A Moral Problem

Unless the moral and spiritual qualities of people are appropriate, the best of constitutions and political systems will not make democracy work. The moral qualities and mental attitudes most needed for democracy are: 1) concern for truth; 2) aversion to violence; 3) love of liberty and courage to resist oppression and tyranny; 4) spirit of cooperation; 5) preparedness to adjust self-interest to the larger interest; 7) readiness to take responsibility; 8) belief in the fundamental equality of man; 9) faith in the educability of human nature. These nine qualities are held sacrosanct by JP, whom the nation reveres as Loknayak Jayaprakash

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Sixty-six years ago, in September 1959, when Jayaprakash Narayan was writing the foreword to 'A Plea for the Reconstruction of Indian Polity,' he went beyond issues of elections, electoral systems, his understanding of Mahatma Gandhi and democracy, even though the slim book begins with Gandhiji's quote: ...may it be reserved to India to evolve the true science of democracy by giving a visible demonstration. As India marks fifty years of the proclamation of Emergency in 1975, with debates on responsibilities of the Election Commission, and the government proposal for 'one nation, one election,' the plea of JP (as Jayaprakash was endearingly addressed) is worthy of being understood in its entirety.

JP acknowledged his debt to Gandhiji's thoughts on elections. "It is necessary to emphasize that the issue before us cannot be narrowed down merely to that of a better electoral system than the present one. The issue is a much more comprehensive one, namely, that of the nature of the polity most suitable for us at this juncture. Further, it is also necessary to remember that polity, whether its nature, does not function in a vacuum, but has to fit into the larger social entity and subserve the larger social purpose."

He added, "Our present political institutions have to be based on principles that had been enunciated and practiced in ancient Indian polity, because (a) I believe that would be in line with the natural course of social evolution and (b) those principles are more valid from the point of view of social science than others." The present Western polity, he pointed out, was based upon an atomized society, the State being made up of an inorganic sum of individuals. "This is both against the social nature of man and the scientific organization of society. Ancient Indian polity was much more consistent with these both," he commented.