24 June 2014 - QA 18

There are skeptics who think that India is slowly coming down because of its messy democracy. What are your views?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Corruption and the number game is a big problem in India.
India has such a large population and there are many issues in the country. The number game has been a very big issue in the past decade. Though there are good leaders in the government who want to take good steps of economic reforms, they’ve always been pulled down by regional parties, or allies who don’t see eye to eye with each other.
Fortunately, this time they have got a clear mandate, so it is not a coalition government of different parties. This can be advantageous for faster progress.

One thing is for sure, we would prefer to be a democracy even if it means that progress is slower, than a dictatorship where progress could be faster.
Different voices can be heard in a democracy, but in a dictatorship there is no chance. We would not want a dictatorship at all.