Democracy and Humility

The attitudes of arrogance and hate seem to have suffused the electoral campaign of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Although such expressions were evident in varied degrees among campaigners belonging to different parties contesting the elections, this attitude was consistently seen in the members of the ruling party and was arguably more prominent among the leaders and supporters of the incumbent ruling combination. This is despite the fact that the Election Commission of India (ECI) has been intervening to pull up the offenders. Yet, such interventions of the ECI in order to control these ­morally offensive tendencies were limited and discriminatory in nature. It showed both helplessness and unwillingness to ­exercise its power and this has left no decisive impact in curtailing the growing use of offensive language in Indian politics. The ECI is supposed to police the limits of free speech, which it does by banning some leaders while giving regular clean chits to powerful others.

The question that we need to raise is, why is it that some leaders do not feel the moral burden of carrying within them an intense hate and arrogance that creates a corrosive impact on not just their opponents, but also on those who expect the expansion of decent society? What is the value of humility and what function does it perform in controlling the “social evil” of arrogance and hate?