A cult system has arisen in which the supreme leader becomes the embodiment of the nation

This is election time again in India. Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat will go to polls early next month. There will be the municipal corporation elections in Delhi and the general election in 2024 in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi will seek re-election for the third time in a row.

As is the tradition in India, surveys are out on different platforms – television channels, social media, and YouTube – with everyone coming up with their predictions. The majority of the predictions say that the Bharatiya Janata Party will return to power in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat and even Modi will comfortably return to power after the 2024 general elections.

Is this continuous success of a political party in an electoral battle good for democracy in a country like India? This question is being discussed everywhere, be it a roadside eatery or a barber’s salon. The question agitating minds is whether the continuous success of a political party in elections because of the absence of an effective opposition is a good sign of democracy.

History is replete with examples of how India preserved its democracy after it attained freedom which was marked by a bloody Partition. In the last 75 years, India has been able to hold on to democracy despite widespread illiteracy, a high rate of poverty, and the prevailing social ills like the caste system. Such has been the odds against India that a section of western commentators believes that if democracy can make it in India, it can make it anywhere.

Ironically, India has stuck to democracy while country after country has fallen into the hands of autocrats and tin-pot dictators. We have an example of Pakistan, our neighbouring country, which attained freedom with us, but it juggled between democracy and self-claimed dictators, who were puppets in the hands of the army.

Why did India survive and continue to be the flag-bearer of democracy? Simple, because of its people. It is the people’s intensity and power to question which has kept democracy afloat in India. The people believe in the power of the ballot in bringing change and they have brought changes, not once, but many times.

In earlier years, Indian democracy was marked by a free press, enlightened citizens, and a vibrant civil society that always added sheen to the majestic grandeur of democracy. The world is changing, and so are the democratic norms. The space to question authority is fast shrinking. Political parties are to be blamed for this. This is no secret that almost all political parties revolve around a single personality—which generally revolves around a family. This straightjacketed political system has even prevented political parties from raising the issues which concern the masses. They talk about the issue which revolves around the person who heads the party in question.

This trend has given rise to the cult system. The supreme leader becomes the embodiment of the nation and the main custodian of national interest. Since Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party has come to power, politics now revolves around Modi. The opposition leaders claim that before Modi there was a free press, an active culture of public debate, and a reasonably free judiciary. But now, the opposition is stymied and its leaders are harassed through raids conducted by the Central Bureau of Investigations and the officials of the Enforcement Directorate. But the same opposition is silent when wades of currency notes are recovered from the residence of opposition leaders during such raids by the ED or the CBI.

Cult politics is not new to India. It was also witnessed when Congress was in power and Indira Gandhi was the prime minister of the country. As prime minister, Indira Gandhi was known for her political intransigence and unprecedented centralisation of power.

This super success brought a dark phase too as India Gandhi declared an Emergency from 1975 to 1977 during which basic civil liberties were suspended and the press was censored. Widespread atrocities were committed during the Emergency. Opposition leaders were arrested under the draconian law called the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA). It was a controversial law passed by the Indian Parliament in 1971 giving the administration and Indian law enforcement agencies very broad powers – indefinite preventive detention of individuals and search and seizure of property without warrants in the name of threats to national security.

Once again the people displayed the inherent democratic power they have and voted the Indira Gandhi-led Congress government out of power. In the elections of 1977, Indira Gandhi even lost her election from Rae Bareli. Democracy means power coming to where the people are. But what is happening today is that people are coming to where the power is. This has led to the creation of power centers in politics, and in turn, it has given rise to the political cult system. In this system, political parties have become bodies without organs. The system lacks internal metabolism but the leaders project it muscular through social media campaigns or the media. This is a fact that nowadays, common men do not swarm to political rallies being addressed by leaders. The event is choreographed in such a way that makes people believe that it was a great success.

Politics has become nastier and murkier where public debates are reduced to toxic discourses. During television debates, the crescendo of abuse of political rivals is alarming. The spokespersons of political parties deliberately use insulting words against their rivals.

In this scenario, people are fast losing their power to say `no’ — a word that is the symbol of resistance and this resistance is the bedrock of democracy. The `adda’ or the coffee house culture has vanished where youth used to share a free flow of ideas. The discussions used to be lively where voices of dissent were without any fear and prejudice. What India is witnessing today is the emergence of a band of followers who find no ill in the system. They have lost the power to question the leaders or the administration because in modern-day politics loyal soldiers are showered with perks in form of `offices’ or resources.

This is happening because there is no opposition at the national and state levels of politics. Whoever is in power has systematically worked to decimate the opposition. With non-existent opposition, the ruling party is having a field day, which is symbolized in its winning elections, be it at the national level where Modi returned to power or in the state elections of Uttar Pradesh, Bengal, Goa, Haryana, and Bihar where the respective ruling parties retained power. The only exception was Punjab and Rajasthan.

The veneer of Indian democracy is falling apart. People need a space to air their views, criticize government decisions and the media should report without fear and ill will. It is the responsibility of political parties, particularly the ruling party, to provide that space, otherwise it would be a requiem for grand Indian democracy.

(The writer is Political Editor, The Pioneer, Lucknow edition)