This may appear exaggerated at first, but the truth is that Indian civilisation has been uniquely conducive to democracy, more so than any advanced liberal nation. India is one of the few civilisations where democracy took firm root despite the near absence of those conditions usually regarded as necessary for its rise: high literacy, industrial development, a strong middle class, or longstanding representative institutions. Yet democracy flourished here.
The Western sensibility of democracy evolved through long and often violent historical conflicts, religious wars, revolutions, and class struggles. Its political wisdom arose from balancing competing interests and keeping personal faith largely outside public institutions. In contrast, the Indic view begins with the principle of oneness, that all life is interconnected. It does not seek to defeat or overpower the other, but to remove only the thorns, to clear obstructions so that natural harmony may prevail. This civilizational disposition towards coexistence, dialogue, self-restraint, and sagacity forms the cultural soil in which Indian democracy could grow even without the usual structural prerequisites.
What sustained Indian democracy, therefore, was not merely constitutional design, but a cultural inheritance lived and exemplified by many of its leaders. Among them, Mahatma Gandhi stands as the most consequential. He translated these civilizational values into modern political methods: nonviolence, moral persuasion, and mass participation, showing that politics could be ethical without losing effectiveness and people-centred without descending into chaos.
Today, when many advanced democracies face eroding trust, polarisation, and institutional fatigue, India, despite its grievances and imperfections, still exhibits deep public faith in its democratic processes. Elections continue to energise millions, demonstrating that democracy here is not only a system of governance but a shared way of life rooted in cultural memory.
Yet democratic decline is never impossible. Democracy is a cultivated culture and an achieved moral discipline; it does not sustain itself automatically. If the commitment to fairness weakens, or if the institutions meant to safeguard public participation become ineffective or counterproductive, democratic life can deteriorate with surprising speed. The responsibility to preserve democracy, therefore, rests not only on governments and systems, but on the conscience, conduct, and vigilance of citizens themselves.
Niraj Kumar Jha
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