THE nature of Indian democracy was established based on principles which were tempered in the course of the freedom struggle. Hence, it was not a coincidence that the Constitution was established after a protracted debate in the Constituent Assembly for almost three years. This was the institutionalised quintessence of values and ideas which evolved while adopting and customising some of the universal principles experienced and practiced by democracies elsewhere in the world. Therefore, contrary to the claim that Indian democracy and by extension the Indian Constitution is a carbon copy of western practices and not sufficiently indigenous – ‘Bharatiya’ – as was declared by the RSS and its mouthpiece, Organiser, is not supported either by history or by facts. It was not a coincidence therefore that the Preamble of the Constitution famously begins with the phrase ‘we the people’. The Constitution has gone on to recognise and explain the vast and rich diversity of the people, a huge population. The foundational principles embrace the idea of economic and political sovereignty, parliamentary democracy, secularism and federalism. However, there can be no two opinions about the fact that increasingly, doubts and even criticisms over the manner of functioning of the Indian democracy are being voiced not just within the country, but in different parts of the world. The principle source of concern is democracy, and the status of ‘one person, one vote’ as the foundation of our democracy.
There are processes which are supposed to ensure this. An independent and transparent process of election overseen by an independent body – the Election Commission of India – which will ensure that all citizens above the age of 18 will be included as voters. Not that there haven’t been any disputes over the election processes in the past. But broadly, there was no dispute, not to speak of any challenge, over the electoral outcome. But today, especially with the Special Intensive Revision of the Electoral Rolls, there has been a major shift in the public perception because of the gross and widespread evidence over wrongdoing by the ECI to suit the partisan interest of the ruling political formation.
For the first time since the inception of this country, almost 30 lakh people were temporarily disenfranchised in West Bengal. With the ongoing process of SIR in the rest of the country, 10 crore persons have initially been dropped from the rolls. There are allegations galore that well laid down rules and procedures are being flagrantly violated or being overlooked by the ECI. The most disturbing dimension of this development is the charge that considerations of religious identity are influencing decisions and processes. The most aggressive hate campaign by leaders and ministers of the ruling party are trying to create an all-pervasive atmosphere of undermining the principle of common and equal citizenship. The distinct tone of majoritarianism is becoming increasingly louder. That in itself implies the complete rejection and unmaking of the Constitution.
Another important component of equality of citizens is shaped by another constitutionally ordained exercise – the decadal census, which counts the population and throws light on aspects of their social and economic life. Apart from providing crucial inputs for planning the development process and ensuring that there is a sure and unmistakable progress towards social and economic equality, the process also ensures parity of representation across the states. Under the charge of the present Union government, such a Constitution-ordained census exercise has been delayed by seven years. Initially the explanation was that because of the Covid-19 pandemic, it could not be initiated in the designated time frame. But the subsequent delay of more than five or six years begs an explanation.
The deep suspicion is further aggravated by the fact that similar to the SIR process, the self-assessment questionnaire which is part of the census exercise, has made a clear departure from earlier practices. The immediate context is a debate which is premised on a North South divide - whether absolute numbers will determine the pattern of representation or whether some other mechanism should be worked out which will go into incentivising the national population policy. The skewed pattern of population growth in certain states of North India accentuates this apprehension. In fact, none other than L K Advani himself had called for evolving a consensus on this question underlining the importance of giving appropriate incentive for states for their effective pursuit of the national population policy. (A memorandum submitted by the CPI(M) on the Census 2027 to the Registrar General of India and Census Commissioner, published elsewhere in this issue, gives further details.)
The crucial importance of census also lies in the fact that it is inseparably linked with the exercise of delimitation. In fact, our constitutional scheme implies that every delimitation exercise is preceded by the formation of the Delimitation Commission which actually works on the basis of the latest Census figures. This is precisely laid down in the Constitution. Delimitation is an exercise whereby the objective of broad equivalence of electors for each parliamentary and assembly seat for the states is ensured. Indirectly therefore, it is also responsible for some balanced distribution of seats state wise which affects the states’ capacity to influence political processes. Without transparent and rational persuasion, there is every danger of the whole process degenerating into a fratricidal dispute, and such rational persuasion must formally lead to a broad consensus. That was the spirit of fraternity inserted by Ambedkar in the Preamble itself.
It is absolutely clear that whereas the Constitution attached utmost importance to ‘we the people’ to live unitedly and strive together for an inclusive democracy, the direction of constitutional processes under the present regime which is promoting exercises which threaten to be discriminatory and exclusionary, the remaking of the republic is quite pronounced. Unfortunately, the whole idea is being pushed on the presumption that citizens are superior or inferior, even non-existent, based on their religion, socio-economic status and gender. It also further presumes that the Indian population is being swamped by outsiders and infiltrators.
This approximates the vicious right-wing campaign against immigrants in other parts of the world. Obviously, the trend betrays an urgency for deflecting the real issues of food, clothing, shelter, education, health and such other vital concerns, affecting the people. The signals are loud and clear. Remaking India on an unreal basis is a deadly recipe for disaster. Fresh voices of young people – GenZ and Gen Alpha – have already served the notice.
(August 26, 2026)
