A Divided Nation Cannot Claim to Be Happy
Excerpted with permission from Salman Khurshid and Mritunjay Singh Yadav's Contesting Democratic Deficit: An Inside Story of the 2024 Elections.
The 2014 general election was a watershed in modern Indian politics, sweeping away the decades of dominance by the Indian National Congress. The arrival of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was to change the ideological content of politics and the style of administration. Two versions of India emerged very quickly—one in the government that sought to reclaim the cultural edifice from illegitimate occupiers and the second in the alternative idea of an India committed to an inclusive character and a liberal intellectual ethos.
Curiously, many political entities and their allies had worked to undermine the Congress-United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, compounded by a series of adverse judicial decisions that unravelled accomplishments in several sectors, like coal mining and telecom. The BJP’s concerted political attacks and complete non-cooperation on several fronts of political functioning led to the narrative of policy paralysis and corruption. The 2004 dream team returned to power in 2009 but was severely damaged and fatigued. Unrelenting assault by a combination of populism by India Against Corruption, with clandestine support from Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) cadres, sapped all energy from the party.
Salman Khurshid and Mritunjay Singh Yadav
Contesting Democratic Deficit: An Inside Story of the 2024 Elections
Rupa, 2025
Defeat came inevitably. While the then Opposition sought to undermine the accomplishments of the UPA, the public at large remained ambiguous about economic reform and refused to be weaned off the state-controlled economy and its comforts. The Ram Temple movement continued to gather steam, and the so-called Hindutva feeling continued to grow.
The year 2019 gave the BJP and Modi electoral approval for a second term and the Congress considerable anxiety over what was described by some as a permanent change in India’s thinking, making the BJP the largest political party in the democratic world and the putative natural ruling party.
Despite the BJP’s remarkable success, the test of a nation’s success, however, should ultimately be in the total gross happiness of its people, even if there is no mathematical model to measure it. Of course, this is a sum of comfort felt in personal safety and security, satisfying employment or occupation, housing and educational opportunity. Along with creature comforts, a general and collective sense of wellbeing contribute to a nation’s happiness. Above all, a divided nation or community cannot claim to be happy because the life of a nation lies in its collective growth. The decade of Modi’s India was anything but happy despite the glamorous display of achievements.
The Congress and its partners in the Opposition have a take on the last ten years that varies dramatically from the self-certification of unbounded success that the incumbent government gives itself. Curiously, while the INDIA Alliance underscores the end of the undeclared emergency of the last few years, the BJP continues to harp on the ‘emergency mindset’ of the Congress, despite the long history of electoral victories of the Congress, including the defeat of the Janata government in 1980, and the fact that many parties that lined up against the Congress then are its partners now. One need not be apologetic for the Emergency or allow it to cast a shadow over our present combative stance against the perversion of democratic rights. The Emergency was declared in extreme circumstances of civil unrest that went far beyond civil disobedience. The people of India rejected the Emergency in 1977, but eighteen months later gave Indira Gandhi a thumping majority. Since then, several election victories should have settled the issue. The concern now is the undeclared emergency that subverts liberty in a virulent form.
Decoding Anyay Kaal
In her 2024 interim budget speech on 1 February, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman confidently emphasized the government’s achievements and announced that the government would lay a White Paper on the House table ‘to look at where we were then till 2014 and where we are now, only for the purpose of drawing lessons from the mismanagement of those years.’
In response, the Congress party was quick to act. The announcement of a ‘Black Paper’ on the ten years of the Modi government was swiftly made. A dedicated team, including Amitabh Dubey, Varun Santosh and others, began working on a war footing to prepare the document within an incredibly tight deadline of less than seven days. Fortunately, some groundwork had already been laid for the Karnataka elections, where a similar document covering nine years of the Modi government had been prepared. This existing document served as a foundation, allowing the team to focus on updating and expanding the content.
Once the Black Paper was completed, the question of who should release the document arose. While some believed that Rahul Gandhi should be the one to launch it, Rahul himself suggested that the Congress President, Mallikarjun Kharge, would be the most appropriate person to do so. The suggestion was accepted, and the decision was made. On 8 February, the Black Paper titled ‘10 Saal Anyay Kaal 2014–2024’ was officially launched by Kharge. The document brought to light the manner in which the Modi government’s ten years in power had devastated the country’s economy, abetted crimes against women, and committed grave injustices against the minorities in the country. It was essentially a chargesheet of the BJP’s anyay (injustice) during its decade in power.
The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.
