Congress Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor and BJP Rajya Sabha MP (nominated) Swapan Das Gupta took part in the BIG DEMOCRACY DEBATE 2020 to discuss public discourse in India. The debate was moderated by India Today Consulting Editor Rajdeep Sardesai.
Asked to respond to former Congress president Rahul Gandhi's remark that India is 'only a democracy in one's imagination', Shashi Tharoor said, "As an individual, I would say that we have seen some very disturbing trends in terms of the government's conduct of this democracy. Since its re-election in 2019, things have gotten a bit worse."
"Overall, we've got the balance right," Swapan Das Gupta says referring to the relationship between various governments and India's democratic framework. He adds, "There is democracy, there is a robust debate going on. There is a very lively exchange of views. Just because some of those views are not articulated by people who have the stamp of intellectuals on their hand, doesn't necessarily mean that those views amount to nothing."
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