Soldiers hoist the Indian flag in Srinagar.
| Photo Credit: AP
Today, India is one of the last beacons of democratic hope among the nations of the Global South. Despite the rise of global pessimism towards liberal democracies, the re-emergence of anti-democratic forces in South Asia, and India’s own ongoing confrontation with polarisation, the Indian experiment with democracy that began this day 78 years ago boldly sustains.
India and its neighbours
But as India’s democratic journey modestly thrives and the country looks to play a larger role in the world order, its own backyard is riddled with problems. Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Pakistan, and Bangladesh all find themselves on the brink of political and economic disaster accompanied by breakdown of democratic rule of civilian authority.
Unlike the neighbourhood, the Indian state’s constitutional setup has withstood the complications that an independent, democratic society with diverse castes, linguistic groups, and religious communities, faces. The diversity of our electoral politics represents the system of social and cultural asymmetry in the region.
India succeeded, unlike its neighbours, in successfully bringing substantive democracy to its polity as opposed to other nations where only procedural democracy was established. Elections alone cannot ensure genuine democratic movements. Indian society has faithfully imbibed the democratic spirit of its constitutional order.
Independent India has built successful robust welfare delivery mechanisms such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and the Public Distribution System, constituted affirmative action programmes to overcome historical inequities of the caste system of the Indian sub-continent, succeeded in the partial devolution of governance to local institutions such as the Panchayati Raj system, and given economic freedom to the masses with free trade.
The armed forces have also played a storied role in the democratic journey of independent India. Time and again, our brave hearts at the borders have beaten back threats to India’s territorial integrity. But unlike its counterparts in the region, the Indian military has maintained its sacrosanct faith in the constitutional and democratic ideals of the nation. The Indian soldier has been a guardian angel both at the border and internally, in maintaining the constitutional setup of the Indian state.
An incomplete journey
Despite these successes, India’s democratic journey as yet is incomplete. The promise of the Constitution remains unfulfilled. A gradual erosion of rule of law continues unabated due to widening economic inequality, religious-caste based identity, polarisation, corruption, and the subsequent apathy among the youth towards our democratic values.
It is time for the nation to move beyond the goals of early independent India to those of modern aspirational India. It is time for a renewal and restrengthening of the social contract between the Indian state and its citizens. We must reframe our national ethos to replace the culture of silence with a culture of transparency, the culture of violence with a culture of peace, and the culture of exclusion with a culture of inclusion.
India’s politically astute electorate has become hyper focused on electoral politics and has forgotten issue-based politics. From the Dandi March to the recent farmers’ protest, issue-based movements have had a critical role in improving our governance models and societal values.
We must engage proudly as citizens of an inclusive and inspirational Indic civilisation, which has crossed its original hurdles and shall now take flight to the zenith of the global order. The writ of state should never be allowed to be replaced by the writ of the economic, political, or majoritarian elite.
Today we should celebrate farmers in their fields, teachers in rural government classrooms, soldiers on the border, Anganwadi workers, railway clerks, and brave emergency service providers who are all playing their part in ensuring that the benefits of a democratic and independent India are reaching every citizen of the country. They keep a constant vigil on India’s journey as a democratic superpower.
Happy Independence Day to you all.
Kamal Haasan is an actor-turned politician, and founder, Makkal Needhi Maiam
