Book Review: The great Indian Manthan

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.” Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities. I kept pondering over the above lines unconsciously when I closed a critical yet reflective tome on the state of State of India i.e Bharat titled, The Great Indian Manthan edited by Pushparaj Deshpande and Gurdeep Singh Sappal under the Rethinking India series. The book begins with a brilliant introduction by Pushparaj Deshpande, about which I shall talk in the later part of this article. Chapter first by Mallikarjun Kharge throws light on the modus-vivendi of the Cabinet system of India. It begins with the historical antecedents, throwing light on the qualitative adoption of parliamentary democracy by the Constituent Assembly. In the initial paragraphs the intellectual fodder and difference this book offers is when one reads about India's adoption of 'daily assessment of responsibility' than America's 'periodic assessment of responsibility'. This marks the wisdom which Ambedkar has illustrated in his speeches by adopting qualitative principles, delving into Aristotelian method of comparative constitutionalism and arriving at the golden mean of the unique yet indianised cabinet system - idea of Bagehotian buckle of cabinet. Kharge delves deep into the post-independence history using both traditional as well as modern frameworks of comparative politics analysing politics as science accomodating even today's post-truth and post-state state times. He ends his essay by reminding the Nehruvian call to preserve plurality and multicultural underpinnings that shall ensure continuation of the true spirit of India's civilisation rather than laying brains and commonsense at the feet of the messiah. What I loved about the essays in these book is not just their content but meticulous references that are deployed by all authors. Kharge uses Alexandrowicz, Sisson, Barbieri and others that makes his essay terse, analytical and supported by facts (rare in today's times). Chapter two by Sonia Gandhi gives a transparent overview of National Advisory Council (NAC). The generally constructed and popularised discourse about NAC was of its undemocratic nature and tendency to bypass formal constitutional mechanisms. But, in recent times with much PMOisation of executive and legistative powers it seems difficult to trust those discourses today. The essay lays down the constructive work of NAC, its effecting positive changes in the functioning of the then government by striking a majjamika between growth and development, and lastly an overview of how the currrent dispensation is undoing and abusing those very socio-democratic initiatives like RTI, FRA, MGNREGA and others - less allocation of funds, delayed payments, assaulting and punishing federal states not ready to cow down by deep state. The essay is a crtique of current governmentality, its grafting of its ideological hegemony over the fundamentals of the social contract enshrined in the preamble. Chapter three and four respectively by Hamid Ansari and Sitaram Yechury follow the trend of this series to put forth a panoramic account of Parliament and Coalition politics. Meticulously backed by references, Ansari warns of elective despotism that is based on the tyranny of majoritarian hegemony. Going through the events in recent times that have hampered the dignity of Parliament, he points to the erosion of etiquettes of the parliamentarians. His essay pointing towards loopholes offers corrective mechanisms to plug them within the constitutional framework. Yechury offers his insights to make coalition politics work by delineating the principles on which coalitions should be based in the first instance. These very principles for him could be learnt, incorporated via historical Indian experience of coalitions as means towards an egalitarian Idea of India. His brief description of the Mandal-Kamandal politics is interesting but as a reader, I felt it had to be described in more detail for the Millenial and Gen Z students, who are literate yet uneducated and succumb to the idea, ideology and performances of Nietzsche's Superman. Chapter five on India's Judiciary by Madan Lokur is a must read to understand the trajectory of Judiciary of India and look at its functioning from a constructive critical framework. In the current times where law is deliberately used as a means to punish than instititionalise Justice, Lokur paints hope where justice and law shall be synchronous. He illustrates some landmark cases that portray the judiciary ...

Book Review: The great Indian Manthan

Nikhil Sanjay-Rekha Adsule

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