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Tuesday 1 April 2008

Bhutan, India and democracy

It’s an advantage for the politicians and the media to feign an idea that everything in India happens under democratic rules. They frequently claim that it is the world’s largest democracy to be followed by the US. The general people outside India especially those of the West knew very little of India and do not care to know this country. But those who care know that India is ruled by a democratic government. They do not know that the country is in the hands of some corrupt people, the politicians and the bureaucracy. The election is like a great gamble. The winners are only gainers. So it is an advantage to take part in a gamble by giving it a sacred name.

Here the Congress party’s sole aim to keep the dynastic rule by using this democracy. Actually Congress has long ceased to be a political party. It’s a private enterprise-a particular house. Its present President has been holding this post for the last ten years. Its presidents were the cream of this country in the past. They were people India was proud of giving birth on her soil. But never before, none of them occupied the post of presidency for so long a period. It’s because the party does not represent the people of this country. The party now is a brand name of Nehru-Gandhi family.

Democracy has failed in this sub-continent. Nowhere has it been possible for democracy to find its roots i.e. in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Myanmar. Only it’s partially successful in Sri Lanka.

Unfortunately in Bhutan which was so far been ruled by a king has now become a democratic country. The king, Jigme Kesar Namgyal Wangchuk relinquished the kingship and told his people to select their ruler democratically. Nowhere in this world has happened such an incident in the past. People were not happy to accept democracy. They were very happy under monarchy. A study in 2006 ranked Bhutan as the eighth happiest country in the world. The king- Jigme Kesar Namgyal Wangchuk, and his father-the earlier king- Jigme Singye Wangchuk are extraordinary persons as kings. But I do not know whether this happy, peaceful and corruption-less tiny Himalayan country will be able to feel so happy after some years of living in democracy.

So let us compare the two situations in India and Bhutan. Here the Nehru-Gandhi family is hell bent to make Rahul Gandhi to be the next head of the state. And there in Bhutan the King is averse to be the ruler anymore.