This year probably was more special due to Brexit and on a personal note the constituency of Uxbridge was of my keen interest due to two facts, one it being British PM Boris Johnson’s seat and secondly, as it was my workplace during my stay in London.
The elections came, people voted, results counted and new government will be formed soon. All happened without too many of political rallies, fanfare and mud slinging on political rivals.
The best part of British democracy is the grace with which the parliamentarians carry themselves in victory or the loss. A leader who cannot make his party win is the first one to accept the defeat and vacates his role and the one who wins is magnanimous enough to quit if his party doesn’t favour him in the long run. Few exits which are worth to remember are John Major, Tony Blair or the latest one of David Cameron for sure.
The win might have made the conservatives all bit powerful but the journey will not be an easy one in the days to come. The Brexit has proved to be more than a bigger bottleneck for Europe and UK both. With difference of opinion in Scotland for EU inclination, exit or no exit will always be delicate to handle.
The real test for Boris Johnson has just begun. How he deals with the situation and gets maximum benefits for his country will decide the future of his nation and his own legacy.
As they say, it’s not what you deserve but what you negotiate! The EU and UK are exactly on two sides of this thin line.
What does the UK elections mean for India ?
On one side is a large commercial but volatile market of Europe and UK and only time will tell how the countries realign themselves in new political situation. The other side throws good introspective lessons of democracy and conduct of the politicians.
India has inherited democracy from the UK, but may be we haven’t fully transformed it to people. We struggle to get a leader without a political lineage , are comfortable with a person who has repeatedly failed his party but is never challenged and we are never are bothered about the change in political ideologies or stand taken by the leaders or their parties.
It is equally interesting to see the demographic and geographic size of the British constituency and compare it with Indian counterparts. India is approximately 13 times bigger in size than the UK but the number of parliament seats in UK are around 20% more than those of India. This probably means that the representation is more dense than what we have. The voice sent to the parliament belongs to smallest of the nook of the constituency and represent a variety of people rather than getting dominated by a larger chunk of population. The irony would be to know the fact that many of the winners in UK might have secured lesser number of votes than some of the candidates who probably lost their deposits in Indian elections.
Democracy in a way is a continuously evolving process. The democracy in UK is more than 5 centuries old whereas we have just began. We have yet to come out of that ruler and the follower mindset and it will probably take few quarters of century that we will be a fully governed by the people and served by the politicians.
The bottom line is that the democracy is here to stay in India and the people have accepted it wholeheartedly. The proof is more than enough that we have always been governed by, what we have chosen. Whether right or wrong would always remain an individual choice and people’s voice.The most important are the values for which we fought for freedom and hope they are sustained for years to come.
Image Courtesy: Politico
Disclaimer: The article is a mere observation of UK elections and does not discuss the policies or legacies of the political parties in India or abroad.
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