India being a democracy - a hinderance???

India - the largest democracy, a country that leads by example to other states, is today seemingly suffering by the very fact that it is a democracy.

What prompted me was the series of Bandhs that took place in the past week. Guess this was the second in this week and third in this month!!! What is saddening to see, is parties calling for bandh, forcing the cause on various educational institutions and business establishments. On two occasions, the so called volunteers forced educational institutions to shut down. What more, I heard someone saying it is great to have such bandhs happening often!!!Though it might have been said in a lighter sense, I guess it is genral feeling among us Indians. We take comfort in the fact that we dont need to go to office/school on such day, dont we? Pity, is it not? When shall we learn to respect others opinion and stop enforcing it on others? When shall the time come, when someone stands up and says, I disagree and still run his or her own shop/school/office?

I agree strikes are a very powerful weapon to win a cause, but I question the basic cause of doing so. May be, banning them all together is not a solution considering their effectiveness. But certainly there should be some absolute authority that monitors and approves such calls. Only after the party approaches the monitoring body and post-approval alone, should they be allowed to go ahead. Otherwise, it must be considered illegal and on certain occasions, when they turn violent, I guess they must be appropriately punished...