India is said to be the largest democracy in the world in numbers. Democracy is the form of government in which people’s will is supposed to be supreme. Lincoln’s words in this connection can be quoted here, ‘Democracy is a government of the people, by the people and for the people.’ Such is the form of democratic government. But in big countries, it is not possible for the entire population to gather at one place and discuss the matters and control the affairs.
Government is therefore, carried by the elected representatives of the people. Of all the political forms of governments democracy is considered to be the best. It is most cultured and civilized political institution.
Democracy provides to its people freedom of thought, speech, expression and action. General elections are held after every five years for the new government. These elections make clear the general opinion of the common people, according to which the new government comes into existence with some promises, meant for the citizens of the country.
It shows that the foundations of democracy here are stable. But we don’t see this stability in our neighbouring countries, like Pakistan, Bangladesh, where sudden overthrow of governments have been witnessed. Army rule has been imposed in these countries, which spoils the freedom of the common people.
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People in India have developed mature judgement which is imperative for the success of democracy. Whenever, they find that a particular political party is not serving their purposes, they overthrow it and vote for another party which they think, can represent their feelings. But now days, a new trend has been developed. We don’t find any of the political parties in full majority. As a result coalition governments are formed, which face many problems. In that condition our democratic structure seems to be weakened sometimes.
Nowadays, there is no ideology with any political party. Majority of the political leaders in our country have become corrupt and selfish. They never care the fact that they are the representatives of the public and they have some duties towards them. Once elected, they forget their promises, which they make at the time of election.
Instead they get involved in criticising the ideologies of other political parties. These tendencies are certainly not healthy for the continuance of democracy. What we need today is clean public life of the politicians.
They must not run after money and power but engage themselves in the welfare of the common people. Our leaders must be highly educated and morally conscious in order to become the models of the society. For the success of democracy in our country, these conditions must be fulfilled. Otherwise the so called largest democracy will always be in danger.