Introduction

Democracy is a Government of people, by the people and for the people, according to Abraham Lincoln, the greatest expounder of democracy, the world has ever known. It is the man in the street who should realise and understand the noble ideals of democracy and not a handful of literary aristocrats. Education revolutionizes the soul of a man. It opens the gateway for him to the wider expanses of life. He sees the world in its true colours through the glass of education.

Universal education, the first requisite of stable democracy

Universal education is the first requisite for laying the foundation of a true and stable democracy. In democracy, it is the people who rule themselves. The candidate of the people represents the intellect, sagacity and character of the people who have voted for him. An uneducated man does not understand the worth of a person who declares himself a candidate. He falls a victim to clever persuasion or to a high officer when he or she is not worthy enough to hold that office. An uneducated persons fails to understand the practical meaning of citizenship and is not able to discharge his duties and exercise his rights as a citizen. He has too crude an intellect to know the intricacies and fineness of the democratic machinery. No difference between democracy and autocracy exists. During this time. real democratic values had a set-back. After the Fourth General Election, party dictatorship has become feeble and democratic values have gained ground. Till 1966, democracy failed in India because the persons at the helm of affairs became arrogant and corrupt and indulged in acts of despotism and favouritism and forgot the interest and welfare of the general public. The result was misrule and maladministration. In this set of circumstances, the poor became poorer and the rich because richer. The ruling Congress party, in order to capture power and sustain political strength, became a toy in the hands of shrewd capitalists. In consequence there is inequality pervading everywhere in India. In the absence of economic equality, liberty is a fiction and fraternity is a trick to be fool the common masses.

An educated man and international affairs

The first and the foremost reason of the failure of democracy in India is that there has not been a strong opposition either in the Parliament or in the State legislature. India has suffered from plethora of political parties. These small political groups have been fighting for all these years and have been giving chance to the Congress party to rule and to get more corrupt. The second reason is that Indians, by temperament, believe in hero worship. It is very difficult to depose a man in India after he is declared a national hero. The Congress leaders had been intimately connected with the war of Indian independence and had come to be recognized as national heroes. The Indians could not have the moral courage to depose them though these leaders failed utterly in their mission of giving a clean and just administration to India. Indians like English men, could not depose Chamberlain and entrust the nation to Winston Churchill. By and by, conditions are changing and Indians have become conscious of their duties and rights and are now more mature as citizens of a democratic nation. Democracy is ideal and its preservation is possible where there is political consciousness among the public. In short, no democracy in the modern world will succeed until there is widespread education and enlightenment among the people.

Conclusion

Democracy is at trial in Indian. If democracy succeeds in India, it will succeed everywhere in the world Because Indian is a land of diversities. There is only one great evil in democracy that capitalism grows faster every moment and the labour class grows weaker. If democracy can control this evil, communism will die its natural death.