Anupam- The Dreamer

Image courtesy: Hillpost.in

For a building to be strong and resilient from the external shocks (earthquake, floods, cyclones etc.) and internal shocks (fire, load of the building etc.), its pillars have to be strong. Because, without sturdy pillars, the building may crumble like a pack of cards anytime. But, in this analogy, we often forget about the importance of the foundation of the building. If the foundation is strong, then only the pillars would be actually strong. But, if the foundation itself is weak, then even the strong pillars cannot save the building.

Similarly, we often talk about the 4 pillars of democracy viz. the legislature, the executive, the judiciary and lastly the media. Each one of them performs a specific yet critical function to help the democracy to reach its intended goal, which is providing favourable conditions to each person to meet his/her own true potential. The Legislature performs the role of law-making. The Executive performs the role of implementation of the law. The Judiciary performs the role of interpretation of the law. And media, as the 4^th pillar of democracy, acts as a vigil over the first 3 pillars, and holds them accountable. So far, so good. But, where is the role of the “people” in all these 4 pillars, which are conspicuous by their absence more than by their presence.

After all, what is democracy, if it is not (in the words of Abraham Lincoln) “of the people, by the people and for the people”. If the 4 pillars do not serve the people and don’t work for the welfare of the people, and are not accountable to the people, then everything goes for a toss.

Take a scenario, wherein some countries, the lawmakers in the legislature are hands-in-gloves with the crony capitalists and persons with criminal antecedents, the executives have amongst them people with tainted backgrounds, the judiciary has judges who are more interested in serving themselves rather than the people and the media is captured by the money and power of the influential strata of the society. Now, despite having all the 4 pillars which are strong in their own way, it would not serve the interests of the supreme master of the land i.e. its people. People are at the core of the democracy. Infact, every pillar has no separate existence, if it is not supported by the strong foundation of its people. So, if the sole focus is on the 4 pillars, by conveniently ignoring the people, then we are going down the rabbit hole from which there is no escape.

Thus, for the democracy to be healthy and functioning, the focus has to be on the foundation i.e. “We, the people”. It is the bedrock of a nation and infact its “raison d’etre” (the sole purpose of existence). Every pillar has to be directly accountable to its people. The election of legislature can be a once in a 5-year or 4-year exercise, but participative democracy has to be ensured by allowing for people’s participation in the law-making process through consultations, feedbacks, debates and dialogues. The executive is accountable to the legislature, but it should not mean the tyranny of majority over the minority. The people have to be given effective say in holding the power accountable through various means like freedom of speech, right to information, right to recall, etc. The judiciary has to function in a transparent and efficient manner, so that the people aren’t left wanting for justice. The media, instead of functioning as a mouthpiece of handful of powerful people, should rather become the true voice of people, especially those who are powerless.

Till the time the people themselves are empowered to hold the pillars accountable to themselves directly, the foundation of the building of democracy will always be weak. And weak foundation cannot support the building for long, and there will eventually be cracks in the pillars and even the whole superstructure. The people cannot afford to be passive bystanders in this whole movie of democracy, rather they have to take the lead role of the actors. Unless, every person in the democratic polity realizes that he/she has a very important role to play, there cannot be a true democracy. And unless, there is empowerment and enlightenment at the individual level, we cannot achieve our collective goals of nation in particular, and the world in general.

It will not matter if we add 5^th pillar or 6^th pillar tomorrow to keep the building safe from crumbling. If the foundation remains weak, no power on earth can save the building from being reduced to rubble in the future. And conversely, if the foundation is strong, then sky is the limit for the building to rise, braving all sorts of external and internal shocks.

For the people ✌