Xinhua International Times: Lice under the "Chinese Robe" of Indian-style democracy

Xinhua News Agency, New Delhi, 1 September Title: Lice under the "Chinese Robe" of Indian-style democracy

Xinhua News Agency

India, which bills itself as the "world's largest democracy" and often boasts of its democratic system, is a farce at a recent meeting of parliament during the rainy season, indian-style democracy is mired in procedural, inefficient and dysfunctional. It can be said that under the robe, there are lice.

During the rainy season session of the Indian Federal Parliament, when the "Pegasus" spyware eavesdropping scandal known as India's version of the "Watergate Incident" was fermenting, the National Congress Party and other opposition parties demanded that the media discuss the use of spyware by the Modi government to carry out wiretapping, but the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party refused, the two factions of the government and the opposition attacked each other, and every day they quarreled, and the meeting ended hastily two days in advance in chaos.

The parliamentary farce has raised questions about the true face of India's so-called "democracy.". In a commentary, the Hindustan Times said that "parliamentary democracy in India is in crisis" – that if left unchecked, the parliament building will be reduced to a dysfunctional place. Facts have proved that the parliamentary democracy that inherited the mantle of the British colonialists has not been satisfied in India, bringing not "honey", but various problems such as democratic disorder, governance failure, failure to fight the epidemic, lagging development and people's livelihood.

The clamor of electoral "process democracy" cannot obscure the flashiness of Indian-style democracy. The importance of the ordinary electorate is reflected only in the electoral process. Politicians have used all kinds of means to win elections, bribery and fraud scandals have emerged in an endless stream, and they have run trains to write empty checks during elections, but they have rarely fulfilled their promises after being elected. The parliament is noisy every year, but the people's lives have not seen much improvement, and when encountering challenges that threaten people's life and health safety such as the epidemic, the government's response is lagging behind, and the people's livelihood is obviously not the primary concern of the government. For the Indian people, the so-called democracy of the country is only the democracy of a few people, and democracy can only be slogans and decorations.

The majority that has lost its voice highlights the fact that Indian democracy is controlled by interest groups. With the primary goal of winning the election, the Indian government and opposition parties have tried their best to meet the demands of the interest groups and voters behind them, and have been unable to introduce policies that conform to the interests of the broadest masses of the people and the long-term development of the country. Farmers, who make up about 70 percent of India's population, are the dominant voter group, but have no say in actual politics after the elections. Since parliament passed three agrarian reform bills last September, hundreds of millions of farmers have participated in protest demonstrations demanding that the Modi government repeal the bill, and thousands of farmers have camped outside New Delhi to continue their protests. Regrettably, however, during the rainy season, these three bills involving the vital interests of farmers were not discussed.

The chaotic parliamentary process highlights the weakness and disorder of the Indian-style democratic machinery. As the carrier of parliamentary democracy, the Indian Federal Parliament has weakened its legislative procedures and functions in actual operation, and its supervision function is absent, and it cannot play a normal role in national governance. During the unrest, Parliament forcibly passed 20 bills, most of them by word of mouth, despite opposition protests. According to reports, none of the 15 bills proposed by parliament have been reviewed by parliamentary committees. With the exception of the government minister in charge of the bill, 13 bills were not discussed by other members of parliament. Such a hasty legislative process, the authority of the law can be imagined. Public opinion has pointedly pointed out that such a bill is "more form than substance".

What is the democratic status of the "time-limited" democratic rights, the chaotic parliament, the voiceless majority, and the so-called "world's largest democracy" supported by population? The answer has already been given.

Source: Xinhua Net