Opinion: Don't Let Democracy To Be Robbed By The Rich, It Is Meant For The Poor

Democracy entails a whole lot of things, it stands for a lot of values, it stands for a lot of principles including civil liberties, equality of genders, freedom of expression etc. Democracy starts with people electing their representatives but certainly doesn’t end there as some would suggest. A country can conduct elections and still not be considered as a Democracy i.e elections are a necessary condition but not a sufficient one. Going beyond this, why did the human race found the necessity to have Democracy over other forms of government? What made Democracy the best option? To conclude, let us assume what happens when there is no Democracy at all in a country.

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What if there was no Democracy?

As many glaring examples of history if not all suggest, a country without Democracy most likely falls into autocracy without any or little civil liberties or in many cases the country has gone into military rules and in some cases theocracy and chaos. Which ever form a country falls into, one thing was certain, the rich always had their way, their business continues to flourish, profits to soar. In India’s own history, even during the Indian struggle, Indian businesses continued and they were still patriotic. But the bigger point is poor lacked a voice, poor lacked social and political presence and hence the policies and purpose of government largely neglected the poor.

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Now comes Democracy

In a scenario where the poor don’t have voice and means to better their future, Democracy seeks to fill the void. The rich would either way, had their voice, their presence and sustenance whether there was Democracy or not and it is for that reason Democracy was meant for the poor, to make their lives better and bring them out of poverty. Policy makers who ever they are supposed to work with one large objective of governing and make policies that would benefit the poor.

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Patriotism by raising your voice for the poor

We don’t have to be poor to sympathize and raise our voice for our fellow Indians who are poor. Patriotism during the independence movement was about sacrifice for the cause of the nation, to free the country from the British. Today patriotism could well be about being concerned for the many millions of fellow Indian citizens who are poor by raising your voice and demanding from the party you support or the representative you had voted for to work towards the betterment of poor. How much in the last two decades have our government put the concerns, welfare and development of poor at the center of things? You be the judge.

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