Social, Economic, Political Consciousness as 3 Requirements for Democracy

Literacy will not awaken full wisdom on what to do and what not to do.

If the responsibility of literacy is left to political parties, then those political parties will spread their respective party propaganda popularizing themselves among the people.

People will become intellectually bankrupt. This curse will undermine their rational judgement and discrimination.

Morality is the second fundamental factor for the success of democracy.

People sell their votes because they lack morality. In some countries, votes are bought and sold.

Democracy cannot succeed unless 51% of the population rigidly follow principles of morality.

Where corrupt and immoral persons are in the majority, leaders will inevitably be elected among these immoral people.

Today, there are too many obstacles on the path of morality.

Urban civilization is one of the chief reasons of moral degeneration because many people are compelled to live undesirably in small, congested places.

This is inimical to morality in individual life.

Solitary living for some time is essential for the cultivation and development of morality.

Where the population is very dense, milk and vegetables are in short supply.

When the demand is more than the supply, adulteration goes unchecked. To meet the deficit in the supply of milk, people mix water with it.

To meet the demand for diamonds, imitation diamonds are produced, because the demand is more than the supply.

Cities become dens of corruption because of antisocial elements. But generally, such things are not noticeable in villages.

In villages, everybody knows everyone else.

Everybody knows the livelihood of their neighbours. But even after 20 years of living in a city people seldom get acquainted with their neighbours.

They don’t even know that there are many swindlers lurking in their midst.

However, the slogan, “Go back to the village” alone will not suffice.

City life has a great attraction for people who want livelihood.

To stop this trend, intellectuals and others will have to look for their livelihood in villages.

The supply of cheap electricity and the expansion of cottage industries in villages are of paramount necessity today.

Cottage industries do not mean outdated, primitive handicrafts. They must be efficient, modern mechanized units.

From the economic viewpoint, decentralization is an absolute necessity.

With the exception of heavy industries and essential government offices, all industry should be shifted to the villages.

To stop overcrowding in the cities, this is the only feasible approach.

Villages are not congested, so antisocial people will not be able to hide themselves there. If they try, the police can easily detect them.

In a democratic society immorality is a big issue which cannot be avoided.

The ghost of immorality lies hidden in today’s democratic system.

Democracy induces sentiments like provincialism, communalism, casteism, etc., which are devoid of morality.

Suppose that in a certain constituency person A represents a majority community, but B, C, and D are capable and competent representatives.

In such circumstances, representative A is sure to fully exploit the majority community by kindling casteism or narrow-minded communal sentiments in order to win elections.

Such antisocial activities create suspicion in people’s minds and thus deal a staggering blow to their morality.

In some democratic systems, social discrimination becomes so rampant that different groups and parties find ample scope to propagate and disseminate their defective ideas and fissiparous sentiments.

• And so morality goes unprotected.

Thus in a democracy some people indulge in casteism and extract maximum advantage from it.

Political parties also nominate those persons who belong to majority communities as their representatives. The masses, being uneducated, cannot see through these games.

Social, economic and political consciousness is also indispensable for the success of democracy.

Even educated people may be misguided by shrewd and cunning politicians if they are not sufficiently conversant with social, economic and political issues.

Democracy can be successful only when people imbibe these three kinds of consciousness.

Without this awareness, the welfare of the society is not possible either in theory or in practice. Intellectuals, therefore, must never encourage unrealistic ideas of this sort.

But even if these three requirements for the success of democracy are met, the real welfare of the society is not possible by dialectical materialism or by democracy.

The only solution is an enlightened, benevolent dictatorship – that is a morally and spiritually conscious dictatorship.

Moralists, though in a minority today, have no reason to worry.

Once society is led by people who are intellectually and intuitionally developed, there will certainly be no scope for exploitation and injustice.

If in a nation every person enjoys human rights, why should a particular person have voting rights while others do not?

Everybody should have the individual right to enjoy everything.

• But not everybody should have the right to run the administration of a country.

For the good and the welfare of the people in general, it is not fitting to leave the onus of the administration in the hands of all.

Suppose a certain couple have five children.

If the children, on the plea of being in the majority, suddenly claim full authority to manage the family, is it feasible?

They might call a meeting and pass a resolution that all the glasses and crockery should be smashed.

Is it a wise resolution?

The students are always the majority compared to the teachers.

If the students, on the plea of being in the majority, demand that they themselves should set the examination and be the examiners, can that demand be granted?

So you see, democracy is not a very good or simple system.

But unless an alternative, better and more agreeable theory or system is evolved, we will have to accept democracy in preference to other systems, and make use of it for the time being.