Save ailing democracy before it is too late!

India would be completing 73 years of Independence in the next six months' time, but democracy instead of getting matured seems to be going from bad to worse. We are seeing two types of leaders. One set of leaders is those who rarely speak.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah belong to this category. They mostly speak only in Parliament or during election time. We have another set of leaders that include the Congress stalwarts like Sonia Gandhi who demand resignation of Home Minister Amit Shah in the wake of the ongoing Delhi riots and allege that the violence was instigated by the BJP.

It is time the Congress recalls what it did in 1984 and how the anti-Sikh riots shook Delhi. The grand old party should, for a minute, think who was responsible for those attacks and answer how many of the then Central Ministers resigned.

It was not a small issue. The Congress should first set its house in order, emerge as a powerful Opposition party before it tries to fish in troubled waters. When riots take place, it would be better if all parties cooperate and keep politics aside.

They should work for restoration of normalcy and once that is done then they can indulge in slugfest in Parliament or political platforms.

In fact, the riots East Delhi has been witnessing for the past three days would help the government in one way as the Opposition parties particularly all those who have been opposing the CAA and NRC would pounce on the government and consume most of the time of Parliament.

This will result in loss of time and there would be no proper scrutiny of the budget and finally it would be guillotined, and the government would have right of way to implement what it wants. The Opposition will only get vicarious pleasure of attacking the government on the violence in Delhi.

Down south in Andhra Pradesh we are witnessing acerbic language being used by all leaders starting from the Chief Minister and the Opposition party leaders down to the gully leaders. This is something which causes concern. Over the last seven decades, India has seen many top leaders with excellent oratorial skills.

Rhetoric used to be there, and it used to be sharp enough to drive home the point. Those speeches used to be clever but not cruel or cunning. Now we have leaders who call Opposition demons. Today leaders are becoming over sensitive and are not ready to take any kind of criticism. They refuse to accept that criticism is an intention to correct someone's mistakes.

Instead they come up with statements like "We are waging a war with demons." These days leaders have script writers who do not even bother to think which word to use and which one not to. War means a state of armed conflict. If people in power say they are waging a war do not know what to say.

The present day rulers only want both the political parties and the media to keep praising everything they do. Anyone who questions is seen as a demon and maniacs. These leaders when in Opposition use most acerbic language to criticise the party in power but after coming to power, they want to supress any voice of dissent.

This tendency among political parties and leaders has been on the rise for past six years. Even people in high and responsible positions like Chief Ministers use all kinds of adjectives against those who speak against them. It is time for the society to wake up and see that the democracy does not get hijacked by such kind of politicians.