A less democratic India would have developed faster: Mahathir

New Delhi, Dec 2 (PTI) India could have achieved as much as China in terms of development had it been less democratic, former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said here Friday. Mahathir, who ruled Malaysia's premier for 22 years, said though democracy was the best form of government, it was not the easiest way to govern. "If India is not too democratic it will be like China in terms of development," he said in an interactive session at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit here. Mahathir said though India has been a democracy for a long time but its socialist leanings had come in the path of growth. Suggesting a model of a strong Centre and less powerful provinces for India, he said such an approach would help promote development. "You need a much stronger central government and less powers to the provincial governments, because there will never be an agreement between the Centre and the provinces. This makes it difficult for the government to promote any policy," Mahathir said. Referring to the recent multi-nation military actions in Iraq and Libya, the Malaysian leader said when people are killed they do not enjoy the democracy foisted upon them. "Forcing some countries to accept democracy is something that should not be done. When you kill people so that they can accept democracy... the people who are killed do not enjoy democracy," he argued. Mahathir also rubbished the idea that a country becomes stable and prosperous when it embraces democracy. "Running a democratic country is one of the most difficult things for any government," he said, adding that it was important for the world to understand the limitations of sucha political system. Mahathir said the current financial crises was a result of abuse of democratic systems and it needs to be corrected through regulation. Contending that the present challenges faced by the world had their roots in the last century, he said the countries which chose the capitalist economies grew better than the socialist economies. Giving examples, Mahathir said when Russia faced challenge, it changed its economic and political path which led to a lot of disruptions and the country could not grow and develop. He said China was more careful and made changes to its economic policies but retained the political system. This resulted in fast economic growth. China has become the factory of the world and even the capitalist countries today look towards China to see them through their financial difficulties, he said. Mahathir said a closed economy hindered India's growth but it still did better. The Hindustan Times Leadership Summit is an annual event hosted under the auspices of India's HT group of newspapers. Prominent national and international personalities are invited to take part in the summit. PTI Caption for pic: Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Bin Mohamad addressing the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit 2011 in New Delhi on Friday. PTI Photo