Being a democratic country

To know the value of democracy and a stable system, we need to look around us. Greece was engulfed in riots triggered by the death of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos, shot by police in Athens. The entire country came to a stand still. Flights in and out of Athens airport were cancelled, and public transport badly disrupted.

How many such shootings and encounter incidents happen in India? Perhaps many and most of them are not even reported, leave alone any protests. Is it a good democratic system? Hang on.

BBC reports that a cholera epidemic is sweeping across Zimbabwe, causing suffering to millions of people already struggling to survive in a country close to systemic collapse as food shortages and hyperinflation continue to take their toll. Thousands of patients have been left stranded because almost all the government-run health institutions here have been closed indefinitely, owing to a lack of finance. Schools closed before the term had ended because teachers refused to work without being paid. All this because one man thought colonialism by White men could make Zimbabwe bankrupt. In return, he gave his people bankruptcy and misery.

Do we see this in India? Perhaps yes but then it becomes a major issue for preying television reporters and then the government is so embarrassed and harassed that it is forced to act. It that a good democratic practice? Hang on further.

The entire Bangkok city was hijacked by a group of anti-government protestors. So much so that the police were mere spectators. No flights in and out of Bangkok airports took off. Thousands of passengers were stranded, many of them promising never to return. If they wanted, they could have put the siege for weeks and months. Bangkok is a mirror democracy with a shade of monarchy and full of anarchy. It never was and will never be a democratic country.

Will the Mumbai or Delhi airports be under such a siege? Well, the answer is no because very few leaders will call for such an action. If they do, they are sure to lose their deposit in the next elections. The voters, or the common people, rule the roast and they vent their anger not at airports but through vote. Hang on, there are still many more.

We have heard of many African countries and prominent out of them are Rwanda and Somalia where there are no governments in place. Civil war between different rebel groups and the government is a regular feature here. Very few in the world are bothered to bring back normalcy to these regions because it doesn’t pose a real threat to big economies like the US. Why the world got united in attacking Afghanistan and Iraq is not because of religion but because it brought a global threat of extinction. And these are the same global economies which sells arms and ammunitions to both the rebels and the government to fight each other.

India’s democratic set up and the constitution will crush these types of civil wars. Yes, if the Indian politicians continue to divide and rule in the name of religion and caste, there could be face offs like what we saw in Rajasthan by the Gurjars or what wee see in the form of Naxalite activities.

So is Indian democracy safe and vibrant? Are we safe? If you think it is, then think again. If at all a world war breaks out, it will be between India and Pakistan. If that happens, it will be nuclear war. And you know how safe we all will be once that happens.

But where does this rage come from in both Greece and France? Not because of poverty as its per capita income and quality-of-life indicators are average for the EU. Nor is Greece especially troubled by immigration problems. According to Owen Mathews of Mail Online, the answer lies partly in Greece's recent political history. Athens may have been the cradle of democracy in the 5th century BC, but in the intervening two-and-a-half millennia, the political system has been rather less enlightened.

From 1967 to 1974, Greece was ruled by a Right-wing military junta - the Regime of the Colonels - which imprisoned and tortured thousands of political opponents and left a legacy of public mistrust of the police.

Democracy was restored in November 1973 only after a violent student uprising was brutally put down when the Colonels sent tanks into the campus of Athens's Polytechnic University. But they, in turn, lost all support and had to relinquish power.

Ever since, the student rioters who brought down the Colonels have been a staple of Greek school-book history. They are widely admired as popular heroes who resisted authority.

The comparison with riots in France in 2005 and 2007 is telling. In 2005, youths in 274 French cities protested following the accidental death of two teenagers after a police chase. Nearly 9,000 vehicles were torched, causing €200million of damage.

The violence was repeated last year after two youths crashed their stolen scooter into a police car, and riots broke out all over France.

In both France and Greece, riots broke out in purpose-built suburbs where youth unemployment, crime and violence thrive. And like Greece, France glorifies the student unrest of May 1968 as a rebellion against an authoritarian old guard.

More importantly, though, both countries have an unbroken tradition of a large and lumbering public sector, and short-sighted and selfish trades unions. In both countries, people are used to looking to the State for economic solutions.

Are you listening my dear Indian politicians?? We don’t want India to become another Greece or France? Big time developments like Gurgaon, Delhi Metro, Mumbai to Shanghai or other material developmental factors are not the answer. They can be destroyed within hours. Human development is the key. And for that to happen we need to strengthen our primary schools, modernize primary health centres, get more employment opportunities, root out corruption and stop differentiate between humans.