Democracy started with Krishna & flourished under Vikramaditya: CM

Bhopal: Democracy is not a western construct as assumed, chief minister Mohan Yadav said on Monday, invoking Lord Krishna and Vikramaditya, the emperor of the Gupta dynasty, claiming they did not pass on power to the next in line in their families or clan. In a veiled dig at political families or dynasts, the CM said, "Lord Ram was about to be crowned king, but went into exile (Vanvas), instead (to uphold Dharma by keeping his father, King Dashrath's word to Queen Kaikeyi, who demanded a 14-year exile till her son Bharat could take the throne). He accepted his Vanvas with grace and composure."He made the remark while addressing a two-day conference for 55 young MLAs (below the age of 45) from Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh at the state assembly on Monday."Dwarkadheesh (Lord Krishna) and Emperor Vikramaditya did not pass power directly to the next generation. Instead, capable individuals involved in governance assumed leadership. Such rulers believed that if the next generation possessed leadership qualities and administrative competence, they would naturally rise to such roles. These are ancient values and traditions, which should continue to be upheld today," the chief minister added. Expanding on his argument that democracy wasn't born in the West, and prevailed and flourished in India through the ages, the CM said, "Unity in diversity, which defines India's character, is an extension of a virtue that goes back to the earliest times and is naturally ingrained in us. Democracy is and has always been a feature of the Indian political system."Indian traditions have always respected diversity of opinions, the CM said, adding that the practice of intellectual debates in political and religious matters have existed since ancient times. "There is no other country which has stood the test of time with its diversity and transformed itself repeatedly," Yadav argued, "Twenty thousand years ago, the teachings of Gautam Buddha took the country into a certain direction. The principles and teachings of Buddhism, which many nations follow, came from our culture. We accepted Buddha as an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Then, it was Shankaracharya, who changed the course of this country through his ideology, debates, arguments and scriptures, 1,400 years ago."Be it Lord Ram, Emperor Vikramaditya, Raja Bhoj, Maharana Pratap or Sawai Mann Singh of Rajasthan, they all upheld their values through their actions. "It is because of the deep-rooted democratic traditions that our democratic institutions continued to stand the test of time and function smoothly, despite the colonial British rule. But the history of democracy in several neighbouring countries isn't the same," the CM said. Among the other attendees at the conference were Madhya Pradesh assembly speaker Narendra Singh Tomar, Rajasthan assembly speaker Vasudev Devnani, minister for legislative affairs Kailash Vijayvargiya, and LOP Umang Singhar.