Saturday, August 20, 2011

Democracy is not merely Parliament at the top - Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru

Reproduce below is what I learnt as Pandit Nehru's address on August 3, 1962 while inaugurating the annual conference of State Ministers of Community Development and Panchayati Raj:

" Either you trust the people or you don't. There is no half way house. Partly trusting them leaves you nowhere. Then they have no responsibility and they do not develop properly. That is why, having given this authority and power to them you should not tamper with it by official interference. Democracy is not merely Parliament at the top or in the States but something that excites every person and something that trains every one to take his proper place and indeed, any place in the country if need arises. I have said and I mean it, that all this Panchayati Raj, whatever things we are doing, are ultimately meant to train up every individual in India to be a potential Prime Minister of India."

If the above is true, does not the citizens have all rights for peaceful protest against government and parliament as they are supreme in a democracy.