Highest ever voter turnout of 66.4%, the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) attaining simple majority and the prospect of a stable govt for 5 years. All reasons why the world's largest democracy should feel like a job well done. Time to sit back and relax. But wait - is the job really done?
Not quite. The 5 year vigil begins now. Jaagte raho, even if you have full faith in the newly elected leaders. I'm not doubting the abilities and integrity of the NDA government-in-waiting or its chances of performing. On the contrary, the question is how are WE going to perform as the electors and the ruled.
As per the Democracy Index 2012 published by the Economist Intelligence Unit, India is considered a "flawed democracy" and ranked only 38 on that index! Much of this low ranking is because of us (the common man), not because of our leaders. We are not a "full democracy" yet like the Top 25 ranking countries with score of 8.0 or above. India is not far behind at 7.5 and with better political awareness and culture and an unbiased media, we can surely climb up that ranking in 2014-15.
About 551 million Indians spoke their minds on voting day this time. We hope that they will continue to Speak Up every day for 5 more years.
Not quite. The 5 year vigil begins now. Jaagte raho, even if you have full faith in the newly elected leaders. I'm not doubting the abilities and integrity of the NDA government-in-waiting or its chances of performing. On the contrary, the question is how are WE going to perform as the electors and the ruled.
As per the Democracy Index 2012 published by the Economist Intelligence Unit, India is considered a "flawed democracy" and ranked only 38 on that index! Much of this low ranking is because of us (the common man), not because of our leaders. We are not a "full democracy" yet like the Top 25 ranking countries with score of 8.0 or above. India is not far behind at 7.5 and with better political awareness and culture and an unbiased media, we can surely climb up that ranking in 2014-15.
About 551 million Indians spoke their minds on voting day this time. We hope that they will continue to Speak Up every day for 5 more years.
