November 2nd. A rainy day in Chennai. A working day too. Many competing programmes in the city including a conversation between T.M.Krishna and Perumal Murugan around the same time at a venue less than a km away. So who would attend a talk on Democracy by Abhishek Manu Singhvi? Or so I thought.
The lecture at Srinivasa Sastri Hall on 'The institutional pillars of Indian democracy' by the well-known lawyer-cum-politician was surprisingly well-attended. Gopalkrishna Gandhi, Sriram Panchu and Suhrith Parthasarathy were among the audience.
It was raining cats and dogs outside. This was realised only after the speech was over when one had to return home. The lawyer was dissecting the democratic pillars with surgical precision inside the silent hall. Singhvi referred to 9 pillars , namely secularism, federalism, socialism, judiciary, press, CAG, army, Election Commission and Parliament. Executive was a notable omission perhaps due to want of time.
What enthused the listeners was the totally apolitical approach of the speaker who is capable of spewing venom in any discussion on a TV channel. He eschewed any needless reference to political parties and diligently marshalled his arguments to prove that India is not only the largest but also an exceptional democracy. Similar ex-colonial countries have drifted far away from democracy whereas India continues to be a nuanced democracy though appearing as a functional anarchy.
Gandhi and Nehru, according to Singhvi, ensured that democracy was deeply entrenched in India. Their sequential position, Gandhi first and Nehru later, placed the country in a goldilocks zone to accept, nurture and enhance the features of democracy. He deftly stayed away from the Nehru vs Sardar controversy.
Secularism is not a condescending gift to minorities, but a requirement for sustenance of a pluralistic society like ours. Federalism - or quasi-federalism as it exists in India- is a safety valve that quarantines local problems. Chief Minister of a state, any state, is 5 times as powerful as a central cabinet minister in terms of administrative and financial powers even though they rank pari-passu in governmental protocol. He explained how panchayati raj is coming out of the shackles of benamidars and is becoming reflective of empowerment of women and the marginalised.
Some politicians may be right-wing in non-economic matters but they too are left-wing in their espousal of socialism and concern for the poor and the downtrodden. India's right-wing is far to the left of American left-wing in economic philosophy. Singhvi conveniently ignored the fact that free India was not born as a secular or socialist Republic. These were latter-day political developments.
Delays in judicial appointment have been disabling timely delivery of justice in the country for a long period. Singhvi felt more political will is needed to redress this easily rectifiable issue. When Sriram Panchu tried to trap him on his optimism about judiciary by pointing out that we need a more unpliable judiciary when we have an autocratic leader (Modi?), Singhvi declined to talk about any political leader and without contextualising commented that Indian judiciary is robust most of the times.
Singhvi came down heavily on the media. Paid news, advertorials, incestuous relationship between owners and editors and concentration of ownership were the ills pointed out by him. In his opinion, Press Council of India has failed miserably and is as toothless as Medical Council of India or Bar Council.
CAG was mentioned just in passing. Army must be allowed to be anonymous. Election Commission is our pride and others' envy. Parliament can become more productive if only private members are allowed to initiate legislation, scope of whips is reduced and disruption of proceedings is dealt with an iron hand.
I was happy that the rains did not deter me from attending this lecture.
The lecture at Srinivasa Sastri Hall on 'The institutional pillars of Indian democracy' by the well-known lawyer-cum-politician was surprisingly well-attended. Gopalkrishna Gandhi, Sriram Panchu and Suhrith Parthasarathy were among the audience.
It was raining cats and dogs outside. This was realised only after the speech was over when one had to return home. The lawyer was dissecting the democratic pillars with surgical precision inside the silent hall. Singhvi referred to 9 pillars , namely secularism, federalism, socialism, judiciary, press, CAG, army, Election Commission and Parliament. Executive was a notable omission perhaps due to want of time.
What enthused the listeners was the totally apolitical approach of the speaker who is capable of spewing venom in any discussion on a TV channel. He eschewed any needless reference to political parties and diligently marshalled his arguments to prove that India is not only the largest but also an exceptional democracy. Similar ex-colonial countries have drifted far away from democracy whereas India continues to be a nuanced democracy though appearing as a functional anarchy.
Gandhi and Nehru, according to Singhvi, ensured that democracy was deeply entrenched in India. Their sequential position, Gandhi first and Nehru later, placed the country in a goldilocks zone to accept, nurture and enhance the features of democracy. He deftly stayed away from the Nehru vs Sardar controversy.
Secularism is not a condescending gift to minorities, but a requirement for sustenance of a pluralistic society like ours. Federalism - or quasi-federalism as it exists in India- is a safety valve that quarantines local problems. Chief Minister of a state, any state, is 5 times as powerful as a central cabinet minister in terms of administrative and financial powers even though they rank pari-passu in governmental protocol. He explained how panchayati raj is coming out of the shackles of benamidars and is becoming reflective of empowerment of women and the marginalised.
Some politicians may be right-wing in non-economic matters but they too are left-wing in their espousal of socialism and concern for the poor and the downtrodden. India's right-wing is far to the left of American left-wing in economic philosophy. Singhvi conveniently ignored the fact that free India was not born as a secular or socialist Republic. These were latter-day political developments.
Delays in judicial appointment have been disabling timely delivery of justice in the country for a long period. Singhvi felt more political will is needed to redress this easily rectifiable issue. When Sriram Panchu tried to trap him on his optimism about judiciary by pointing out that we need a more unpliable judiciary when we have an autocratic leader (Modi?), Singhvi declined to talk about any political leader and without contextualising commented that Indian judiciary is robust most of the times.
Singhvi came down heavily on the media. Paid news, advertorials, incestuous relationship between owners and editors and concentration of ownership were the ills pointed out by him. In his opinion, Press Council of India has failed miserably and is as toothless as Medical Council of India or Bar Council.
CAG was mentioned just in passing. Army must be allowed to be anonymous. Election Commission is our pride and others' envy. Parliament can become more productive if only private members are allowed to initiate legislation, scope of whips is reduced and disruption of proceedings is dealt with an iron hand.
I was happy that the rains did not deter me from attending this lecture.
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