8th April, 1990 My dear Pranav,
We are living in the greatest democracy of the world. Many people call it the largest democracy in the world. They say this with a dig. They think we are the largest only in numbers. This obviously is a fact, which no one can deny. The total number of voters in India is equal to the total number of voters of West European and North American countries together. 500 million voters was our count in November, 1989.
Still I call our democracy the greatest. Why? Our country is full of different languages, religions, methods of worship, dresses and people. We are full of plurality. We are full of diversity. But somewhere deep down we are all one. There is this unity, Vinoba says, because Vedanta is the basis of our philosophy.
When the Constitution of India was being discussed in 1947, our founding fathers decided on adult franchise, meaning one-man one-vote. It looks very common today. But there are many countries in the world where people have no voting rights at all. Even in Englad till 90 years ago there was no voting right for women. Many European countries gave the voting right to women much later. But the framers of the Indian Constitution started with this idea. Many people still believe that only the educated should have the right to vote.
This idea of adult franchise is based on the concept of equality amongst people. Equality is an ethical concept. It is not a fact. Different people have different capacities even different heights, weights, physical and mental strengths, educational qualifications, ownership of things, ways, form of worships, languages and so on. Such differences are innumerable. They are all facts. Then why should they have equal voting power? This question cannot be logically answered. Inequality is a fact
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