Grad - Singh

Abstract

The history of Indian democracy is projected as a success story of democracy in a developing country. But in the late 1970’s it had acquired a short-lived authoritarian form. In my dissertation research I am aiming to explain Indian state’s brush with authoritarianism (1975-77). On the basis of analysis of network ties and cultural experiences of 3,336 political elites elected to the Indian parliament during the Nehru (1947-71) and the Indira Gandhi era (1971-84), I argue that the appearance of authoritarianism was a reflection of the crisis of transition from the Nehruvian to the Gandhian era in postcolonial Indian politics. During the Nehruvian era the ruling party’s parliamentarians i.e., the Congress party’s parliamentarians had close ties with each other, high social engagements in their everyday life, and a large experience of political and everyday life culture. The opposition parliamentarians were too small in numbers to have any significant impact. This picture of Indian politics got inverted during the Gandhian era. Congress party was still the ruling party. But its parliamentarians had weaker ties with each other, lesser social engagements, and lower experience of political but higher experience of everyday life culture than their predecessors. The opposition parliamentarians had moderately grown in size. More importantly, now they had closer ties with each other, higher social engagements in their everyday life, and higher experience of political and everyday life culture than their predecessors. I argue that the brief appearance of authoritarianism in the postcolonial India was a sign of the uncertainties associated with the transition from the Nehruvian era to the Gandhian era in the postcolonial Indian politics.