The Role of State Constitutions in Protecting ... - International IDEA

But by its very nature, it is an inherently fragile achievement, ever contingent on
the skills of the political actors in working out the power sharing arrangements or
in allowing the mechanisms of self-correction to work themselves out. This is a
lesson well worth remembering as India confronts the most organized challenge
to the politics of diversities in the form of the right wing Hindutva government
at the centre. The most serious challenge to the survival of diversities comes from
forces which are less organized, less visible and may not even be considered
political in the ordinary sense: forces of cultural homogenization, the
monoculture of modernity and the ideology of nation-state. While there is –
something to be said for the capacity of democratic politics to deal with the more
obvious and political challenges to diversity, it has proved a very weak ally in the
struggle against these deeper threats from within.
In other words it is not an unmixed record, but on balance something of a success.
Now, what accounts for this success (to the extent to which it is so)? Those who
study Indian democracy have offered three accounts of this success. Schematically,
the explanation could reside one of the following:
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The nature of Indian society and civilization
The provisions of the Indian constitution
The nature of competitive politics in India since independence
While there is a lot to be said in favor of the first two explanations, in the last
instance, the Indian enterprise has worked because of the third factor. This is
something that tends to be ignored in studies of constitutional law and political
institutions. Given the mandate of this workshop, it is useful to focus on the
constitutional provisions, even if that is not the principle locus of explanation.
The social context is worth mentioning before turning to a detailed analysis of the
institutional-constitutional features and concluding on a note on the political
dynamics.
The societal context
It is often said that the nature of the Indian society and culture is uniquely suited
to the success of the federal enterprise of safeguarding the interest of the
minorities. The argument involves reference to India’s traditions of religious
tolerance, the open-ended nature of the Hindu religion. While there is an element
of truth in this, this may not guide us in the right direction. It is not clear if the
Indian traditions are unique in religious tolerance or particularly resistant to the
modern forces of homogenization. As for the nature of Hindu religion, at least the
modern version of political Hinduism has been as bigoted and intolerant as
anything else seen in modern world.
There is something else about the Indian society that does help growth of
federalism and democracy. The nature of multiple and cross-cutting social
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