By Ibrahim Lawal Ahmed
It was a privilege and honour for me to be among the Nigerian delegation to the 8th Batch of Gen-Next Democracy Network Programme from March 6th to 15th, 2023. The Gen-Next Democracy Network Programme is a programme initiated and organized by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) with the aim of exposing elements from the younger generation who are potential leaders in their countries. From the 75 democracies of the world, we went to encounter the spirit of democracy as the Indians understand it. It is important to state that India is the largest democracy in the world. It is the largest in almost every meaning that the word ‘large’ denotes and connotes.
India has a population of 1.4 billion people living in a land mass of three million, two hundred and eighty-seven thousand, two hundred- and sixty-three-square kilometres (3,287,25km2). The land size of India is so huge that it scared the British colonials into describing it as a sub-continent. But maybe it is a sub-continent for its population is so diverse; there are three thousand communities (3000 caste) and twenty-five thousand sub-communities (25,000 sub-caste), nineteen thousand (19,000) dialects and twenty-nine (29) official languages in India. Moreover, India is a society with a unique sense of spirituality that is hard to understand through the lenses of orthodox theology. This is because the spirituality of India is embedded in beliefs that are divinely philosophical which can only be understood if one can be able to see and understand the essence embedded in existence. This makes the Indians to be quite fluid with ‘god’ making them to have so many ‘gods and goddess.’ This maybe the reason why when the Christian missionaries walked into India carrying the Cross with the sculpture of Crucified Jesus (May Allah’s peace be upon him) in their shoulders, Indians without fuss added them to the 330 million gods and goddess they have.
The world is ruled by paradoxes: the Prime Minister of India and the Prime Minister of Britain are all Indians or, one of them has traces to India
Such is the diversity, complexity and distinctiveness of India that when they were granted independence in 1947, the colonials predicted that Indian democracy would not last long. In fact, Winston Churchill went on to remark that Indian democracy has gotten everything wrong needed to have a stable democracy. He predicted that, and I quote, “Power (in a free India) will go to the hands of rascals, rogues, freebooters; all Indian leaders will be of low calibre & men of straw. They will have sweet tongues and silly hearts. They will fight amongst themselves for power and India will be lost in political squabbles.” Poor Churchill! He must be turning in his grave now astonished that seventy-five (75) years after independence, Indian democracy is still firm and standing. In fact, what may be deemed as irony of history, the current Prime Minister of the Great British is of Indian origin. It is commendable to note that there has never been a military intervention in the history of India. Thus, one of the critical questions I raised in one of the several lectures we had was: How has India being able to maintain a stable democracy for seventy-five (75) years?
Democracy is a system of limitation. The powers of the executive are limited by the legislature. The powers of legislature are limited by judiciary. The powers of judiciary are limited by executive. This is what is the checks and balances that define democracy. But the biggest limitation of all to democracy is popular opinion, which can loosely be referred to as ‘general will.’ Democratic governance requires accommodation of divergent views and opinions as well as embodying the popular will (or at least will of the majority) of the people in public policy. This may sound easy but it is a difficult task especially in India that has, in addition to its cultural diversity, 40 million newspapers that sell 100 million copies every day; 90 television stations; and over 900 million registered voters with voters’ turnout in the last 2019 general elections above 67%. The question that bothered the Nigerian was, how does India manage these limitations – checks and balances?
India overcomes and is overcoming the limitations of democracy and economically developing by tapping into its ancient values and wisdom. This I came across when we visited the Lokh Sabha – the Lower House of the parliament. There is an inscription on the parliament that was translated to us as stating: the truth is one, but wise men describe it differently. This statement is deep. It suggested that the leaders of India must be ones who pursue the truth. Pursuit of truth is an occupation of wise men. And saying the truth requires courage, sincerity and integrity. The inscription also suggested that leaders of India must be accommodating of each other’s differences but on the basis of the common ground which is the truth. In post-truth era, where facts and figures seem meaningless; where authorities shamelessly lie, I found these words and the underlying values profound.
Along with my colleagues from Nigeria: Mubarak Rabi’u; Ijudigal Kadzai; Chima Christian and Fahad Terrang, and from seven (7) other democracies in the world, namely: Kenya, Chile, Suriname, Ecuador, Switzerland, Mexico and India, we travelled across India and got a first-hand exposure to the people and institutions that are holding the democracy in India and driving its development. We travelled both by air and land to and across four cities – New Delhi, Agra in Utta Pradesh, Assam in Guwahiti and Shilong in Meghalaya. We visited several monuments and political, cultural and educational institutions as well as met with the very wise people of India.
As I stated above, we visited the parliament and were honoured to sit for a moment at the floor of the Lokh Sabha and have a sense of what it means to lead the largest democracy in the world. We then moved to a Conference room and had two series of lectures by Prof. Sangit Kumar Ragi and Prof. Dr. Shahi Bala on the nature of Indian democracy and culture(s). I really learnt a lot from the two lectures.
You cannot separate aesthetics, singing and dancing from the lives of Indians. I may not be wrong to say that in the multifaceted lives that Indians live, there is one that is aesthetically flowing in rhythms. This is well reflected in their Holi celebration. It is a festival of colours and we were lucky to celebrate it with the officials of the ICCR in the compound of the ICCR Headquarters in Delhi. We danced, sang and very much sucked ourselves in colours. It was a memorable fun for me.
No monument, not only in India, but in this whole world, that has captivated me like the Taj Mahal. As a student of philosophy with keen interest on ‘love,’ I was so excited to visit Taj Mahal and pay homage to the symbolic manifestation of the thing called love. Taj Mahal is magnificent. For hundreds of years, this symbol of love has stood well erected with its beauties and enamour. Taj Mahal was built with marvelous marbles that were transported from a place 365 kilometres away. The marbles had floral decoration with precious stones that were transported from the present-day Iran. It is painstaking job to expertly carve through hardened marbles and polishing the precious stones to fit them into the marbles. Yet, using this technique the doors of Taj Mahal and the inside walls of the Tomb, where Shah Jahan and Mumtaz laid, were beautifully decorated with the verses of the Qur’an from Suratul Fajr, Yasin and Fatiha. The walls, gates and minarets of Taj Mahal were built symmetrically with extraordinary precision.
Taj Mahal was built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in honour of his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. Mumtaz is the only wife of the Emperor to bear him children (14 in number). She made the Emperor to promise her if she died he would build for her a house that has no replica and would have no similar in this world. When she died in 1631, the Emperor chose a location 2.5 kilometres from his Palace to build Taj Mahal and house her grave and his later. It took 22,000 workers 22 years to build that embodiment of beauty and symbol of love. Hazrat Amir Khurasau once remarked that “love is an ocean. Only those who enter it can understand it.” However, when I looked at Taj Mahal, I thought only God can explain the mysteries of love.
It is not every face that comes out clearly in this graphic but it gives a good account of the line up of past Indian leaders
Close to Taj Mahal is the Agra Fort. It was the Palace of Mughal Emperors like Shah Jahan and his grandfather, Akbar the Great. It is the most intimidating house I have ever seen and imagined. It has about five layers of sophisticated defense lines. Little wonder that no one in history has ever succeeded in penetrating the Fort. In the Fort, I saw array of windows through which Taj Mahal can be clearly sighted. I guess those windows were not an accident. They were probably constructed to give Shah Jahan a constant view to his beloved Mumtaz.
We visited a number of museums in Delhi, Guwahiti and Meghalaya, learning about the personalities and events that shaped India as well as the cultural traditions of India. We were occasionally entertained by an array of traditional dances through-out the programme. In fact, we were honoured to grace the Phagun Utsav organized by the National Institute of Dance Kathak Dance, Kathak Kendra, New Delhi.
We particularly enjoyed our visit to the States of Guwahiti and Meghalaya in the North East of India. Flying beside the Himalayans, we had the opportunity to see the top of the mighty Mount Everest, its peaks thrusting through the clouds. We visited the Guwahiti State Assembly and Tea Estate in Assam, North East Hills University, Indian Institute of Management and Elephant Falls in Shilong. The North Eastern India is arguably the most beautiful region of India. Hilly and greenish with a serene air that is not polluted. The people were very cordial and friendly. And the food was delicious.
We wrapped the programme with a visit to India’s temple of democracy, the Electoral Commission of India (ECI). One might not be crossing the borderline to describe the Indian Electoral Commission as one of the best in the world. It has a permanent staff of about 500 and employ temporary staff of over 12 million during elections. The commission has only 3 electoral commissioners who are seasoned civil servants appointed by the President. The Commission has more than 1 million polling stations across India.
The nature of elections in India is such that voting is done electronically over a period of days, not just one day. This allows for more participation and ease of voting. At the risk of our bus leaving without us, I and few of my colleagues stayed in the meeting room for Mr. Harun Sharma, official of the ECI, to practically demonstrate to us how the electronic voting machine work. Unlike that of Nigeria, the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) is not connected to the Internet, therefore, it is not at the risk of any server attack. It is done in such a way that everyone’s vote count – there is no invalid vote – and the record is well secured in the machine’s memory. Thus, while voting takes days, counting is done in a day and the result is announced thereafter.
Indeed, it would be helpful if the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of Nigeria learn more from the ECI. Democracies such as South Africa, Brazil and Russia have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with ECI to enhance their capacity of conducting free, fair, credible and safe elections.
The lessons I came away with from India is that it is a nexus between culture, democracy and development. The philosophy of nation-building in India, like that of Nigeria, is “Unity in Diversity.” It connotes emphasising on shared values and appreciation of differences as uniqueness of each. From those traditional values, India draws its spirit of democracy that is based on the pursuit of ‘truth’ while agreeing to disagree. The public and foreign policy of India is guided by a Hindu value, Vasudhaiva Katumbakam – roughly meaning the world is a one family. It denotes a kind of spiritual approach that emphasises on harmony and shared existence among humans, and between humans and nature. Policy wise, it connotes inclusiveness and welfarism, and collective approach to global challenges.
In addition, India is drawing from its cultural value of respecting nature and women in developing a pragmatic model of sustainable development. It is pertinent to state that nature including animals, rivers and mountains, as well as women were worshipped in India. The reverence to women in India is reflected in the existence of several goddesses
The economic development of India, which is built on its cultural values and democracy, is driven by investment in hard and soft infrastructure across the country as well as ensuring food security. The current government, in particular, seems to be paying attention in the provision of welfare or public goods such as schools and health institutions to the people of India. I was fascinated to find out how investment on public toilet is not only addressing open defecation but also increasing the enrollment of girls in schools. Comparatively, in Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari signed the Executive Order 009, which is titled ‘The Open Defecation-Free Nigeria by 2025 and Other Related Matters Order in 2019. The policy aimed at empowering the people and providing structures to addressing open defecation by 2025. In India, I saw the value of this policy.
Notably, by drawing from its cultural values, India is developing without westernizing as well as building a unifying narrative for strengthening their nation-building. This is something Nigeria could learn. In the Imagine Nigeria – a project-document by Federal Government of Nigeria on building a new Nigeria – a case is made for promoting national narrative as a precursor to a grand narrative. Grand narrative is a narrative that is unifying and national in outlook – as opposed to the primordial and silo narratives. It is also progressive and embeds Nigeria’s vision and world view.
Beyond learning about India, I learnt so much about life from my olleagues who came from eight (8) different democracies of the world. I particularly enjoyed the company of the Surinamese delegation who are actually the sons and daughters of Africa we lost to slavery. The ICCR deserved a commendation. We were accommodated in nice hotels and ate very well. Worthy of mention is the ICCR’s protocol officer, Mr. Aslam Khan.
In the nine (9) days we were together with him, Mr. Aslam showed us so much care and did all he could to make our stay in India comfortable. He was always the first to wake up and the last to sleep; always the last to eat after making sure that everyone had eaten.
I learnt so much in India that I could write books about. I had the best moments of my life in those few days I was there. I returned to Nigeria much wiser than I left it. And as days pass by, the wise advice of Prof. Dr. Bala to us keeps coming up in my mind: “Live your life, enjoy it. But with the sense of sacrifice for the future.”
The author is a public servant with keen interest in History, Philosophy, Nation-Building and Political Economy.
