India is a flourishing democracy: There’s proof

Preceding the 76th Independence Day celebrations on August 15, 2022, much was written on the state of India’s democracy. The importance given to democracy can be gauged by vibrant statements made by India’s leaders, these words are comforting.

Space constrains one from going through the entire Constitution to prove how it is being upheld. However, it is possible to demonstrate the validity of my contention by reviewing the Fundamental Rights.

The Indian Constitution gives Indian citizens the following Fundamental Rights: Right to Equality, Right to Freedom, Right Against Exploitation, Right to Freedom of Religion, Cultural and Educational Rights, Right to Constitutional Remedies.

Indians are enjoying these rights, and here is how:

Right to Equality – Post the Prime Minister Modi’s ‘1200 years of slave mentality’ speech in Parliament, it became apparent that earlier governments had not cared about this Right. Indian Citizens realised the presence of two Indias. One wallowing in an inferiority complex as they were shackled to the belief that history had short-changed them. The other, getting on with their life.

To undo this disparity, there are several schemes to boost the confidence of those with an inferiority complex. Targeting minorities is possibly one such scheme. In parallel, the many wonders performed by the Prime Minister of India are highlighted.

Right to Freedom – Today, every citizen and institution -- including the mass media -- are free to laud the PM. All are free to turn a blind eye to his myriad debacles.

Everyone is free not to ask questions of the PM and his government. Indians are free to not wonder about truth and the status of promises made.

More importantly, elected politicians in the Opposition are free to join the ruling party without any constitutional repercussion.

In the last few decades, this Right has extended to the Right to The Freedom To Feel Hurt or Disrespected (R2TFTFH/D). This allows citizens to claim their sentiments are hurt, and then resort to violence or file criminal complaints. Today, many more are exercising this addition. Critics of the government are reminded, time
and again, that they are free to leave the country.

Right Against Exploitation – Truth and logic are exploitative as they make people think. Secularism is exploitative because a lot of effort is required to break parochial beliefs
and bigotry.

To ensure that a citizen’s Right Against Exploitation is protected, secularism, truth and logic are being made redundant.

Cultural and Educational Rights – These Rights have been guarded for a long time. The Congress-I banned books, ABVP and Shiv Sena goons trashed universities to prevent books from being discussed in class. Extra emphasis is given on this Right. Many WhatsApp Universities have been opened. These institutions have courses on new history, hate language, bigotry, new geography, etymology and semantics, future studies, and leadership appreciation. Study centres have been launched on various social media channels to ensure greater reach.

Though these courses are not job oriented, it keeps the graduates gainfully occupied and driven.

Right to Freedom of Religion – Every citizen is free to practise the current ideology. Practitioners of other religions are free to prove they are nationalistic Indians. That seers recently released a Hindu constitution for a Hindu India proves that the Right to Freedom of Religion is safe.

Right to Constitutional Remedies – State governments as well as the Central government have been actively using this Right for the country’s benefit. According to government figures between 2016 and 2020, of the 24,000 Indians arrested under the Unlawful (Activities) Prevention Act, 1% was convicted. The Chief Justice of India N V Ramana noted “In our criminal justice system, the process is the punishment.”

This Right is also being used in tandem with R2TFTFH/D. The remission of the sentence of Bilkis Bano’s rapists proves this Right is well established in the country. It is no surprise then that India’s ranking in the World Happiness Report has risen from the abyss of 144 in 2020 to 136 in the 2022 report.

Some institutions and intellectuals decried the report for the obvious fact that India was happier prior to 2014. Their zealousness to protect the current dispensation and its ideology blinded them to the writing on the wall. Indians are happier.

Unlike the new variant of nationalism, and hurt sentiments, happiness can’t be manufactured. Psychological research proves a direct link between happiness and individual freedom. Ergo, the country is free, and democracy is thriving.

In such circumstances, how can one say that India is not a flourishing Constitutional democracy. The naysayers will claim that spirit behind these Rights has been forgotten. To them I say, use your Right to Freedom and Right to Education.

(The writer is a freelance journalist)