The book, Democracy Without Political parties, consists of ten chapters analysing with facts and figures, briefly but very precisely, the bane of political activities through party culture, leading to division and discord in Indian society, giving fatal blow to secularism and partisan views affecting governance adversely in which the parties always get the upper hand at the cost of interests of the people.
The party politics has invariably led to criminalisation of the Indian society. Even the educational institutions have been invaded by parties, thereby intoxicating the young minds and vitiating the ambience of learning as well as the sanctity of penance at the cost of future of the country.
The coalition of parties that happens due to fragmented verdicts is designed only to strengthen the hold of parties and not for rendering any service to the country. The mushroom growth of parties every election season, which rose to about 400 by the end of 2008, shows the extent of personal ambition for money, power and fictitious fame having no relevance to the growth and development of the country.
Due to inaction or poor functioning of officials and institutions, the affected people have no other option but to approach the judiciary for relief. The judiciary, already having a huge backlog, has to bear more burden to rescue the affected people. Thus, the legislative wing feels that its domain is encroached upon by the judiciary though the people suffering are not impressed by such statements.
The steel frame of bureaucracy is meant to manage civil services, which are the true foundation of administration, touching the people of all levels in the society. But unfortunately, due to party politics in India, the party which comes to power grabs the bureaucracy and makes it subservient to serve it and its leaders—great or small. The bureaucracy cannot afford to disentangle itself from the party leaders and thus, the civil services are in dismal state in most parts of the country, and this has paved the way for corruption and moral decadence amongst the party leaders including the bureaucrats. No political ideology, whether indigenous or imported, howsoever excellent theoretically, can solve the problems of a country like India. Ideologies stunt the growth of freedom of thought of the party leaders and their followers, and as such, only well thought of pragmatism can run a democracy of India’s size, diversity and complexity, leading to diffusion of democracy.
The book gives a practical and feasible scheme named soloism to achieve the goal of diffusion in a constructive and non-violent way, exercising effectively, democratic culture at every step, and this original thinking marks the outstanding distinction of the work.
K.C. Brahmachary is a postgraduate in Economics. Having served the Delhi Administration for over thirty years in various capacities, he has an intimate knowledge of the jagged roads of administration and the ominous influence of political parties and real politics on various wings of administration in day-to-day life. He gained commendable experience in conducting elections, right from panchayat level up to the parliament, spanning about three decades, which has enriched his insight about democracy in practice.
As an Industries Officer on deputation, he served the Royal Government of Bhutan fruitfully for two and a half years. Rich in experience of Bhutan, he penned a book on Bhutan which was well received. His other original work on micro fields of administration entitled, We and Our Administration—the outcome of an extensive research—has also been received well in elite and administrative circles.
