India still experimenting with democracy: Farooq

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, JAN. 27. The 50th general assembly of the International Press Institute began here today with a discussion on India's experiment with democracy which evoked a mixed response from despondency to die-hard optimism.

Starting the discussion, the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Dr. Farooq Abdullah, said India was still experimenting with democracy and would continue doing so. Tracing the genesis of the Kashmir stalemate, he said he had accepted the extension of the ceasefire with great difficulty as even though the border was quiet, the Valley fell victim to terrorists' designs. On the review of the Constitution, he said: ``We are going through a transitional phase and it remains to be seen whether democracy will survive or will be taken away by extremists.''

Drawn as the discussants were from different walks of life, together they provided an insight into the various aspects of Indian democracy. Chairing the discussion, the Editor of The Hindu, Mr. N. Ravi, said the effort was to try and show whether the strength of Indian democracy lay in the sheer size of its electorate or its resilience.

The noted historian, Ms. Romila Thapar, lamented that the nation had conceded control over democratic functioning to politicians without safeguarding against subversion of democracy.

Acknowledging the need for adjustments, she said the question was whether these changes would help or erode democracy.

According to the Attorney-General, Mr. Soli Sorabjee, though India was still to get the Right to Information, a Supreme Court judgment had given every Indian the right to know.

Informed public opinion, he said, could be an effective check on mal-administration. Joining issue with Dr. Abdullah, who had wondered aloud whether a stint of dictatorship would do India good, Mr. Sorabjee said: ``We do not need any doses of dictatorship; we need discipline.''

As far as the Editor of Outlook, Mr. Vinod Mehta, was concerned, ``democracy is here to stay as there is no other way to govern this country''. But, he said, the press was getting increasingly polarised. ``Journalists are being divided into camps and the middle ground in political discourse is fast disappearing.''

Presenting the sympathetic outsider's voice, the former BBC Correspondent, Mr. Mark Tully, said a strong point of Indian democracy was its tolerance.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : National
Previous : Help humanise economic development, PM tells media
Next     : U.S. should play a mediatory role: Karamat