A Decade of Democracy in Decline

This collection of essays outlines the erosion of India’s constitutional values in the last 10 years, and places faith in coalition politics

- By PARUL CHANDRA

Manoj Kumar Jha’s In Praise of Coalition Politics And Other Essays on Indian Democracy is a searing collection of essays, trenchant in its criticism of the state of Indian democracy ever since the BJP rose to power in 2014.

They make a scathing commentary on what the author believes is the steady erosion of democratic norms in India over the last decade.

A Rajya Sabha MP from the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Jha trains his focus on the Modi government—now in its third term—and the manner in which it has ridden roughshod over the Constitution’s core values of secularism, liberty, and equality. Constitutional principles valuable to its architects, he argues, are being torn asunder.

Many of the essays have appeared earlier in print or online, but are updated and revised here, alongside fresh writings. What makes them compelling is the way Jha weaves current developments with historical references.

Unsurprisingly, as an opposition leader, he attacks the government. Yet the essays remain disturbing in their detail, underlining authoritarianism in governance, polarisation, and the crackdown on dissent. Expressing deep concern over the persecution of minorities, in particular Muslims, Jha writes, “Mob violence and lynching are not only routinised but sanctified as well,” he notes. “The vicious targeting of political enemies has become a legitimate manner of doing politics.”