The current state of Indian democracy is neither just a bad accident in an otherwise perfect journey nor its inevitable destination. The ri...
The current state of Indian democracy is neither just a bad accident in an otherwise perfect journey nor its inevitable destination. The rise of Modi to power was anything but a freak phenomenon. The Ramjanmabhoomi movement had signalled this possibility twenty-five years ago.
That was foreshadowed by Congress’ victory in the wake of the Sikh massacre and followed by Modi’s victories in the Gujarat assembly elections, held in the wake of the anti-Muslim pogrom of 2002. We should have known about the dark side of Indian democracy. At any rate, we are no longer now looking at Modi’s victory in 2014 as a single incident: his popularity thereafter and even bigger victory in 2019 is enough to make it clear that we are looking at something deeper than one individual, one election, one incident.
At the same time, the victory of a Modi-led BJP was not the only possible outcome of India’s political trajectory.
The political logic of Indian democracy, the economic logic of a neo-liberal state, the social logic of a caste system under transformation, and the cultural logic of India’s own modernity still left open several possibilities. Modi’s rise to power in Gujarat, his ascendance within the BJP, and his nationwide...
