How does the average Indian see their nation’s long engagement with democracy?
When India gained its independence
in 1947, no one was willing to bank on the
prospect of a continued and robust democracy,
despite the country’s great hopes, and Prime
Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s aspirations that
India would “awake to light and freedom.” Seventy-two years later, although we see the perils
of communalism, casteism, classism, sexism,
and fundamentalism still continuing to plague
the country’s soul, most would agree that, flaws and all,
the body politic is still intact (a brief hiatus during the
1975-77 Emergency notwithstanding) and the Indian
experiment is ever-evolving. This makes India
one among only a handful of former colonies that
committed to a democratic political framework and
continued with it, even while the hopes and dreams
of so many other newly-independent colonies across
Asia and Africa shattered and collapsed to strongmen,
autocratic repression, and tribal violence.
I have written before about the many challenges
that are facing India in a variety of contexts. Here, I
want to focus on what the average Indian thinks about
his or her democracy. What does living in a democracy
mean, and what is it worth to them? Is it something
sacred and worth fighting for? Or even in a more banal
sense, do Indians love their democracy?
One of the greatest modern political scientists to
write about comparative democracy and values, Ronald
Inglehart, has stated that for the long-term survival of
democratic institutions, mere support from the people
is not enough; there must be fostered within the country
a “mass culture of tolerance, trust, and participatory
orientations.” If citizens rank their well-being as
relatively high, and if the country is economically developed,
this helps, too. He finds that, interestingly,
there is no contemporary country in the world where
majorities do not view the idea of democracy favorably.
However, it is on these other indicators that predictions
about democracy can more accurately be made.
It is educational to note that India is the only country
from the developing world that has been a consistent
democracy over the last many decades. It is especially
poignant considering that scholars doubted India
could continue its democratic path, not least because
of the widespread poverty and illiteracy it faced after
independence. Now that India is a dynamic emerging
economy, will this portend even better things for its
future democracy? A Pew Global Attitudes survey
(2017) shows that 83 percent believe the country’s
economy is good, and that 76 percent believe that
their children’s future will be brighter than theirs.
In terms of reported well-being, one of the
indicators Inglehart holds as important, the
results are mixed. On “happiness” surveys that
are drawn from indices of multiple indicators like
GDP, India ranks low. But on other surveys where
participants are queried on their own well-being, India
ranks high (Cigna 2018 survey).
With regard to democracy itself, the 2017 Pew survey
shows that 79 percent of Indians are satisfied with
their democracy, with the number edging upwards for
supporters of the ruling BJP. Indians seem sold as much
on representative as direct democracy, with 75 percent
supporting either. But curiously, a majority of all respondents
also support rule by a “strong leader” and by
the military. The survey further indicates that countries
(like India) whose citizens have strong party affiliation
(i.e., identify strongly with one of the existing political
parties) also tend to support democracy more strongly.
In fact, India, along with Israel, showed the least skepticism
towards democracy of all the countries surveyed.
There are many cautionary signs—the survey data
show Indians worried about corruption, crime, and
terrorism. On one of the greatest indicators of tolerance
and democratic values according to the Inglehart
study—LGBTQ rights—India is woefully inadequate.
But overall, the survey data show a healthy regard,
dare we say even a love, of democracy among Indians. I
must say that I am not surprised, because even amidst
the darkest of times, the communal riots, the hideous
crimes against young girls and the gay community,
the hopelessness among farmers and Dalits, I always
believed that there was something special about
Indians and their democracy. And it wasn’t just my
feeling; it was also the arc of history. A country that
kept its democratic institutions and grew its democratic
values amidst the greatest of odds seemed likely to
continue to hold on to them.
Tinaz Pavri is Professor of Political Science and Director of the Asian Studies Program at Spelman College, Atlanta. A recipient of the Donald Wells Award from the Georgia Political Science Association, she’s the author of the memoir Bombay in the Age of Disco: City, Community, Life.