Ex-CJI Venkatachalaiah prescription for India: ‘The cure for ills of democracy is more democracy’

Edited remarks by former Chief Justice of India MN Venkatachalaiah, 92, at the launch on Monday of Sugata Srinivasaraju’s Furrows in a Field: The Unexplored Life of HD Deve Gowda, a biography of the former prime minister.

Every worthy biography has a message. To me, what Sugata Srinivasaraju wishes to convey is relevant in the context of democracy in India. Faith in democracy is faith in its institutions. It is well known that when India declared its intention to adopt the republican model of parliamentary democracy with universal adult franchise, the western world was cynical of its success. How can, they wondered, 300 million illiterate people successfully operate the sophisticated modern parliamentary system. The same western press, 60 years later, said Indian democracy was “robust” and also the “rowdiest”. This is a tribute to the innate uncommon wisdom of the common man.

It was once said by an eminent political leader that he would rather trust the foolishness of 300 million people than the wisdom of five judges. But that faith in the wisdom of the elector is waning. If one looks at the lamentable state in public life, it becomes evident that in a democracy people do not get a better government than they deserve. We…

Read more