Democracies with a difference

As a keen observer of the US politics I find that both (one biggest and the other largest) democracies celebrate politics and the process of elections with gusto and fervor.

As in India the US electorate does vote based on race, beliefs (conservative, liberal etc), religion etc. The media in the US enjoys much more freedom but it is hard to get fair and balanced view since most media houses are openly biased towards a particular political philosophy (conservative, democratic, libertarian etc). Most of us around the world would have thought Obama would eventually win against a gaffe prone Romney representing a Republican party which fought on an openly anti-women, anti-gay and anti-immigrant platform. There was no way Romney would have won unless the white vote consolidated fully towards the Republicans but alas it was not to be. President Obama’s middle path has won him the day, his promise of not excluding anyone resonated with the aspirations of most Americans. It was hilarious to see debates on Fox news criticizing President Obama on almost all of his policies and attacking him viciously day in and a day out. In fact such strident advocacy against Obama may have pushed the rest of the electorate to vote for him.

Come back home, Indian media are good students of the government in power, they are not truly independent because of the constant fear of government using CBI as a weapon. There are exceptions like Tehelka etc but it is hard for media houses to survive taking on the government and political parties. Hence our political debates are muted. The standards are definitely improving but we have some way to go.

Elections in India are equally intense as in the US and even more colorful. Our elections are more of appealing to the emotions of the citizens (Vote for Indira Gandhi, Rajeev Gandhi, Vajpayee since they are good people etc) seeking loyalty and lacks serious debate on Health care, Education, Job creation, Foreign policy etc, it is more about parties promising something free, corruption related and some more local and peripheral issues. However Indians are more intolerant towards incumbents who seem not to have delivered on promises. There are exceptions however, today in Gujarat and Bihar Governments perform and all political parties are forced to talk about development due to the change leadership brought in by Mr. Modi and Nitish kumar.

Two exciting democracies with so much in common yet much different in how their politics are run.