Dr HC Pande
It is said that the strength of democracy is the strength of the small man.In India,in its democratic scheme of governance,the small man is hugely conspicuous by his absence.With money,muscle and media being the three pillars of democracy as of now,the chance of the small man playing any role is akin to the existence of an ice-flake in hell.His voice is lost in the jingle of money,he is elbowed out by muscle men and his presence is ignored by the media.
For better or worse,democracy is here to stay.Over the last 7 decades of our existence as a democratic nation all we seem to have learnt is how to spell the word correctly and how to blame this mode of governance for all our failures.The buzz word is ..Democracy does not work! “Of course it does not work,as Woollcott said,we are supposed to work it”.
Have we tried to make democracy work?indeed not!We are far too lazy,mentally and physically, to run a system that demands sincere effort at every level from the common citizen to the head of the state.It is requires every citizen to discharge his/her duty responsibly and participate in all relevant political,economic and social activities.
General apathy towards our duties and responsibilities over the decades has left us with a functioning democracy but not a successful democracy.The badly battered and dangerously damaged system,we now have,is surviving largely on bluff and bluster,and, on demagoguery and deceit.As a nation we have been ensnared by the web of corrupt practices,political,economic,social et al ,impeding our progress towards a prosperous and prejudice free society.
The savior now has to be the small man.Like the mouse who set free the lion by gnawing at the snare strings in the Panchatantra story, the small man has to cut the strings of the all pervading web of corruption which is keeping this great nation in thrall.Let no one discount the small man.Even the string of zeroes behind a number decides its real magnitude.Let us,the small men,unite and vote out the corrupt by lining behind men of character and integrity,then and then only the democratic system of governance would be meaningful and instrumental in ushering in the era of just,happy and prosperous society.
