Today, democracy is only about elections, rues Baraguru Ramachandrappa

MYSURU: Lamenting the disappearance of statesmanship in administration, and politics being reduced to numbers, Kannada writer and Kendriya Sahitya Akademi award winner Baraguru Ramachandrappa on Friday said, “Democracy has become a technicality. Today, democracy is only about elections.”
Ramachandrappa, who inaugurated the national seminar on ‘Mysore Under Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar: Political, Social and Economic Transition’ organised by the department of history and the Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar Chair, University of Mysore (UoM), recalled Nalwadi’s championing of democracy even before India attained Independence.
Attributing the transformation in the practice of politics to Nalwadi’s scrupulous administrative policies, Ramachandrappa said, “Nalwadi was a king, and boasted an aristocratic lineage. But he was committed to democracy. Although elections were not held during his reign, and one may argue that democracy was not in practice then, it must be said that it is a mere technical detail. Ideologically, his reign was built on democracy/ But ideology has disappeared in the democratic setup of India today. Who is victorious in the elections is all that matters in democracy today.”
The writer bemoaned the lack of concern among the people’s representatives for those who had elected them. “The number of seats won in the election is what democracy has been reduced to. Leaders are no longer concerned about what is happening in their constituencies,” Ramachandrappa said.
He said that the implementation of reservation for the vulnerable sections of society is an indication of Nalwadi’s foresight. “He introduced reservation a hundred years ago, a good 40 years before India gained Independence. He established Mysore university with the aim of providing education to those traditionally deprived of it. Nobody was denied admission on the basis of caste. Wadiyar banned the Devadasi system, promoted widow remarriage and also encouraged education among women. He was a very progressive monarch,” said the decorated author.
Aggrieved by the incidence of lynching cases by mobs across the country, Ramachandrappa said that historians were living in a state of fear. “Those with the conviction to speak the truth are being pushed to the margins, while those who boast proximity to political parties and specific communities are being celebrated,” he added.
UoM vice-chancellor Prof G Hemantha Kumar, and former VC of Goa and Mangalore universities Prof Sheik Ali were among those in attendance at the inaugural ceremony.