Deepening Democracy

I’m sitting at the airport in Paris with a coffee and comparing my surroundings with New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport. When I share this comparison with one of my colleagues—that our airport is better, more comfortable and more traveller-friendly—she agrees. Yes, she says, ours are airports of Viksit Bharat. That Viksit Bharat which has been envisioned and developed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is going to turn 75 in a few days. In terms of roads, highways, airports, auditoriums, stadiums, markets and city centres—in fact, all kinds of infrastructure—we are world-class now. Prime Minister Modi, like Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore or developmental geniuses from Japan or a president like Franklin D Roosevelt of the US, has given a big boost to India’s development. 

Modi became prime minister in 2014 and has since undertaken various transformative experiments in Indian politics. There is thus a need to analyse the nature of his politics in the context of a changing Indian society. While looking at Modi’s politics, one observes that he sees politics not as a means of grabbing power but as an instrument to change society and take the nation ahead on the path of development.  

So Modi’s is a politics of balancing and blending social change and development. It is also a transformative combination of visualisation and implementation. 

Modi has evolved a social politics by retrieving Gandhian means and methods
in which all politics needs to converge in the making of a confident and decolonised India and a comfortable, egalitarian as well as developed society. In this notion of social consciousness, political action is related to the politics of democracy, public policy and international engagement—and it begins at the basic level, centering on the Indian individual. His politics mostly engages with social issues. The panch pran cluster of his strategies for Viksit Bharat is closely associated with social reconstruction and vyakti nirman. The mission of decolonising the Indian self, instilling self-confidence, building atmanirbharta is meant to prepare Indians for the goal of Viksit Bharat. These constitute a holistic politics linking development with social reconstruction. 

This reminds us of Mahatma Gandhi who clubbed his politics of demolishing colonialism with Harijan uddhar and the Salt Satyagraha while directing all his efforts to reach the man on the margins of society.  

Modi does not work merely for the politics of state and power, nor in the conventional language of politics. He has worked as a social leader in the political sphere. So he uses his symbolic power to inspire people to preserve natural resources, which is a foundational value of Indian traditions. In the process, he is developing a futuristic democracy that may extend its horizons to respect and care for not only humans but all species.     

Moreover, Modi’s politics seems to be dedicated to transforming India into an aspirational society, working hard to direct the states to fulfil the aspirations of common people. This makes marginal people upwardly mobile. 

Critics find fault with Modi’s ability to take decisive action and claim it goes against democracy. But if his speeches and other deliberations are analysed, one would find that Modi is handling Indian democracy in a sensitive manner and extending its possibilities, taking it beyond humankind alone. This could be considered the future path of democracy not only in India but for the whole world.

Last but not least, Prime Minister Modi has made many value additions to the form and content of the politics of democracy in India. His efforts are not fragmented but holistic and cohesively organised to achieve the twin goals of development and social reconstruction.  

governanceIndian cultureIndian politicsModi at 75Narendra Modisocial change