India's democracy in crisis, says V K Singh

Former Army Chief General V K Singh today said the democratic polity and foundations of the Indian republic are in a “serious crisis”, rueing the absence of consensus among mainstream political parties on governance issues.

Singh, who retired three months ago and has since lent his voice to Anna Hazare’s anti-graft movement, also said  corruption in the country has spread like “cancer” and was prevalent everywhere.

“It will not be an understatement to say that our democratic polity and foundations of our republic are in serious crisis,” he observed, and said the problems must be understood and rectified to take the nation-building process forward.

“Corruption has spread like cancer to eat into the vitals of the country ... It is everywhere,” he told a national conference on ‘Eradication of Corruption : Social Responsibility and Challenge’ here.

“The scourge has become so pervasive that it has become quite legitimate for a person to say give me money, I will give you work,” Singh said, adding it pained him that this was in sharp contrast to the time when freedom fighter Subhash Chandra Bose exhorted countrymen to fight for freedom with his call.