Indian Polity, Democracy and its Current Status

First things first, let me put out a disclaimer that I am not an authority on Gandhi's writings so my views may be of someone who has read very little on him, but still whatever I have read, I wanted to share because today the form of democracy that we are seeing in the country is not your regular textbook democracy or for that matter polity. Last week I read two writings which have had a prolific impact on me and made me thinking on the issue of democracy in particular and Indian politics in general.  One is S N Agarwal's "Gandhian Constitution for Free India" and the other was an article by popular psephologist Yogendra Yadav. In Agarwal's writing, one can easily decipher the turmoil between a capitalist structure and the socialist structure with Gandhi coming up with a middle path. His idea of democracy was based on non-violence as he said that any democracy that is established via violence cannnot be a true representative of the people. His views on decentralisation are well known and documented, have been implemented in the name of Panchayati Raj but the reality of it is not hidden from any of us. Yogendra Yadav did not write directly on democracy but he writes about how "nationalism" which according to him has been abandoned which Gandhi too often mentioned in his writings and public speeches and opined that Indian Democracy has to be based on "nationalism".

Now the question that arises is whether the dirigiste regime that we have today or even earlier really understands the meaning of democracy. It is just not the advocacy of adult franchise, nor the way of conducting elections or haveing numerous political parties, but actually giving voice to the masses. Unfortunately today in the name of politics and democracy, there is constant demeaning of the masses, to create a "bigger picture" the innumerable smaller pictures are overshadowed and most importantly "nationalism" has become jingoism whereby questioning the government/governance is translated into being unpatriotic or downright anti-national with the "nationalists" distributing free visas for the neighbouring state of Pakistan.  Its time that Democracy is not just centred around vote bank politics or winning elections but rather creating an environment for the conducive living of all brethren and sisters because as will be the polity of the state, so will be the socio-economic policies. Gandhi said that when direct elections will take place at the village level, communalism and violence will decrease but today, just the opposite is happening as elections are being fought in the name of religion, caste and creed. Time has come to ponder on the thoughts of Gandhi even by them who abhor his views because this "fakir" has answers to many of our present woes.