Tracing democracy, violence in India and Sri Lanka

Tracing democracy, violence in India and Sri Lanka

Democracy And Violence in India and Sri Lanka Dennis Austin The Royal Institute of International Affairs, Council on Foreign Relations Press, New York, 1995. 101 pages $14.95

JAKARTA (JP): With its free press, independent judiciary, secular constitution, nonpolitical army and more than 540 million voters, India is the world's largest democracy.

Democracy is a remedy for violence. But, surprisingly, violence has become an integral part of a land where prophets of peace -- Lord Gautam Buddha and Mahatma Gandhi -- were born.

Many wonder why Mahatma Gandhi -- the father of the Indian nation, leader of India's unique non-violent freedom struggle against the brutal British colonialism and promoter of harmony between Hindu and Moslem communities -- suffered a violent death at the hands of a Hindu fundamentalist. Gandhi's political heirs, former prime ministers Indira Gandhi and her son Rajiv Gandhi, were both assassinated due to political reasons.

Judging from print and electronic media reports, one may conclude that violence bedevils Indian society. The media portray India as full of bandits and mercenaries in remote districts, caste violence, communal riots and communist violence (Maoists); not to mention the separatism, terrorism and gangster politics.

These reports are undeniable facts. But, given its 900 million population, the complexities of its caste system, religions, regions and languages, those incidents are but a drop in the ocean.

Likewise in Sri Lanka, a tiny, democratic, tropical paradise in the Indian Ocean, whose population is predominantly Buddhist, violence is not only frequent but brutish and widespread. The present bloody war between the Tamil Tigers and government forces is a glaring example.

So, why is there so much violence in the cradles of non- violence? How can there be a "violent democracy"? Is there any relationship between democracy and violence? Can democracy encourage violence?

These are the questions that Prof. Dennis Austin, a distinguished academic at the University of Manchester, United Kingdom, grapples with in his book Democracy and Violence in India and Sri Lanka.

The central theme of the book, in the author's own words, is "the relationship between violence and democracy in South Asia", with a focus on India and Sri Lanka.

South Asia, home to the world's largest Hindu and Moslem populations, is frequently referred to as Asia's only remaining troubled region, due to its extreme level of violence.

Violence is not exclusively South Asian problem. In almost every society, the evil of violence exists. In America, the land of liberty and democracy, there are over 150,000 gun deaths annually and some 200 million guns in circulation in a lethal market (page 2).

In Europe, violence has grown out of separatism, immigration and other social issues. But there is a difference in the degree, Prof. Austin says, between Western society and South Asia.

"Issues of crime and violence have troubled Western societies but not their politics," he said.

So, what is at the root of the political violence in South Asia?

The answer might lie in the pluralistic societies of India and Sri Lanka, where people are divided by religion, caste, language and region. In addition, the Indian subcontinent is full of minorities and majorities.

The crux of the problem is that many of the political parties often exploit these differences for their own gains. The sensitive nature of these differences are extremely emotional, often resulting in mass-scale violence.

In many cases, according to Austin, the violence is not against individuals but against entire communities or groups. This, in turn, invites state violence in the name of quashing disturbances.

In spite of the widespread violence, both India and Sri Lanka are constitutional states, where free and fair elections are held every five years.

Austin divides his study into five chapters, three of which deal exclusively with India and one with Sri Lanka. In the first chapter he tries to explore the origins and nature of violence in both countries.

The present study, Austin claims, is an assessment of 50 years of democracy in both countries. In fact, it's a pure academic analysis of recent events based mostly on secondary source materials.

Having gone through the book, one may feel that proper care has not been taken in the accuracy of names, places, abbreviations, editing and proofreading.

For example, it is stated in the book that the Janata Dal coalition won the 1977 elections (page 11). Actually, the party that won the 1977 elections was the Janata Party, not Janata Dal. Several names have wrong spellings (Himachel Pradesh and Ram Rajiya), and the names of the MCC (page 41) and CPM (page 15) are wrongly mentioned.

However, the mistakes do not dilute the content and quality of the book.

Given the volatile situations in Sri Lanka and India for its upcoming general elections, Austin's latest book is worth reading.

-- V. Anjaiah