Government Finds IItself On Backfoot

Majoritarian politics faces a pushback, while economic policy awaits a paradigm shift

- Subir Roy

After a year of almost relentless flow of bad news, December has held out some measure of hope and cheer for those who wish to preserve the idea of India as defined by its founding fathers and codified in its Constitution. This hope flows form two developments – Prime Minister Narendra Modi backtracking on plans to take the National Register of Citizens (NRC) from Assam to the whole country; and the results of the Jharkhand elections.

If the Hindutva forces concluded from the massive victory of the BJP in two successive Parliamentary elections that most Indians were comfortable with the idea of India becoming a Hindu rashtra, then the massive demonstrations across the country against both the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the NRC prove that India is a complex entity.

Its citizens punish poor governance (the UPA rule) and reward firm leadership (the BJP under Modi), but also believe in fair and equal status and treatment by the state for all, irrespective of caste, creed and religion. India and Indians are pluralistic, and any attempt to install a particular religion or ideology as the defining one will come to grief. It is worth paying a high price to learn this invaluable lesson.

Public opinion