NEOAVATARA

The most massive, engaging example of democracy started yesterday, as the Republic of India started their national election.

India’s 714 million registered voters — more than any other country; more then the entire European or North American continents — go to the polls for approximately one month of voting.   Turnout is running as high as 86% in some districts…a number that any country would be envious of.  The voting wraps up May 13, after which political parties will try to form a government and pick a prime minister.

Of course, nothing is perfect in this country of 1.1 billion people.  15 people were killed in the initial hours of the election, primarily by terrorist Maoist rebels.  And corruption continues to run rampant, with many parties paying people to vote in their favor.

Additionally, the election is far from messy.  In the Indian Parliamentary system, coalitions rule the day.  The Congress Party, which controls the current governing coalition, has lost several key coalition supporters in the past few weeks. Additionally, its standard bearer could be Rahul Gandhi, the 34 year old great-grandson of Jawaharlal Nehru, grandson of Indira Gandhi, and son of Rajiv and Sonia Gandhi.  The oxymoron in India is that democracy is vibrant, but leadership is still largely based on star power and nepotism.

However the BJP, the main opposition party, is unlikely to have any larger majority either.  The smaller players are using the division to their advantage.  Kumari Mayawati, a Dalit leader from the most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, has dreams of being the first lower class person to become Prime Minister.  And then their is former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha, a former film star fond of wearing capes from the large southern state, who is always looking for ways to increase her personal power.

One major problem in India?  The educated don’t vote.  That is right.  Most of the voters in India come from the poorer (and therefore uneducated) classes.  This has been a major problem since the birth of the nation, and does not seem to be changing any time soon.

In a country as diverse and large as India, it doesn’t matter so much who wins.  The country, unsurprisingly, is largely ungovernable, and yet maintains a sense of peace, and is starting to grow in prosperity.  The key lesson to learn from India is not the negatives, but the positives.  More Muslims live in India than any other country in the world other than Indonesia.  And yet, they probably have more rights in India than almost any other country.  Woman freely vote and run for election, with many being able to openly contest for the highest positions, with little or no commentary on their sex.

India is far from perfect.  But one thing is for sure:  India is an example to the world on carrying out representative democracy.  For all  of its imperfections, this is one thing India can be proud of.