Re-forming India by Niraja Gopal Jayal

Author:Niraja Gopal Jayal [Jayal, Niraja Gopal]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Random House India Private Limited
Published: 2019-04-12T00:00:00+00:00

Conclusion

I have argued in this essay that with the rise of Modi, India experienced right-wing populism at the national level for the first time. During Indira Gandhi’s reign, India witnessed left-wing populism. The principal difference between these two varieties of populism is that the former places the religious majority—the Hindus in India’s case—at the heart of the polity and marginalizes the minorities in various ways, whereas the latter structures its rhetoric and policies around the poor. Both forms of populism privilege elections as the overwhelming source of popular will and, therefore, the only foundation of political power. To be sure, all democrats view elections as a source of power, but populists differ from liberal democrats in the extent to which they distrust, and seek to undermine, the non-elected institutions of constraint and oversight, such as the judiciary and press. Executive power, unconstrained by checks and balances, stands at the centre of the populist political vision. In trying to enact such a vision, Modi has turned out to be no different from so many populists currently ruling different polities in the world.

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