Challenges of Building Democracy
Many of the countries that gained freedom from colonialism experienced non-democratic rule. It took various forms, such as nominal democracy but effective control by one leader, one-party rule, or direct army rule. Non-democratic regimes always started with a promise of restoring democracy very soon. But once they established themselves, it was very difficult to dislodge them.
The conditions in India were not very different. However, the leaders of the newly independent India decided to take the more difficult path. Any other path would have been surprising, for our freedom struggle was deeply committed to the idea of democracy. Our leaders were conscious of the critical role of politics in any democracy. They did not see politics as a problem; they saw it as a way of solving the problems.
Every society needs to decide how it will govern and regulate itself. There are always different policy alternatives to choose from. There are different groups with different and conflicting aspirations. While competition and power are the two most visible things about politics, the purpose of political activity is and should be deciding and pursuing the public interest. This is the route our leaders decided to take.