India not a democracy anymore, now a 'two-horse system': Manish Tewari

Senior Congress leader Manish Tewari asserts that India is 'not a democracy anymore', but a 'two-horse system' of an arbitrary executive and a self-appointing judiciary. He calls for a redesign of the constitutional structure.

India 'Not a Democracy Anymore'

Senior Congress leader Manish Tewari on Sunday said India was "not a democracy anymore" as the representative institutions of the will of the people were "all but redundant."

He said the country had instead become a "two-horse system" comprising "an arbitrary executive and a judiciary that appoints its own judges notwithstanding the Memorandum of Procedure."

In a scathing assessment of the current state of Indian democracy, Tewari called for a "fundamental redesign" of the constitutional structure, arguing that legislative bodies are no longer performing their intended functions.

"We are not a democracy anymore today since the representative institutions of the will of the people are all but redundant. Instead, we are a two-horse system--an arbitrary executive and a judiciary that appoints its own judges notwithstanding the Memorandum of Procedure," Tewari, who is also the Lok Sabha MP from Congress, posted on X.

Tewari pointed out that Parliament and other state legislatures have turned into "gladiatorial arenas" aimed at seizing executive power rather than performing their constitutionally mandated functions.

"If Parliament and other legislative institutions continue to remain gladiatorial arenas to seize executive power they will keep plumbing to the unfathomable depths of a moral, political, constitutional (MCP) nadir - a process that commenced in the early 1990's and hasn't stopped ever since," he stated.

'Legislative Paralysis': Lok Sabha Data

To illustrate this "legislative paralysis", the Congress MP shared a comparative analysis of the working days of the Lok Sabha. "The first Lok Sabha (1952-57) met for 135 days and the last one, the 17th Lok Sabha, met only for 55 days, out of which 30-35 odd days must have been disrupted. The 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th Lok Sabha fared no better. The 18 th Lok Sabha may end up beating the record of the previous one in terms of legislative paralysis," he said.

Tewari emphasised that the Indian democratic system must be "redesigned" if Parliament is to ever perform its constitutionally mandated duties again. "The Indian democratic system has to be fundamentally redesigned if Parliament and other legislative institutions have to perform their constitutionally mandated functions," he added.

The Congress MP's comments come amid widespread opposition protests, frequent adjournments, and reduced legislative productivity during recent parliamentary sessions. The monsoon session of Parliament began on July 20 and will go on till August 13. (ANI)

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