Dismantling Democracy: The 2019 Indian General Election and the Formation of the 'BJP system

Abstract

Democratic institutions are being subverted and the very idea itself is being dismantled in many countries around the world. India, which boasts 70 years of democratic practice, is no exception. In particular, the increasing oppression of religious minorities such as Muslims by the emergence of vigilante groups like cow protection groups (Gau Rakshaks) represents a new and significant strategy of the current Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government. Under the ‘two-sword strategy’ that combines economic development with Hindu supremacy’s hardliner approach, Hindu majoritarian ideology is rapidly creating an exclusivist and aggressive Hindu identity. This article analyses this new trend by using the 2019 general election survey data and proposes that there appears to be the emergence and consolidation of a new party system in India, which I refer to as the ‘BJP system’. The idea of ‘politics of obedience’, which characterises the ‘BJP system’, moreover, is starkly different from that of the ‘politics of consensus’, which earlier characterised the Congress Party’s one-party dominant rule, that is, the ‘Congress system’. This article analyses the emergence of the ‘politics of obedience’ and debates the future of democracy in India and the world.