Blog Details

Democracy is eroded by populist leaders and a majority population who is poor, with high aspirations. Democracy’s constitutional guardians, the people, are losing to populist leaders and technocrats. Politicians do not represent ideas or policy positions; they stand for groups of people.

The legitimacy, populists claim, is cloaked in the will of the majority, but the premise of their appeal is that the majority has hitherto been undermined by the minority.

For advocates of democracy, these are worrying times. The populist revolt dovetailed with a technocratic middle-class skepticism about the ‘state’. Politics becomes a bad word to be avoided personally and hedged against professionally. Democracies work best when we remember that there is no one people and no one party or politician has a monopoly on knowing what the people want.

This webinar brings together a cross-section of intellectual minds who speak and debate on populism and its advantages or disadvantages in democracy.

Guest Speakers:

1. Mr. T S Krishnamurthy , Former Chief Election Commissioner

2. Mr. M G Devasahayam, IAS (Retd)

3. Prof. Venkatesh B Athreya, Economist

4. Mr. R Srinivasan, Former Editor, Business Line

5. Dr. V S Sambandan, Chief Administrative Officer, The Hindu Centre for Politics & Public policy

6. Mr. K C Sundaram, Founder Director, Indian Institute of Public Policy

Moderator : Dr Vinod Surana, Managing Partner & CEO, Surana & Surana International Attorneys

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