Is India truly a democratic country?

Last one and half years has witnessed an unprecedented amount of chaos around the globe. Every major country of the world was at a standstill for quite some time.

Covid-19 global pandemic testing us on more than many fronts. Public healthcare infra, governance, logistics and supply-chain system everything was put on strain. Every pandemic has various stages and depending on the population’s activity, surrounding environment its effects could be worsen or minimised. Also, we can reduce the time duration of a particular stage.

Fortunately, India managed to reduce devastating effects of the first wave of covid-19 and in spite of large population density there were lesser casualties and significantly lower number of cases given the fact that officially reported numbers were unhampered. Lots of western countries were eying India to see it’s preparedness and response to the unseen virus, but we managed very well because of the efforts of several government officials, doctors, nurses, policemen, army and cleaning staff.

Soon after our great team of scientists invented the corona vaccine and India being world leader in drug manufacturing started producing it. After September, normalcy started to restore and being evident of the fact that soon vaccination will be started and corona has been taken care of, people became careless.

Now, Delhi and Maharashtra are seeing the surge of the cases and people are dying because of lack of oxygen, medicines or proper care. In Spite of lots of warnings by senior medical people, pandemic experts & academicians, our government ignored all the warning signs and didn’t prepare well for the second wave. They were busy focusing on elections, distributing vaccines to neighbouring countries for public relations and portraying India as world leader on the cost of the lives of thousands of innocent people. All the social gatherings were disallowed except kumbh mela on the ground of religious sentiment and elections rallies by our very own PM & union home minister. 160 oxygen plants were sanctioned to be installed across the country but only 33 plants were installed during the last 6–7 months. We didn’t have a proper vaccination policy and only 10% of the population is vaccinated so far ( including first and some with a second dose). We are facing such a dire situation in our country and politicians are just making statements from their bunglows. Some of them even are not reachable. Oxygen generation is not a rocket science thing and if serious actions would have been taken in the last 6–7 months then we would have been in a very better situation. Now when the situation is worse and people are crying then the government is buying cryogenic tankers, running trains and installing oxygen plants. If it would have happened before then the situation would have been completely different. This raises a very serious question for the top leadership who have tarnished the image of India on global platforms. Instead of helping India in such tough times, the USA and Germany are playing their international politics cards and not only warning India but also not giving any kind of support. Elections could have very well postponed and we would avert this situation if would have priorities better.

Of course now the government is doing everything at its disposal but it is too late for thousands of people and will be hopefully better for millions of people. Still politics is being played by many people directly and indirectly. Please don’t do this. This is not the right time to do such things.

But the big questions still remain unanswered: why didn’t the government take action earlier?

This is the time to think about the fact that the government needs to be questioned every once in a while and their actions need to be tracked publicly. On 25th april, 2021 center government ordered twitter to deactivate 10 accounts of people who asked tough questions to the government. If we can’t raise our voice against our rulers on the legitimate issues then are we really advocating democracy in India? Are we just happy by casting out votes ? Who the hell are these politicians to put the lives of thousands in danger? What if their loved ones are struggling on the road and oxygen is not adequate? Will they still be quiet without direction and a proper plan? They are renovating parliament houses, ministries with immediate action but not putting efforts for dealing with pandemic. Government is just building big monuments, temples, changing the names of the stations, streets and cities. Will that create the legacy of the people whom after places are being renamed? Who will ask these questions and more importantly who will answer them properly? Why knowing all this bullshit we people of India are quiet?

We shouldn’t just follow them and worship them like some divine entity. We should make them accountable for their actions and ask tough questions. Democracy is not just casting votes but in true sense participating in the action planning, implementation and tracking. Don’t just fall for the false propaganda on social media. These are just cheap social engineering agendas which divert us from focusing on the right issue. Try to look at the bigger picture and don’t just follow any person blindly. Work is important, not the person.

I know this article won’t be read by the major people of India and they are the ones who sway away easily and they are the ones who give the most sacrifices. Yet it’s our collective responsibility to carry them, make them aware and work on the grass root level to show them bigger picture rather than just fall for some half baked decorated propaganda. We don’t want failing institutions whose fundamentals and sanctity is questionable. Do we?

Time to understand the true value of democracy.