DEMOCRACY AS A WAY OF LIFE: LIBERTY AND THE ROLE OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN INDIA
AUTHOR – JYOTI CHAUHAN* & DR. MONICA KHAROLA**
* LL.M., ICFAI UNIVERSITY, DEHRADUN.
** ASSOCIATE DEAN AND ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF LAW, ICFAI UNIVERSITY, DEHRADUN
BEST CITATION – JYOTI CHAUHAN & DR. MONICA KHAROLA, DEMOCRACY AS A WAY OF LIFE: LIBERTY AND THE ROLE OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN INDIA, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 6 (6) OF 2026, PG. 841-849, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344.
Abstract
This article attempts to investigate democracy not as a form of governance, but as a way of life with specific reference to India. It is concerned with the basic concept of liberty and analyses the political, civil and economic categories of liberty with references from thinkers such as Ernest Barker and Harold Laski. It establishes how liberty, be it in the political aspect as voting rights, right to oppose government and candidature for election, etc, remains incomplete without civil liberties and economic security for the citizens of any country.
“Democracy stands for a society which is courageous, which is compassionate, which is solvent, which is dignified and which is human. We will not be truly democratic if on every occasion, we resort to violence.”[1]
[1] Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, an eminent philosopher, educationist and the second President of Independent India, conveyed this message in the Constitution Assembly on January 20th, 1947 cited in G.L Batra, “Indian Democracy, A Historical Perspective – Then and now”, The Speaking Threads, November 1, 2018, available at http://speakingthreads.com/2017/01/05/indian-democracy-a-historical-perspective-then-and-now/#_edn1 last visited on March 20, 2026