External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has voiced confidence in the trajectory of India's democracy, emphasising its effectiveness in delivering results. He highlighted the robust electoral process in India, citing the recent Delhi elections and the 2024 parliamentary elections as examples.

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Jaishankar's optimism comes amid concerns from some quarters about the health of India's democracy.

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Jaishankar highlights India’s democracy

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While participating in a panel discussion on the topic 'Live to Vote Another Day: Fortifying Democratic Resilience' at the Munich Security Conference on Friday, alongside Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store, US Senator Elissa Slotkin and Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowsk, Jaishankar said that he differs in the view that democracy is in trouble globally and highlighted India's democracy.

Sharing his thoughts on Western democracy, the Indian External Affairs Minister said, "I think I appeared to be an optimist in what is relatively a pessimistic panel if not room. I will begin by sticking up my finger and don't take it badly, it is the index finger. This, the mark you see on my nail, is a mark of a person who has just voted. We just had an election in my state (Delhi). Last year, we had a national election. In Indian elections, roughly two-thirds of the eligible voters vote. At the national elections, (out of) the electorate of about 900 million, about 700 million voted. We count the votes in a single day."

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"Nobody disputes the result after it's announced and by the way, from the time we started voting in the modern era, 20 per cent of people more vote today than they did decades ago. So, the first message is that somehow democracy is in trouble globally, worldwide, I am sorry, I have to differ with it. I mean, right now, we are living well. We are voting well. We are optimistic about the direction of our democracy and for us democracy is actually delivered," he added.

“India's democratic framework provides nutrition support to 800 million citizens”

Jaishankar also responded to Senator Slotkin, who on the panel said that democracy "doesn't put food on your table", emphasising that India's democratic framework enables the country to provide essential services, such as nutrition support to 800 million citizens. 

"Actually, in my part of the world, it does because we are a democratic society, we give nutrition support, and food to 800 million people and for whom that is a matter of how healthy they are and how full their stomachs are. The point I want to make is look different parts of the world are going through different conversations. Please do not assume that this is a kind of universal phenomenon, it is not," he said.

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West "treated democracy as a Western characteristic"

Responding to whether the countries in the Global South still aspire to a democratic system, Jaishankar said, “Look, to an extent, all big countries are unique to an extent. But, we would certainly hope, I mean to the extent, we think of democracy as a universal aspiration, ideally a reality, but at least an aspiration, in large part because India chose a democratic model after independence and it chose a democratic model because we had fundamentally a consultative pluralistic society."

He added that there was a time when the West "treated democracy as a Western characteristic" and "was busy encouraging" non-democratic forces in the Global South.

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Jaishankar also said India, despite "all the challenges" it faced, even at a low income, "stayed true" to the democratic model.

"When you look at our part of the world, we are pretty much the only country that has done that. So, I think this is something the West should look at because if you do want democracy eventually to prevail, it important the West also embraces the successful models outside the West," he said. 

(With inputs from agencies)