracies, the political elite has bended Constitutions to their will, aided by complicit judiciaries and a media that kneels before power. In other cases, Constitutions have been deployed to camouflage authoritarian governments.

Yet, even authoritarian rulers are reluctant to dispense with a Constitution. For, a Constitution casts a veneer of legitimacy over the exercise of power. It translates raw power into moral authority.

It is true that when democracies lapse, Constitutions and authoritarian practices wend their own way with little prospect of intersection. But it is equally true that we can recognise the derailment of democracy only if we possess a Constitution. The Constitution, in a significant sense, provides a guide to democracy, acts as a check on anti-democratic politics, protects the rights of people, and, above all, provides a criterion for judging the state of democracy or the lack thereof.

Given that the state is a condensate of power, it is even more important that civil society protects the Constitution. In this context, the statement issued by people’s movements, trade unions and social associations on the eve of the meeting of the G20 foreign ministers in New Delhi is laudable. The statement points out that G20, which includes some of the most powerful governments in the world, fails to note the extent of poverty, ill-health and want in the Global South.

The Indian government, instead of banishing the poor and their hovels from public view to beautify cities, should use the forum to raise issues of injustice done to the disadvantaged people of the Global South.

But there is little hope that our government will even try to raise these issues in global forums simply because it has allegedly used national institutions to harass and jail opponents and human rights defenders, muzzle dissent and suppress independent media.

G20 has provided a platform to governments of the Global South, but these governments have failed to represent the interests of vulnerable people across the world. G20 looks after an unequal monetary system that serves the interests of the global capital and the political elite. It represents powerful interests, but disdains representing the interests of the powerless.

As for the Indian government, slogans that the country is the centre of diversity and the mother of democracy do not hide the displacement of the poor and their rude hovels from the gaze of foreign visitors.

Incidentally, India can hardly be called the mother of democracy. A limited form of democracy was born in ancient Athens. ‘Demos’ is a Greek word. Democracy took root in India when secular, democratic Indians began to struggle for Independence and when they authored one of the finest Constitutions in the world. The Constitution belongs to the Indian people and civil society has the legitimate right to point out abuses of power and violations of human dignity in national and global forums.

There was a time when India led the Global South to challenge the agenda of powerful nations. Today, we are overexcited by the fact that it is India’s turn to take over a rotational presidency. The cost of the show that is planned to impress representatives of other countries is borne by those who, already wracked by want, have been deprived of shelter.