At a time when democracy across the world is fast losing people’s confidence, we lost a steadfast believer in democracy. Professor Jagdeep Chhokar breathed his last, today morning. The cofounder of ADR, he changed the way we knew democracy, in India.
Democracy in India came not as an expression of goodwill of the people but rather as the expression of trust of its leaders. An enlightened leadership, placed its trust, more like paternal benevolence, on a desperately poor, illiterate, divided people to overcome all their limitations and take responsibility of governing themselves.
They were not trained in the practice of it either. The equality it bestowed was alien to them and the responsibility it levied was too heavy. Professor Chhokar saw the gap and realized that the people needed an interlocutor between them and democracy.
Democracy especially parliamentary democracy is built upon consensus building and consensus building is an act of informing and persuading. For this first of all he knew that the power gap between the people and the system needs to be bridged.
So he started the ADR. Be it demanding detailed affidavits of the criminal, educational and financial antecedents of the candidates, or the roll back of electoral bonds, introduction of vvpats or challenging the SIR he was relentless in his campaign.
He believed in institutions, that if strengthened enough they would protect the process and its goals. Democracy is ultimately a theater governed by public shame. So transparency is its biggest guarantee. This was his point of action.
A simple and humble person, he built an organization, identified as the‘civil society’ in India. We hope the organization survives his loss and reifies his legacy
