The rule of majority does not mean that it should suppress the opinion of even an individual, if it is sound. An individual’s opinion should have greater weight than the opinion of many, if that opinion is sound on merits. That is my view of real democracy.

True democracy is not inconsistent with a few persons representing the spirit, the hope and the aspirations of those whom they claim to represent. I hold that democracy cannot be evolved by forcible methods. The spirit of democracy cannot be imposed from without. It has to come from within.

The very essence of democracy is that every person represents all the varied interests which compose the nation. It is true that it does not exclude and should not exclude special representation of special interests, but such representation is not its test. It is a sign of its imperfection.

In the true democracy of India the unit is the village… True democracy cannot be worked by twenty men sitting at the centre. It has to be worked from below by the people of every village.

Surely, timidity has no place in democracy, where people in general believe in and want a particular thing. Their representatives have but to give shape to their demand and make it feasible. A favorable mental attitude of the multitude has been found to go a long way in winning battles.

Democracy and violence can ill go together. The states that are today nominally democratic have either to become frankly totalitarian or, if they are to become truly democratic, they must become courageously nonviolent. It is a blasphemy to say that nonviolence can only be practiced by individuals and never by nations which are composed of […]