Democracy in Sri Lanka and India compared

| by N.S.Venkataraman

( May 28, 2012, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) Compared to Sri Lanka, India is a large country in terms of size and population. The number of languages spoken in India and multiple cultures prevalent in India are much more than Sri Lanka. Still, there appear to be many things similar in the functioning style of democracy in both these countries. A comparative study should be of great interest.

Chaotic democracies :

In both the countries, it appears to be appropriate to term the functioning style as chaotic democracy. Many people do not know as to whether the democracy in these regions are glory or ruin and whether they have benefited the country more than the harm that they have caused. The liberty enjoyed by the people appear to have made the countries “free for all”, with corruption and nepotism in public administration all prevalent , affecting the overall socio economic progress of the countries.

Political parties / Politicians :

In India , the electoral system of democracy has resulted in formation of multiple political parties and many of them are family centred. It is common to see the key positions in several political parties being under the control of father, mother, son daughter, nephew and niece. In the management of these political parties, the family interests have become more pronounced than the interest of the public. Wife, son or daughter succeeding the father as leader of the party or in the positions in government have become too common. The dominant party namely Congress party in India is accused of being a dynastic party and today no one can be the leader of Congress party other than the member of the Nehru family. Same is the story in the case of several regional parties in India.

The scenario in Sri Lanka does not appear to be much different . One of the main criticism about President Rajapaksa is that the Sri Lankan government is virtually controlled by his family.

Vindictive politics :

Both the ruling parties in Sri Lanka and India are repeatedly accused of practicing vindictive politics against the political opponents by foisting cases and conducting raids. The premier investigating agency in India namely CBI is often accused of being used as political tool by the government of the day.

In this respect also, both Sri Lanka and India appear to be scoring the same points.

Fear complex :

Inspite of the fact that India is supposed to be a free country, many citizens and even media carry a fear complex and are afraid to criticize the ruling party men. The fear remains in spite of the laws protecting the freedom of speech and liberty of individuals.

It is feared that the ruling parties and bureaucracy would adopt subtle methods to harass the critics and it is becoming increasingly common to use the services of hit men (rowdies) by political parties to put fear in the minds of the critics and discourage the critics. In recent times, we have heard about number of murders of RTI (Right to Information) activists in India. The media in India have been viewed with great suspicion by several people , suspecting it of writing motivated stories.

We often hear similar views about the conditions in Sri Lanka also.

Is there any difference ?

There is a RTI Act (Right to Information Act) in India , which entitle the common men to write to the government asking for information about the functioning of the government departments , which the government is supposed to answer within thirty days. This is a significant step in India towards protecting the rights of citizens, which citizens in Sri Lanka do not enjoy.

Over all, the fact is that the democracy in Sri Lanka and India today are going through great strain. The unhappiness of the people in both the countries are clearly evident. Large section of people in both the countries who understand that things are not as it should be, are unwilling to fight for probity in public life and make necessary sacrifices to achieve the true conditions of democracy.

It is gratifying that some small segment of media and tiny section of population of both the countries are making some noise about the prevalent situation but they are not really making a dent.