Democracy’s Favorite Pastime: Worshiping the Very Leaders Who Keep You Poor

 

Democracy’s Favorite Pastime: Worshiping the Very Leaders Who Keep You Poor

In what appears to be the world’s longest-running social experiment, certain democracies have perfected a simple yet effective formula: keep voters ignorant of their rights, add a dash of hero worship, and generously sprinkle red tape until the public is too exhausted to demand what’s theirs. According to our entirely reliable data (because who needs transparency, right?), more than 70% of voters in these democracies believe elected officials are benevolent monarchs doing them personal favors, not salaried public servants.

This collective amnesia conveniently allows leaders to show up at the eleventh hour, swoop in to “help” with problems they created, and ride off into the sunset showered with slogans of eternal gratitude. Meanwhile, armies of slogan-shouters are always available like on-demand delivery apps fueled by frustration, poverty, and a carefully engineered dependency on the very leaders they worship.

Consider the modern Indian case study: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “masterstroke” free food policy. Under the PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, a record-breaking 850 million people were moved onto government food support programs, ensuring that their survival depended directly on government largesse. And what about those 20 million jobs per year that the country desperately needed? Funds for that minor inconvenience were mysteriously redirected, some say siphoned into private projects that built just enough shiny roads to justify new tolls and fees. Because nothing says “development” like paying twice: once through taxes, then again at every toll booth.

On the surface, this looked like benevolence; in reality, it forced hundreds of millions into a hand-to-mouth existence, ensuring they’d have to keep looking up gratefully at their “messiah” instead of questioning why they were hungry in the first place. But why stop at creating dependency when you can own the entire game? Over the past decade, the BJP discovered democracy’s hidden cheat code: buy the referees, muzzle the commentators, and lock up the opposition.

Billionaire allies have hoarded news channels and newspapers like collectibles, transforming journalism into 24x7 prime-time devotionals. News anchors now resemble court poets, praising every move of the prime minister while demonizing dissent as “anti-national.” The once-proud steel frame of India now bends like rubber. Promotions and transfers have turned into carrots and sticks, forcing bureaucrats to either serve the party line or risk their careers.

The Enforcement Directorate and Central Bureau of Investigation, designed to root out corruption, have become convenient hitmen against opposition leaders. Investigations magically start right before elections and fade if the target joins the BJP. According to astoundingly consistent coincidences, more than 95% of ED raids in recent years have focused on opposition politicians. Promotions and lucrative post-retirement positions hang like shiny toys before judges who show the right “flexibility.” Meanwhile, verdicts on cases that could embarrass the ruling party are either delayed into irrelevance or conveniently decided in its favor.

Once India’s most trusted institution, the Election Commission increasingly resembles a partisan mascot. It grants lavish campaign permissions to the BJP while restricting the opposition under flimsy pretexts. Income tax raids, frozen accounts, and sedition cases keep activists, journalists, and NGOs terrified of speaking out. All while hate speech from ruling party leaders goes unpunished, fueling communal divides that distract from rising unemployment and inflation.

The result? A democracy in name but not in substance. A system where opposition leaders must tiptoe, bureaucrats must obey, and the common citizen’s voice drowns in the roar of propaganda. This manipulation ensures that even if voters wake up and decide to challenge the system, they find every roadblock, legal, financial, and bureaucratic, lined up against them. And yet, the government’s PR machine continues to lecture the world about being the “mother of democracy,” all while hollowing out every institution designed to keep a democracy honest.

Until voters realize that elected officials are employees hired with taxpayer money and until they demand accountability from the bureaucracy and enforcement agencies, the tragicomedy will repeat itself. Politicians will keep staging elaborate dramas of fake benevolence, and the golden sparrow of India will remain caged, its song reduced to recycled election slogans. Because why build a real democracy when you can build a permanent reality show starring clueless voters and power-hungry leaders?