Ramchandra Guha at MIT

The historian Ramchandra Guha was at MIT on Thu, 10/30. He spoke on something he has written about recently, The Past and Future of Indian Democracy [A similar article appeared in the Outlook magazine: Will India Become A Superpower?]

Guha's argument and contention is that India is a flawed democracy, but a miraculous one nevertheless. He lists a set of reasons that explain why it has survived as long as it has and another set to argue that it might not reach superpower status -- or as he said the other day, will not sit at the "high table" (of great countries, one would assume) any time too soon.

Among the reasons he lists for India's success with democracy, he includes Hindi films and cricket, claims that can easily appear specious and superficial. Be that as it may, Guha is a very persuasive speaker. Even while he tells you that the Indian democratic experience is flawed, cautions you to demand only the "least perfect" results out of this imperfect democracy, he is not in the least trying to undermine your faith in democracy. No, he believes in the "logic of democracy." And of nationalism. He adduces very polished arguments of the nature of "only because of democracy" -- only because of democracy did a "doubly disadvantaged Dalit woman, Mayawati, manage to become the Chief Minister of India's most populous state -- which seem a little hard to argue against. But, as I said earlier, despite all his caveats and despite his conclusion that "India will muddle through" in the future, he is convinced of the wholesomeness of democracy. If you point out its flaws, he says the way out is deepening of democracy. But, democracy is crucial to the survival of the heterogeneous polity that is India.

Democracy -- which chiefly stands for (relatively) free and fair elections for him -- strengthens Indian nationalism which in turn sustains democratic values, however inadequately. And within that sort of circular logic he can circumscribe all argument. And he firmly believes in the "idea of India"...