India: Democracy or Mobocracy?
As protests subsume India, the above question is being increasingly asked. While we are a democracy, we haven’t got it right as critics are put in detention, dissent silenced and majoritarian tactics used.
By Shaan Katari Libby
On any given day, one reads about protests raging and about how democracy is being compromised in the country. Whether the issue is Kashmir, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, the Bihar election outcome or farm bills, there is a growing unease that all is not well. This is often followed by a sense of utter helplessness.
Democracy that holy grail that we guard so fiercely and impose on countries so vigorously what is it exactly and why do we hold it so dear? A quick look at history reveals that in ancient Athens (6th century BC) where it evolved, it was quite literally a government “for the people by the people” (demos means people and kratos is power). Every position was available to citizens via a lottery. They held the