A watershed moment in America

A lady asked Benjamin Franklin as he emerged out of the Constitutional Convention on September 18, 1787, “Well, Dr Franklin, what have you given us -- a republic or a monarchy?” Pat came a memorable reply, “A republic, if you can keep it.”  

America, the land of immigrants, of hope and freedom, the world’s oldest democracy, has come close to losing that precious asset a few times. In 1861, a bloody civil war erupted between the north and the south on the issue of slavery, tearing the nation asunder. A few southern states seceded from the union when President Abraham Lincoln opposed slavery. The war lasted four years, leaving more than half a million dead on both sides, but fortunately, with the defeat of the southern armies, the union was preserved and slavery ended. 

Lincoln, steadfast and courageous, saved the US from disintegrating. His words still resonate: “I believe all men are created equal. A nation cannot remain half-slave and half-free...As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master...This expresses my idea of democracy...The people are the rightful masters of both congresses and courts -- not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert it.” 

In January 2021, Donald Trump, the 45th President of the United States, came dangerously close to wrecking the republic. His second impeachment was for inciting an insurrection with an attack on the Capitol. Trump was the first presidential candidate in US history who refused to concede defeat even after the electoral college officially declared Joe Biden the winner in 2020. Fair elections and peaceful transfer of power are at the very heart of a democracy. The great republic almost careened off the precipice. 

America is set to elect a new president in November. Donald Trump, now a convicted felon awaiting sentence and ensnared in many more civil and criminal cases, is once again the Republican Party’s presidential candidate. Unlike in Indian politics, though, he was not anointed by a party high command but won his nomination through hard-fought Republican primaries over 18 months, thanks to the fanatical following he enjoys, which allows him to wield power over the party. Many fear that if Trump is elected again, American democracy will be in peril. 

Trump’s poll ratings widened over President Joe Biden’s after the latter’s disastrous performance during the first presidential debate. A chorus of Democratic voices rose, urging Biden to drop out of the race and nominate Vice President Kamala Harris as the party’s presidential candidate. The leaders put the party and the future of the country ahead of their loyalty to Biden. The party rallied behind Kamala. Her poll ratings have zoomed past Trump in key states. Can we imagine any party member daring to challenge their party supremo in India for a higher cause? 

It is an Obama-esque watershed moment again – Kamala Harris, of African and Indian descent, could well be the first woman President of the greatest democracy and the richest and most powerful nation in the world!   

Watching the turbulent US election, my mind tossed back to India. During Modi’s first two terms, India was seen by global democracy-trackers as an “electoral autocracy” at best. It may not have been appropriate to compare India with either the Saudi Arabian regime or of Pakistan, but the point was not lost that Modi was widely viewed in the mature democracies as being excessively vindictive and autocratic in using investigating agencies against Opposition leaders, activists and journalists who were critical of him and arresting them under stringent laws that made bail difficult. 

It was charged that under his watch, India’s Muslims had been relegated to second- class status as citizens. Vigilante justice by mobs and excesses against Muslims by BJP governments in the states became frequent and undisguised, polarising society along communal lines. The judiciary seemed captive to the executive. The secular republic seemed to roll inexorably toward a de facto Hindu Rashtra. A fear psychosis gripped the minorities and insecurity rose among the Dalits, who saw the Modi regime as a coup of the upper castes who control the RSS and feared that it would amend the Constitution to abolish reservations. 

The temptation of strong leaders to emasculate and eliminate the Opposition by incarcerating them and tying them up in innumerable litigations, freezing their access to funds, hampering their ability to fight elections on a level playing field, may be irresistible, but it is fraught with immense risk and has ‘karmic’ consequences. In the absence of a strong and vibrant representative Opposition, when there is unrest due to disaffection and an overpowering sense of injustice amongst vast sections of the population, the mobs take over and the regime collapses and anarchy follows -- as we witnessed in Bangladesh recently. We came close to that during Indira Gandhi’s Emergency.  

Listening to the Opposition with respect and dealing with them inside parliament is a saner option than attempting to tame mobs up in arms in a rebellion, when it may be too late. 

But there is a silver lining. While dictators often use the very ladder of democracy to occupy the throne, and kick it after reaching the top, it has been impossible to capture the incredibly gargantuan election machinery of India and rig the elections, unlike in despotic regimes like Russia. The number of people involved in the conduct of elections is so large and they are drawn from such a diverse swathe of people that attempting to tamper with the elections beyond a point may invite an uprising of the masses, which no political leader will be foolish enough to risk, even if they are tempted to rig the polls. 

The election results over the past decade has shown that elections were largely free and fair, despite accusations and fears that it would be rigged by the ruling party. Lok Sabha elections 2024 validated this. In UP, for example, the BJP is in power in the state, ruled by an autocratic and polarising leader, but it was here that the BJP suffered its worst defeat and lost even the seat of Ayodhya, where the Ram Mandir had been inaugurated only months before. 

But the biggest take-away from the US election is not about those who become despots after winning democratic elections but about the complete absence of inner party democracy and the urgent need of free and fair elections within the parties. Not only the BJP, which is under the iron-fisted rule of Modi and Amit Shah, all parties are ruled by their own dictators and megalomaniacs. Though Congress elevated Mallikarjun Kharge through a kind of stage-managed election, the party is ruled by the ‘high command’ -- the Gandhi family still calls the shots. It’s the same story in all the regional parties, from Shiv Sena to TMC, headed by Uddhav Thackeray, Sharad Pawar, Akhilesh Yadav, Arvind Kejriwal, M K Stalin, Chandrababu Naidu, Mamata Banerjee, etc.  

Can we keep our republic without genuine democracy within the political parties and where dialogue, debate and freedom of dissent are denied. History suggests we cannot. 

(The writer is a soldier, farmer, and entrepreneur)