This refers to A K Bhattacharya’s column “Moving away from coalitions?” (New Delhi Diary, April 4). The architect of the Constitution of India, B R Ambedkar, had apprehensions about the misconduct of politicians and the grave danger that would pose to a young democracy. His fears seem to have been valid, given the way in which our current class of politicians are ruling the country.
Our leaders today are opportunists and don’t think twice before changing party lines simply for ministerial berths and party positions. Ambedkar wanted political parties to sow the seeds of intra-party democracy. Most of our top national parties have failed to do so. He also wanted politicians to strive for the removal of social and economic inequalities and warned that a failure to do so would imperil democracy. But the country’s political class is busy fighting for its own survival at the cost of the country’s growth.
Ambedkar added that with Independence, we had greater responsibilities and that if hereafter things went wrong, we would have nobody to blame except ourselves. But in today’s politics, we see leaders do nothing but indulge in blame games.
P Senthil Saravana Durai, Hyderabad
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