Need to build democracy where people can directly participate in governance: Kejriwal

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday stressed on the need for building a democracy where people can directly participate in governance. He was addressing participants at the launch of the Youth Parliament Session organised by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) at the Delhi assembly. Delhi is hosting the annual CPA event for the first time and as many as 47 delegates from 24 commonwealth nations are participating in the event.

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Arvind Kejriwal on democracy

"I believe that democracy is not a stagnant process, it is a dynamic process, it keeps on evolving as the human civilisation goes on, " Kejriwal said.

He also hoped that the participants would not be told about the "screaming and the chaos that is there in all the legislatures".

"I hope not. Because that is an aberration in democracy, that is not supposed to be a norm in democracy," the chief minister said.

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While talking about parliamentary and presidential forms of governance, he said both of are indirect forms of democracy, where people elect their representatives once in five years and the representatives enjoy both the executive and legislative powers to govern the people. Kejriwal urged the participants from various nations to perceive democracy in a sense where the people can have direct control over their elected representatives and different functions of the government.

The people elect their representatives once every five years, he said, adding that they have very little direct say in governance in the next five years.

"I would like to put this question before you, that when you attend this programme in the next two or three days, do keep this in mind that can the democracy evolve to a stage where we have some kind of direct form of democracy, wherein the next five years of electing a representative, can the people have some kind of direct control over the representatives, over the government functions, over the government functionaries, over the government funds, can the people have some kind of say in the governance in the next five years," Kejriwal said.

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This is one question that people need to know and it is very interesting if you think about it and give us feedback, he said. Kejriwal also praised speaker Ram Niwas Goel and said the Delhi assembly has started celebrating festivals from all religions and cultures after he became speaker. "It not only makes this institution very vibrant, but it also makes every citizen feel like a part of this legislative assembly. They feel that they belong here. This is a very unique step on our behalf, " he said.

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