Senior Fellow, IDSA, Dr RN Das’article on Indian Democracy, titled ‘Time to redefine our democracy’ waspublished in leading English daily Deccanherald on August 13, 2012.
On the eve of India celebrating its 66th anniversary of the Independence, it is time to introspect and make a dispassionate assessment of its achievements and failures. It is worthwhile to remember the words of the former British prime minister Sir Anthony Eden what he said in 1954, “the Indian venture is not a pale imitation of our practice at home, but a magnified and multiplied reproduction of on a scale we have never dreamt of. If it succeeds, its influence on Asia is incalculable for good. Whatever the outcome, we must honour those who attempted it.”
When the country liberated itself from the yoke of colonialism after the epic freedom struggle, the challenge before the nation was how to put in place a system of governance taking into account the vastness of the country and its corresponding economic, social, cultural and linguistic plurality and diversity and socio-economic backwardness.