Prime Minister should be elected by all the members of the Parliament

Prof. Kittu Reddy Mother India, 15 AUGUST 2007

To sum up, these are the deficiencies of the present Parliamentary democratic system being practised in India.

 As seen already, the democratic system can function only when the capacity and habit of reasoning becomes universal. Unfortunately, even today a very large number of Indians lack this faculty because of inadequate educational opportunity. The consequence is that a very large number of Indians are being taken for a ride and cheated by political parties by slogans and catchwords.
 It is not truly democratic, for power rests in the hands of a very small number of persons who are in some way supposed to represent the people of India. The decision-making process is in the hands of a small coterie. The present Parliamentary system has in practice come to mean the rule and often the tyranny of a minority, even of a very small minority. P.C. Alexander, in a speech in Parliament, warned of the danger of the present system which could even lead to a development where: “… we may create an oligarchical system where a few people will be benefited while the integrity and strength of the country as a whole would have got eroded”.
 The party system is proving to be very divisive.
 The Parliamentary method is very slow and takes a very long time with all its inevitable consequences.
 A habit of Machiavellian statecraft has replaced the nobler ethical ideals of the past; aggressive ambition is left without any sufficient spiritual or moral check and there seems to be a coarsening of the national mind in the ethics of politics and government. This tendency which manifested itself quite some time back was held in abeyance by a religious spirit and high intelligence, Dharma. It needs to be revived so that politics can be raised to a higher level...

The Need of a National Government
One might therefore reasonably conclude that it is only by the harmonising of all these apparently opposite viewpoints that one can arrive at a settled and secure national growth and development. The political system must reflect this vision of things and only then can we move on a sound and stable curve of progress and fulfillment. Probably, Nature herself is pushing India in this direction by the formation of coalition governments at the Centre. Let us therefore collaborate with Nature and move ultimately towards a national government, which will inevitably create a harmonious synthesis of ideas, overriding all narrow political interests. Some suggestions for putting this into practice are being given here.

 It is most urgent and imperative that the whole population should be given a sound educational basis; otherwise the democratic process will not function properly. Universal education must be a priority. It must be also noted that a rational development is in the mass the first step to a higher spiritual growth.
 In the present system the Prime Minister is elected by the party winning the largest number of seats. It is suggested that the Prime Minister should be elected by all the members of the Parliament and not by the majority party.
 The Ministry should be formed by the Prime Minister and should include members of all parties having more than 20% of the electoral vote. That might mean a Ministry made up of two or three parties. It will be the first step in the union of parties.
 The method of proportional representation should be discussed by the parties for introduction into the electoral system
 A far greater decentralisation of power giving much more autonomy to the States should be seriously considered. This should be discussed in some detail by the political parties and States.
 As a first step the Panchayats should be empowered.