COVER STORY

A thinning of democracy

30narendramodinew Grand gesture: On May 20, 2014, as he stepped into Parliament for the first time as prime minister designate, Narendra Modi bowed down and kissed the steps to show his respect for the “temple of democracy” | Reuters

It says something about the power (or powerlessness) of the legislature in India that the single most important economic reform in recent times came not in the form of a bill passed by Parliament, but as a gazette notification at night. In a surprise announcement on November 8, the government withdrew notes of denominations of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 as legal tender, rendering 86 per cent of the currency circulating in the country worthless.

The move, and its rationale and effect, are being hotly debated in homes and workplaces, restaurants and barbershops, and newsrooms and courts of law. Everywhere, except the one place where decisions of such magnitude and significance are supposed to be vigorously discussed—in Parliament, where the winter session is all but a washout, thanks to the disruptive tactics of the opposition and the government’s reluctance to build bridges.

More disconcerting is that the government did not find it necessary to even promulgate an ordinance, which is the tried, tested and constitutionally valid way to bypass the legislature. Like its predecessors, the Modi government, too, is fond of ordinances: It has promulgated 23 in its 30 months in power. This time round, though, the government used something as mundane and innocuous as a gazette notification to bypass the legislature and implement a decision that affected the entire population and caused significant collateral casualties.

It could be argued that in one fell swoop, the concept of separation of powers between the legislature, executive and judiciary—the foundation on which the checks and balances of democracy rest—stands destabilised. Adding to the governance issues is the rising tide of intolerance, religious and otherwise, and the eroding trust in constitutional institutions.

“The ear of the leader must ring with the voices of the people,” said Woodrow Wilson, the political scientist who served as the 28th president of the United States. In its clamour to be heard, however, the opposition in India seems to have taken the words in its literal effect. And the government, for its part, seems not to hear at all.

The situation is as dismal as it is worrying. It calls for us to ask ourselves whether our voices are being heard, and our opinions counted. Collectively, it poses a larger question: is there a democracy deficit in India? And, if there indeed is, how wide and alarming is that deficit?

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