Is Indian Democracy Delusional?
So turn on prime time TV news channels and you are most likely to observe that at least one or two channels are debating democracy. Some of them will try to prove that India is lucky to have a perfectly smooth running democracy, something that was earlier thought to be mere a utopia. Some will try to prove that it is exactly the opposite.
Unfortunately, it is very tough to find a reliable news channel which lies on the line on neutrality.
But the heading is about democracy and not media so let’s hop on that.
Well, I think that our democracy is functioning well but with some flaws. On some level, the government plays the victim card, of being the most abused and attacked PM and government in the history of Indian democracy, which, in my opinion, is true as well.
But on the other hand, Pawan Jaiswal, a reporter from NDTV was not only charged with serious crimes but also imprisoned after he reported that children in UP’s Mirzapur are being provided with Salt and Roti as their Mid-day meal.
I don’t know if there can be any possible justification for this, but the people who complain about democracy slowly vanishing from India, never happen to raise such issues.
Most of their allegations are only as real as fairy tales. Yes, we are not living in the kind of vibrant democracy we are supposed to be living in. But I blame the media and opposition more than the government for this.
On one hand, channels and media houses like Republic network and Zee news are always working on propaganda to divide the nation and to prove that the BJP rule is like Ram-Rajya. On the other hand, NDTV fails to win the trust of people due to their own narratives. Many times, they are highly objectionable.
And the condition of the opposition is worse, they are either busy in entertaining the people or making the situation pathetic, by doing things which further reduces people’s trust.
According to me, most of the things that this government does are by the books, but we should not forget that the same thing happened in Reichstag during the Third Reich.
And talking about the law, there were laws of witch trials in medieval Europe.
Press conferences by the PM used to happen in the pre-Modi era, and now, the interviews are just the perfect example of flattery.
So in 2021, out of the many things that I can hope for my country and myself is better democracy.