Democracy on Trial – Editorial
…Was the victory of the NDA the result of its truthfulness and did it present an honest testimony about the fulfilment of the promises made in 2014? This question becomes important for assessing not just the formal political victory of the coalition, but also, the very moral foundation of substantive democracy. Put differently, does this victory strengthen the moral foundation of democracy?
In a general sense, electoral or procedural democracy offers a fair opportunity, particularly to the incumbent party to use its positive performance for getting an electoral mandate. Similarly, it also offers the opposition a fair chance to seek a mandate promising a better future to the voters.
Arguably, through the entire election campaign the NDA tried to duck the question about it being truthfully active in fulfilling the promises that it had made on the eve of the last election. The focus on the issue of promises and the resultant performance was completely absent in the NDA’s campaign.…
https://www.epw.in/journal/2019/21/editorials/democracy-trial.html
SEE ALSO:
- Modi 2.0: India under ‘Charismatic Authoritarianism’? – By K M Seethi (May 27, 2019, Countercurrents)
https://countercurrents.org/2019/05/modi-2-0-india-under-charismatic-authoritarianism - Why Modi needs to return to his old slogan – By SA Aiyar (May 26, 2019, Times of India)
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/Swaminomics/why-modi-needs-to-return-to-his-old-slogan/ - Fever Pitch – Notes From an Election Campaign – By Debjanee Ganguly (May 26, 2019, Countercurrents)
https://countercurrents.org/2019/05/fever-pitch-notes-from-an-election-campaign - Modi 2.0 Must Check the Sangh’s Role in Generating Politics of Fear – By M.K. Venu (May 26, 2019, The Wire)
https://thewire.in/politics/narendra-modi-bjp-rss-sangh-parivar-minorities
