India’s Democratic Pillars Crumble as Power Concentrates

People accused in the Bhima-Koregaon and Delhi riots cases waited years for bail, V Ramani writes, with some still in custody after more than six years and chargesheets yet to be filed. “The process itself a punishment,” he says of delays under laws including the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Prevention of Money Laundering Act. Liberty gets stuck in the machinery; power keeps moving.

Ramani, a retired IAS officer of the Maharashtra cadre and a member of the Constitutional Conduct Group, argues that India’s democracy rests on seven shaky pillars: legislature, executive, political parties, judiciary, independent institutions, media and civil society. He says structural weaknesses have existed since 1947, and changing the government alone wouldn’t cure them.

When the apparatus serves power

In the legislature, Ramani says party-switching known as “aya Ram gaya Ram” began in 1967 and continues, with legislators tempted by power, patronage, high bidders and fear of investigative agencies. Defectors move in groups, he argues, while constitutional anti-defection provisions have become a dead letter because presiding officers haven’t ruled against them.

Major legislation, meanwhile, passes without adequate public debate. Ramani says presiding officers often reject opposition requests for debate or legislative intervention, including in proposed impeachments of the chief election commissioner and a former High Court judge. The public gets fewer openings to contest decisions made above its head.

He says governments engage inadequately with public opinion on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, farm laws and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Dissenters, he writes, are dismissed as “urban naxals,” “dimagi naxals” and “anti-nationals,” while civil servants, particularly those in investigative agencies, are used to bring cases and harass dissenters and political opponents.

Ramani alleges that officials implement political orders despite their constitutional oath. He cites demolitions of structures mostly owned or occupied by Muslims, interference in Christian prayer meetings, and harassment of interfaith couples at the direction of vigilante groups. Senior bureaucrats, he says, have largely abandoned their role of advising political leaders when orders lack legality.

Rights delayed, institutions weakened

The courts’ manpower constraints and litigation burdens contribute to lengthy delays in cases involving liberty and constitutional questions, Ramani says, particularly in the Supreme Court and High Courts. He cites Stan Swamy and GN Saibaba, whose incarceration led to their deaths. Most of the Aam Aadmi Party leadership was jailed before and during the 2025 Delhi elections, he writes, preventing them from campaigning.

Ramani says the names of 130 million citizens have been deleted from electoral rolls amid continuing unrest over the SIR, with the Election Commission facing severe criticism. He also names Information Commissions, the Lokpal, the National Green Tribunal, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, the National Commission for Women and the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights as institutions that have proved ineffective in checking executive action or inaction.

Infrastructure and mineral-extraction projects receive near-blanket approvals despite environmental concerns and without local consultation, he argues. He cites hill landslides, flash floods and increasing desertification of arable land as ecological consequences. Decisions travel downward; the costs land locally.

The machinery of consent

Large sections of print and electronic media defer to authority, Ramani says, citing fear of losing government advertising, coercive action and corporate purchases of independent news channels. He quotes Lal Krishna Advani, a Bharatiya Janata Party founder, speaking after the Emergency: “When they were asked to bend, they crawled.” Anchors and editors compete to demonstrate loyalty, he writes, while opposition and dissent receive little coverage. Independent online outlets face investigative-agency scrutiny and defamation cases; channels that promote hate speech and incendiary comments, he says, face little consequence. Many citizens have abandoned newspapers and television for independent online media.

Ramani says polarization, probably dormant before 2014, has become open in recent years. He describes educated sections of the majority community “othering” Muslims, and groups and state agencies harassing Christians over alleged religious conversion. Communities, families and friendships are divided, he says, as partisan positions and echo chambers replace dialogue. He also says corporate leaders, politicians, bureaucrats, academics, media workers and “WhatsApp uncles and aunties” have supported majoritarian ideology.

Ramani invokes Babasaheb Ambedkar’s warning that political bhakti, or hero-worship, leads to degradation and eventual dictatorship. He says obedience can also grow from ambition, fear of consequences or apathy. His proposed foundation for democratic health is justice, liberty, equality and fraternity, alongside restored trust between citizens, the state, rights institutions and one another. The article first appeared on Ramani’s blog and invites comments at [email protected].