DEMOCRACY DIES THOUSAND DEATHS

N the lull before counting day, India is beguiling itself with poll paraphernalia.

- PRATIK KANJILAL

Everyone is soaking up exit polls, whose chief function is not to inform but to entertain. We follow them for the same reason that we read horoscopes.But horoscopes, no matter how unreliable, are a comfort in turbulent times. Many democracies, including India, are seasick with turbulence as the foundations of the old order crumble, long-established relations fray, authority gives way to power and it looks like strongmen will rule, and what the people think no longer matters.

There are pleasant surprises, too, in the current turmoil. The rise of China has demolished the Cold-War-era claim that democracy is essential for prosperity and growth. In Italy, a prime minister with a political heritage of neo-fascism is delivering a stable working government.

And West Bengal, which has a dreadful history of electoral violence, saw almost none in the polls that ended this week. Political thugs—who are retained by every party—were said to be intimidated by the presence of reserve police and paramilitaries which have been imported into the state in strength. But so were ordinary voters.