Decline of Democracy and Rise of Strong Leader

Half of the world’s population will go to the polls this year. Forty countries will be voting for a new government in 2024. That will be 3.2 billion people exercising their democratic privilege of choosing who will govern them. If we add the local body elections and county/state elections, then the number of countries going to the polls will rise to 76.

Open Society Foundations of the USA conducted a survey a few months back to study the health of democracy in various countries. The survey covered 36,000 adults each (18 years and above) from 30 countries including India. That is a mammoth survey. Some of the findings may be a little disturbing for those who love democracy. 

A large number of youngsters seem to be losing faith in democracy, according to the survey results. While among the people in the age group of 56 and above, 26% preferred a strong leader to democracy, the percentage of youngsters (18-35 years) who made the same choice was 35. Nearly half of this latter group would choose authoritarianism over democracy. [Read details here.]

My guess is that the young people are weary of the hydra-headed corruption that democracy engenders almost universally. A strong leader with a great vision seems to be an ideal that will match the dreams and aspirations of the youth.

Take India, for example. Narendra Modi is quite sure to win the next elections and be the prime minister for the third term. He has created for himself an image of a ‘strong leader’ with a ‘vision’ that appeals to the majority community in the country. He has put up colossal nationalist icons like the Statue of Unity, the Kashi corridor, and now the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. He is seen by the vast majority of Hindus in India as the Messiah of Hinduism, the Redeemer of the emasculated Indian male virility, and the Harbinger of a trillion-dollar economy.

While Modi has brought quite a few significant and welcome changes to the country’s socio-economic situation, the damage he has done and is still doing to the secular fabric and scientific temper of the country can never be ignored. It is most likely that within a year of Modi’s re-election this year, India will be declared a Hindu Rashtra and that the minority communities will be relegated as second-class or even lesser kind of citizens. True, of late, Modi is displaying some kind of camaraderie with the Christian religious leaders in the country. Will such friendship be extended to the Muslims whom Modi has virtually made to appear as the de facto enemies of the nation? Given the way history has been distorted in textbooks and other academic material, given the way institutions (including the judiciary) have been communalised, and given the way the citizens are polarised along sectarian lines, the prognosis for India’s next five years is not very promising. 

Sectarianism is one of the problems only. The economy will be another serious issue. As of now, the richest one percent of India’s population (who are all very close to Modi and his political party) own 40% of the country’s wealth. Oxfam has labelled it “obscene inequality.” What is worrying more is Modi’s taxation policy by which the poor pay far more in taxes than the rich. 64% of the total Goods and Services Tax [GST] come from the bottom 50% of the population, while only a minuscule 4% come from the top 10%!

The rich in India are given all kinds of sops and tax exemptions and benefits and rewards under various guises including mammoth bank loans which are often not repaid. These affluent in turn make huge contributions to Modi’s political party. Modi and the affluent in India are scratching each other’s backs while the poor are becoming poorer though stats will show a burgeoning economy. Statistical averages are as absurd as Modi’s spirituality. Modi’s economic stats are like the female bikini: pretending to be very revelatory but ends up as mere tantalisations.

“India is unfortunately on a fast track to becoming a county only for the rich,” Oxfam India’s CEO Amitabh Behar said recently. The system ensures “the survival of the richest.” No wonder, too many of India’s youth are leaving the country for good. No wonder, again, the number of suicides is mounting day by day.

A strong leader may not be the best choice unless you are on the right side of his sectarian divisions.