Vibrant democracy, steady hand: India’s quiet strength

India today stands as a large, stable, and mature democracy in a neighbourhood gripped by turmoil. Despite our own challenges, 1.45 billion Indians can take genuine pride in our democracy.

Sure, it’s not perfect, as many naysayers argue. But the very fact that we still manage to resolve street disputes without the State using its monopoly on overwhelming force speaks volumes about the maturity of Indian institutions. Take the farmers’ agitation for the repeal of the three Farm Acts, which laid siege to Delhi for a year. Eventually, the Acts were repealed, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi apologised to the farmers in a televised address. Satisfied, the farmers went back to their fields — and the Indian Constitution, which allows peaceful protest, was honoured in letter and spirit.

Or take the “Dadis of Shaheen Bagh” protesting the Citizenship Amendment Act, who blocked a busy Delhi neighbourhood and a highway. Yes, we heard spin against them in embedded government channels. Yes, some anchors tried to provoke them. But the agitation was not broken up violently. And when the pandemic broke out, the protesters peacefully left the site. Imagine the optics if the police had attacked little old ladies.

Our steel frame — the bureaucracy that runs the country — is selected via a tough entrance exam, and officials are expected to be apolitical. Our Army has no role in running the country and is always expected to remain subordinate to the civil administration and the democratically elected leadership.

All major political parties swear an oath to abide by the Indian Constitution. By and large, whether it is the Congress or the Bharatiya Janata Party, they have a similar approach to violent unrest. The late Dr Manmohan Singh called the Maoists operating in central India the single greatest threat to India’s internal security, and the Modi government has carried forward that view.

Barring the awful months of the Indira Gandhi-imposed Emergency, India has always had free and fair elections and a peaceful transfer of power. We’ve had people like the late Jagdeep S. Chhokar, co-founder of the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), who devoted his life to making our democratic institutions robust and accountable. ADR was the prime mover behind the landmark Supreme Court judgment requiring candidates to disclose their criminal antecedents, assets, liabilities, and educational qualifications — a crucial step toward informed voting.

When a leader like Lalu Prasad Yadav, former Chief Minister of Bihar, is banned from contesting elections because of a jail term after a corruption conviction, you know that even if imperfect, some institutions are functioning.

The Supreme Court quashing the anonymous Electoral Bond Scheme and directing the State Bank of India to disclose who had purchased the bonds was another victory for transparency — again fought by the ADR. Currently, the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is under challenge in the Supreme Court by the ADR, which argues the poll panel must consider Aadhaar as voter identification.

On social media today, one sees many juvenile posts lamenting that India is not seeing violent street fights over corruption. Clearly, these armchair warriors have never seen what a bloody protest or riot looks like. Having covered riots, I am truly grateful that we have enough safety valves to prevent our society and polity from tipping into violence.

India is too large and has too many safety valves for us to go down a violent route. And this should be a matter of pride for all Indian citizens.

Yes, we have many problems in an unstable world. But the very fact that we are resolved to tackle them democratically speaks volumes. We need to deepen our democracy, lower barriers to contesting elections, and stop “nepo babies” and political dynasties from cornering public office. But if we are aware of these flaws and find imaginative ways to challenge the new princelings, our democracy will take deeper root.

And that is truly a nationalist goal worth working for.