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| Thursday, 17 June 2004 |
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What makes India's democracy tick? by Afreeha Jawad Within the finer framework of democracy, the betrayal of its noble concepts is evident. The misuse of state machinery and the culture of democracy to suit one's agenda are in themselves ideal breeding ground for conflicts of all sorts, be it regional, ethnic, caste, economic, religious and all other.
In such misuse are the cracks that appear on egalitarianism, duty and justice followed by insecurity and the aggrieved party even taking up arms. Political parties, ethnic groups, the financially deprived and all others that suffer marginalisation entertain fears of extinction - not unfairly, though, because they arise from a denial of justice and fair treatment. Trying to push through a deal for one's own survival invariably ends in someone else suffering the pangs of deprivation followed by marginalization which in turn is seed to conflict. These were some of the finer points to emerge from a talk by Professor Akhtar Majeed of Hamdard University, New Delhi at the SLFI, Colombo. "There is a direct threat to democratic institutions in multi-ethnic societies, when political institutions are moulded to serve particular interests. The use of State machinery to serve particular social groups and/or social sanctions at the cost of general social welfare, cannot be a substitute for national culture strengthening and nation-building. On the other hand, the acceptance of multi-culturalism and diversity provides access to genuine social reality. The degree of state institutionalization coupled with its accommodative nature determines the success or otherwise of identity assertions in multicultural, plural societies. If in the process of power negotiation, there is adequate power sharing and accommodation, then it is possible to maintain a proper balance between various ethnic groups," he said. Professor Majeed also saw in multiculturalism an opportunity for consensual democracy through decentralization where people in the arena of diverse variations could resort to community mobilization and work towards national integration. Decentralization is a way of recognizing community loyalty and even recalled the Swiss canton's that were the recognized units of devolution as and when the need arose for peripheral communities to be recognized. The issue of language variation of the diverse linguistic groups in that country were given top priority by the centre but this in no way meant that these groups lost sight of their national loyalty. According to Professor Majeed, it is when such community loyalties are crushed that integration itself is at stake. Just as traditional identity need not be antagonistic towards modernity, plural identity need not be at variance with national identity. If power is shared and varied interests are accommodated there need not be a threat to power. Democracy is best guaranteed when pluralism and nationalism both blend. Unless various State phenomena, such as law-making, bureaucracy and justice-dispensation do not consciously work to recognize and accept the demands of socio/cultural/regional diversities and of various sub-identities and on the contrary view them only as antithetical to nationalism, there is room for social fragmentation because such marginalized units will perceive State action as attempts to display and remove differences. The essence of equality is the accommodation of interests. Dr. Majeed condemned the electoral pressures of various social groups that sometimes force State institutions in a democratic society to disturb the proper balance between groups and between State and society. In the long run, he warned, it is not advisable for a politicized bureaucracy and a centralized political leadership to take sides between the mobilized social groups. Thereby, neither the interests of democracy nor of State governance or societal equilibrium or the balance between society and state are served. It is the blending of pluralism, nationalism, and rule of law that contributes to democracy, which the Indian constitution provides for. He also saw the dangers of an all powerful State, coercive by nature and capability that meddles with ethno-nationalist sentiments. Only then distinct identities start separatist assertion and that becomes a national threat. Though coercion helped in making the Western nation State, co-operation and accommodation were more effective, cheaper and lasting methods of accommodation for non-Western, plural societies. The higher the autonomy in the periphery the less the structural violence. Economic autonomy in the periphery reduces exploitation, political autonomy in the periphery reduces oppression and cultural autonomy in the periphery reduces alienation. "Social conflicts result when different values, aspirations and social stratification are not balanced in a delicate game of sharing and accommodating. People's satisfaction gives legitimacy to the government. The more legitimate the government, the more loyalty and support it can get from people. The combination of legitimacy, loyalty and support provide domestic cohesion, - a pre-requisite for nation - building," he added. Interestingly, Professor Majeed's lucid explanation of enlightened democracy gave an insight into what it should be in implementation. A democracy has to give all the identities special rights within the context of equality, because the legitimacy of democracy demands it. The system of law and justice based on political authority derives its legitimacy because it does not allow the need of any group to eliminate and overshadow others' needs. To those that seek refuge in what is described as 'secular democracy' and 'liberal democracy' Professor Majeed had an effective prescription. "The issue revolves around equality and not around democracy being 'liberal' or 'secular'. Equality among all religions has to be a feature of a democracy because it is a democracy and because, in a democratic polity no group can claim for itself such rights which it denies to others." Elaborating on how consent is established and the legitimacy surrounding it, he said; "If consent is by dialogue then there is no problem. But if it is by debate leading to a vote and then majority rule, then there are serious problems with 'dictatorship by 51 per cent' (Ghandi). A majority nation may override the concerns of other nations; a majority class, lower or middle may override the concerns of other classes. A majority of men have for ages overridden the concerns of women. The voting may be non-violent but the structures are not, and in addition they are legitimized using 'democracy' as cultural violence ....". He also referred to human rights including the right to self-determination as a major instrument to protect minorities against majority dictatorship. However, in the theory of rights, the duty bearer is the State and in the theory of democracy, the majority is the State's temporary owner. The key word is 'temporary', landing the majority in a classical conflict between the human rights of minorities and the goal of being majority. Merely setting up a Human Rights Commission, he said, was not enough but more importantly the conferring upon it of formal and constitutional authority to check wanton misuse of government authority over the citizens. He also perceived the call for reforms pertaining to minorities as arising not out of genuine majority concern for them but as an insistence to forsake their identity and to submerge them the majority's predominant identity leading them into political submission and cultural obliteration. "As each ethnic people cannot have its own state, the alternative is for the State to treat all such cultural identities on an equal footing if the State wants to evolve into a nation State and survive," he informed. Majeed also described at length how the Indian constitution highlights pluralism and diversity. With its 18 languages and 2000 dialects, a dozen ethnic and seven religious groups fragmented into a large number of sects, castes and sub castes and some sixty socio-cultural sub-regions, spread over seven natural geographic regions, Indian pluralism is a fact that gets amply reflected in her social federalism recognizing and respecting diversities in society which is the Indian constitution's mainstay. "This mammoth federal polity is a single sovereign territory making unity itself - a federal concept and India - a federal nation. In the constitution's preamble are values commonly shared by the Indian people - not by a particular group on whatever basis. That is the best guarantee for nation-building. Democracy, rule of law, equality before law, federalism, secularism, judiciary's independence are all part of basic structure that leads to nation-building, putting a check on the whims of the political majority. Even if there is a perception of discrimination and political alienation, the only recourse open to minorities is to be incorporated into public life as citizens and not just as dependant minorities. Minority groups have realized that they can no longer remain clients of this or that political party but must emerge as partners in power-sharing. The present trend of treating minority religious/cultural identity as "Fundamentalism" and a threat to national unity, has been sorted out by the Indian constitution which has recognized that the way to achieve equality among individuals and groups is through accommodation of interests. Significantly, Professor Majeed's stunning revelation in working out a system devoid of ethnocentricity drew parallels in other quarters as well, when he said; "In a democratic plural society, there can be no place for one ideology, one faith, one religion or one culture above others. To maintain its democratic nature, such a society has to provide a 'social space' for each of its identities. He maintained that the future of Indian democracy lay in the blending of democracy, pluralism and rule of law - all there in the Indian constitution. |
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