Through the centuries we have had nations proclaiming and, to a certain extent, displaying democracy (rule of the people). India calls itself a secular & democratic nation. I would agree with this on a broad-based theoretical perspective.
At a national level, we do have all our political representatives mouthing the same lingo. The situation changes substantially at the local level. Our local politics is more representative of ochlocracy (rule of the mob).
The essential difference here is that mobs in ochlocracy are driven by passion and irrational 'mob mentality' which is usually a singular opinion held blindly by every member of the mob.
The people in a democracy are driven, however, by their own individual rationality. The decisions here are upheld when they are belonging to the majority.
Politicians today seem to fill in their vote banks through imposing pure ochlocracy. The gullible fall for this tactic since mobs are fantastic comfort zones to shield them from their daily problems like money, family, education etc.. ironically, the belief of the mob could then become a whim of the leader (conspirator).
The vote banks consist of mobs and not individual citizens. That is where our problem lies. We are acutely fragmented as a country even though we call ourselves unified and secular. In all this mess, the literate individual voters stay out of the drama. Why? Because it seems to be a lose-lose situation anyway... It's difficult to vote for the lesser evil.
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