A drone attack on democracy.

Two drones apparently packed with explosives circled overhead and exploded in midair while President Nicolas Maduro was delivering a speech. Fireworks during Diwali in India create a bigger bang. Maduro did not looking unduly concerned during the incident, though his security surrounded him with, what looked like, mattresses to protect him. A few hours later Maduro assembled his cabinet and army generals to blame right wing extremists and the President of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos who is to step down in a couple of days, unlike Maduro who hangs on by rigging elections. Maduro is able to rig elections to stay in power because his predecessor, Hugo Chavez rigged a referendum to get rid of term limits from the constitution. Inflation in Venezuela will reach 1 million per cent this year predicted the International Monetary Fund but still there are people who support Maduro. Maduro claimed victory in a "fiesta" of democracy. He was supported by President of Turkey R Tayyip Erdogan before his re-election. Erdogan survived a dramatic coup in 2016 in which 290 people were killed. Using that as an excuse he has imprisoned thousands of people and purged hundreds of thousands from their jobs. Erdogan won a fixed election in June, after having fixed a referendum on increasing his powers last year. After his re-election victory Erdogan requested everyone not to spoil this great exercise in democracy. Emmerson Mnangagwa promised a "new and unfolding" democracy in Zimbabwe after coming to power through a coup that got rid of Robert Mugabe. "Today, Zimbabwe experienced a beautiful expression of freedom and democracy," he tweeted even before votes were counted. Naturally, he won. Chair of Election Commission Priscilla Chigumba advised the country to "move on" despite "blemishes" during counting and declaring the result. Cambodian President Hun Sen has a "win-win policy" in which opponents are imprisoned and opposition parties are banned. Hun Sen claimed to be "building a strong democracy and establishing peace" in Cambodia. In 2015, President Pierre Nkurunziza ignored constitutional term limits to stand for and win a third term in office in Burundi. "These elections prove that democracy in Burundi is improving," he said. Why shouldn't he? There are 11 other Presidents who are continuing in power by blatantly ignoring term limits demanded by the constitution. All in the name of democracy. In India, we have no term limits for our politicians who can hang on forever and groom their children so that their families can live in comfort. So, is India a democracy? Most people will say yes, but with conditions. There is no escape from 'democracy' is there?