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The Raisina Model: Indian Democracy at 70
Meghnad Desai reflects on Indian democracy as it completes seventy years of colourful, eventful and energetic parliamentary existence. Pulling no punches, Desai looks at the history and evolution of Indian democratic institutions, pinpointing their achievements, but also their repeated failure to live up to the standards envisaged by the nation s founders. Drawing on his own career as a Labour peer in Britain s House of Lords, Desai has the rare understanding and familiarity with the process of politics, and is able therefore to identify its universal features and zoom in on its uniquely Indian aspects. This is a candid, reflective and unsparing view of the precepts and practice of Indian politics. It traces at the evolution and growth of identity politics, coalition governments and single-party rule and the differing political narratives of the north and the south. The Raisina Model is a critical and frequently uncomfortable meditation on India s contemporary political culture.
- GenresIndia
208 pages, Hardcover
Published December 15, 2017
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About the author
Meghnad Desai
61 books14 followersMeghnad Desai is emeritus professor of economics, London School of Economics, where he was also founder and former director of the Global Governance Research Centre. He is a member of the House of Lords and chairman of the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum.
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July 30, 2018
India’s transition from a colony of Britain to a sovereign republic was a smooth one. The constitutional process that began in 1919 continued through the Government of India Act of 1935 and served as a broad template to its Constitution. India’s independence was marked by large scale communal violence in which a million people died. Naturally, the longevity of the nascent republic was very much in doubt. A bunch of politicians with no worthwhile administrative experience were tasked with the twin Herculean tasks of drafting a Constitution and steering a newly independent nation with a wide diversity of languages, religions and customs. When we look back now after seven decades, the picture is not rosy, but it could have been much worse! India boasts of a vibrant democracy – troubled yet unbroken except for a short spell of Emergency under Indira Gandhi. The Indian democratic model is moulded on the Westminster system and since the visible symbols of Indian democracy stand on the Raisina Hill in New Delhi, this book creates the euphemism of ‘Raisina Model’ to describe the particular brew of democracy flourishing in the country. Meghnad Desai is an economist who left India in 1961 and taught at the London School of Economics, where he holds the position of Professor Emeritus. He was made Lord Desai of St Clement Danes in 1991 and awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2008. He has authored over 20 books and 200 articles.
On the lines of Churchill who declared that India was nothing more than a geographical term like the equator, Desai argues that India as an old civilization is a cultural idea, or a religious community, but it was not a territorial idea and definitely not a nation state till the time of independence. This begs the question that if not for a political entity, what did bind the country together. It was the Hindu society with its iron frame of the varna system, with Brahmin domination, which kept India together. In the absence of a single political authority, a decentralized system of social control was supervised by the Brahmins. India’s caste system was notorious for its graded inequality. The subtle differences of rank between the castes ensured that except for the people in the lowest rung of the ladder, there were at least a few others below them as far as any other caste was concerned. This false sense of incremental superiority conspired to keep the system intact. It was during the British era that the first hints of a real uplift of the backward communities came about. In this sense, India is having a paradoxical experience of being colonized by a colonizer that at the same time introduced ideas of change and equality. Desai praises the implementation of Mandal Report which conferred reservation in government jobs and educational institutions for the depressed classes as a groundbreaking event in the race for social justice. Anyway, he cautions that even with Mandal, the higher castes may remain ritually high but their economic advantage over the lower castes may shrink.
A very close inspection of Indian democracy is made in the book. In a significant shift from the Westminster model adopted by India, it reshaped the two-party ideal of the British into its own idea of a single dominant party and many smaller parties with regional, but not national presence. Desai mockingly calls this system ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ model. When Congress party was on the ascendant, all others were dwarfs. Now, as the BJP usurped that position, the Congress is becoming irrelevant in national politics. Desai identifies the influence of family relations in politics as a bloat to democracy. It is the bane of most parties except the BJP and the Communists, but the most glaring abuse is seen in the Congress which provided the template for others to emulate. Incompetent novices reach the top echelons riding on their father’s or husband’s credentials. The author claims that Mandal deepened the process of Indianizing the Westminster model. This put the Communists on the back foot as they never understood the intricacies of caste. Their role was taken away by the erstwhile socialists when Congress hegemony eventually weakened. Among all the minor differences that separate different parties, Desai observes that all Indian parties are statist, suspicious of free markets, wary of close association with big business, generous with entitlements and not overly concerned with fiscal responsibility (p.91).
Economic wellbeing goes hand in hand with a thriving democracy. Here, India was at a disadvantage right from 1947. The early demise of Sardar Patel who could have acted as a counterweight to fashionable socialism gave a clear hand to Nehru and his cronies. Nehru’s fiscal policy was more of a sign of economic innocence than serious aspiration. His advisors were also equally clueless about the way forward. Nehru planned doubling of national income in ten years. This mandated a 7.2 per cent annual growth rate which was never achieved till Narasimha Rao dismantled the entire edifice of the License-Quota-Permit raj in 1991. The sad part of the debacle was that both Nehru and his daughter Indira who succeeded him had no plans to achieve that elusive growth. While Nehru set the foundations of building up an economy from scratch, Indira set about destroying that structure by adopting ultra-leftist policies such as nationalization of commercial banks and putting in place the machinery of corruption. As a result, national income sadly lagged behind. Between 1600 and 1850, per capita income in India had zero rate of growth. For the next hundred years it grew at 0.5 to 1 per cent per annum. Doubling of income was planned in the second Five Year Plan which was prepared by the statistician P C Mahalanobis. He copied the five- year plan framework of USSR instituted in 1928 which itself was inspired by Karl Marx’s treatises. The focus of the plan was on manufacturing capital goods which was a necessity of USSR in 1928 as it was the target of international sanctions at that time and so wanted to build all the machinery domestically. That was not at all the case with India which could have easily imported them in the 1950s. Such a skewed funding denied investment in the wage goods sector and employment opportunities dwindled.
Having established democracy as the single most important factor that stemmed the trend of disintegration of post-independent India, the author analyses its future prospects. India’s road to salvation and ensuring a decent life to its inhabitants hinges on continuing to maintain the high economic growth rate achieved since 1991. The lack of a national narrative of independent India is lamented in the book. Having published this book in 2017, Desai takes a critical look at the Demonetisation program initiated in 2016 as part of the government’s crusade against black money. This issue was highly politicized which it should not have been. Desai terms the move as a ‘bold and timely one’. It didn’t destroy the currency as alleged by custodians of vested interests, but simply asked the people to convert the currency into bank deposits. The only problem was the delay in getting enough supplies of the new currency on time. It showed the inadequacy of the bureaucracy rather than the failure of the government. Taken as a whole, this book is a fitting tribute to Indian democracy celebrating its seven decades of glorious existence.
The book is highly recommended.
On the lines of Churchill who declared that India was nothing more than a geographical term like the equator, Desai argues that India as an old civilization is a cultural idea, or a religious community, but it was not a territorial idea and definitely not a nation state till the time of independence. This begs the question that if not for a political entity, what did bind the country together. It was the Hindu society with its iron frame of the varna system, with Brahmin domination, which kept India together. In the absence of a single political authority, a decentralized system of social control was supervised by the Brahmins. India’s caste system was notorious for its graded inequality. The subtle differences of rank between the castes ensured that except for the people in the lowest rung of the ladder, there were at least a few others below them as far as any other caste was concerned. This false sense of incremental superiority conspired to keep the system intact. It was during the British era that the first hints of a real uplift of the backward communities came about. In this sense, India is having a paradoxical experience of being colonized by a colonizer that at the same time introduced ideas of change and equality. Desai praises the implementation of Mandal Report which conferred reservation in government jobs and educational institutions for the depressed classes as a groundbreaking event in the race for social justice. Anyway, he cautions that even with Mandal, the higher castes may remain ritually high but their economic advantage over the lower castes may shrink.
A very close inspection of Indian democracy is made in the book. In a significant shift from the Westminster model adopted by India, it reshaped the two-party ideal of the British into its own idea of a single dominant party and many smaller parties with regional, but not national presence. Desai mockingly calls this system ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ model. When Congress party was on the ascendant, all others were dwarfs. Now, as the BJP usurped that position, the Congress is becoming irrelevant in national politics. Desai identifies the influence of family relations in politics as a bloat to democracy. It is the bane of most parties except the BJP and the Communists, but the most glaring abuse is seen in the Congress which provided the template for others to emulate. Incompetent novices reach the top echelons riding on their father’s or husband’s credentials. The author claims that Mandal deepened the process of Indianizing the Westminster model. This put the Communists on the back foot as they never understood the intricacies of caste. Their role was taken away by the erstwhile socialists when Congress hegemony eventually weakened. Among all the minor differences that separate different parties, Desai observes that all Indian parties are statist, suspicious of free markets, wary of close association with big business, generous with entitlements and not overly concerned with fiscal responsibility (p.91).
Economic wellbeing goes hand in hand with a thriving democracy. Here, India was at a disadvantage right from 1947. The early demise of Sardar Patel who could have acted as a counterweight to fashionable socialism gave a clear hand to Nehru and his cronies. Nehru’s fiscal policy was more of a sign of economic innocence than serious aspiration. His advisors were also equally clueless about the way forward. Nehru planned doubling of national income in ten years. This mandated a 7.2 per cent annual growth rate which was never achieved till Narasimha Rao dismantled the entire edifice of the License-Quota-Permit raj in 1991. The sad part of the debacle was that both Nehru and his daughter Indira who succeeded him had no plans to achieve that elusive growth. While Nehru set the foundations of building up an economy from scratch, Indira set about destroying that structure by adopting ultra-leftist policies such as nationalization of commercial banks and putting in place the machinery of corruption. As a result, national income sadly lagged behind. Between 1600 and 1850, per capita income in India had zero rate of growth. For the next hundred years it grew at 0.5 to 1 per cent per annum. Doubling of income was planned in the second Five Year Plan which was prepared by the statistician P C Mahalanobis. He copied the five- year plan framework of USSR instituted in 1928 which itself was inspired by Karl Marx’s treatises. The focus of the plan was on manufacturing capital goods which was a necessity of USSR in 1928 as it was the target of international sanctions at that time and so wanted to build all the machinery domestically. That was not at all the case with India which could have easily imported them in the 1950s. Such a skewed funding denied investment in the wage goods sector and employment opportunities dwindled.
Having established democracy as the single most important factor that stemmed the trend of disintegration of post-independent India, the author analyses its future prospects. India’s road to salvation and ensuring a decent life to its inhabitants hinges on continuing to maintain the high economic growth rate achieved since 1991. The lack of a national narrative of independent India is lamented in the book. Having published this book in 2017, Desai takes a critical look at the Demonetisation program initiated in 2016 as part of the government’s crusade against black money. This issue was highly politicized which it should not have been. Desai terms the move as a ‘bold and timely one’. It didn’t destroy the currency as alleged by custodians of vested interests, but simply asked the people to convert the currency into bank deposits. The only problem was the delay in getting enough supplies of the new currency on time. It showed the inadequacy of the bureaucracy rather than the failure of the government. Taken as a whole, this book is a fitting tribute to Indian democracy celebrating its seven decades of glorious existence.
The book is highly recommended.
July 29, 2022
As we enter the 75th anniversary of Indian Independence with growing philosophical conflicts on the definition of the ‘idea of India’ and what constitutes its civilizational thought, it was a good time reading this book. In his curatorial approach, Jawaharlal Nehru’s Discovery of India tried to define the idea of India based on its diversity and plurality. Along similar lines, Meghnad Desai had pointed out that there is nothing called as ‘idea of India’ but only ‘Ideas of India’. This book also has other essays on the economy, corruption, and social equality. Etc.
In his vehement opposition to declaring the colony independent, Winston Churchill was skeptical about the survival of the democratic nation-state as one unit, questioning the vast regional, religious, cultural, linguistic, and social differences. On the contrary, it was on these differences that Nehru tried to forge a nation-state by defining the Idea of India with his famous phrase ‘Unity in Diversity.’ In this book, the author argues that the survival of Indian democracy was because the Indians had 'Indianised' the democratic model with their unique identities. Even though we had emulated the Westminster model of democracy, it was this phenomenon that had kept the democratic spirit of Indians alive, enabling them to claim representations across multitudes of identities. The author writes,
“India’s experiment with democracy has been unique, not only due to the size of the electorate and the number of political parties but because it has tamed and Indianized it. The Westminster model of parliamentary democracy has been transformed into the Raisina model. Reforms to achieve social equality have taken place through the election process – vote banks rather than direct, unilateral executive action.”
For the skeptics of identity politics, it would be a hard fact to digest, but the author was right in claiming that two instances from history held the Union together:
1. Dividing the states across linguistic lines leading to the representation of regional voices
2. Mandalisation of politics resulting in the mobilization of backward classes
In terms of economy, the author notes that, unlike other South Asian and East Asian countries, India has very few large factories that employ more than 1000+ workers. For the first seventy years, India had missed out on the export opportunities in manufacturing with its pessimism on trade. With proper reforms in labor laws and liberalization of trade, India can take an outward-looking strategy to bring its youth into the workforce.
Seventy-five years later, there are still major reforms that need to be done on various fronts. They include a new land acquisition law, a single slab GST, liberalization of labor laws, amendment in schedule ten to strengthen anti-defection, social security for 65 years and above, enhancing the manufacturing sector by improving skilled labor force, women’s reservation in parliament and state legislatures, reforming the collegium system in judicial appointments, structural reforms in the educational sector by introducing comprehensive schooling (as in the UK) and cross-fertilization program to improve the efficiency of civil services through the temporary transfer of a public servant to the private sector and vice versa.
In his vehement opposition to declaring the colony independent, Winston Churchill was skeptical about the survival of the democratic nation-state as one unit, questioning the vast regional, religious, cultural, linguistic, and social differences. On the contrary, it was on these differences that Nehru tried to forge a nation-state by defining the Idea of India with his famous phrase ‘Unity in Diversity.’ In this book, the author argues that the survival of Indian democracy was because the Indians had 'Indianised' the democratic model with their unique identities. Even though we had emulated the Westminster model of democracy, it was this phenomenon that had kept the democratic spirit of Indians alive, enabling them to claim representations across multitudes of identities. The author writes,
“India’s experiment with democracy has been unique, not only due to the size of the electorate and the number of political parties but because it has tamed and Indianized it. The Westminster model of parliamentary democracy has been transformed into the Raisina model. Reforms to achieve social equality have taken place through the election process – vote banks rather than direct, unilateral executive action.”
For the skeptics of identity politics, it would be a hard fact to digest, but the author was right in claiming that two instances from history held the Union together:
1. Dividing the states across linguistic lines leading to the representation of regional voices
2. Mandalisation of politics resulting in the mobilization of backward classes
In terms of economy, the author notes that, unlike other South Asian and East Asian countries, India has very few large factories that employ more than 1000+ workers. For the first seventy years, India had missed out on the export opportunities in manufacturing with its pessimism on trade. With proper reforms in labor laws and liberalization of trade, India can take an outward-looking strategy to bring its youth into the workforce.
Seventy-five years later, there are still major reforms that need to be done on various fronts. They include a new land acquisition law, a single slab GST, liberalization of labor laws, amendment in schedule ten to strengthen anti-defection, social security for 65 years and above, enhancing the manufacturing sector by improving skilled labor force, women’s reservation in parliament and state legislatures, reforming the collegium system in judicial appointments, structural reforms in the educational sector by introducing comprehensive schooling (as in the UK) and cross-fertilization program to improve the efficiency of civil services through the temporary transfer of a public servant to the private sector and vice versa.
February 2, 2021
Barely a three for me. This is a Cliff notes version of India’s report card on its 70th year.
The author goes through an introductory tour of the various aspects of Indian democracy. The political economy, caste system and its geopolitical ambitions too. There is no distinct narrative within the book, its a smorgasbord of the progress and digressions India has made on various fronts.
Because of its short length, it fails to cover something as important as the Indian judiciary and legal system too. Other areas like Legislature, Law & Order are very briefly touched upon. There is quite a bit on India’s economy in its early years and the missteps we made in the Congress era. It briefly tackles the territorial conflicts we have with China and Pakistan.
To conclude, so-so book to get a surface level understanding of India at 70. Lacks depth because of its short length, would barely recommend or there are other books out there that cover the same issues with a lot more rigour.
The author goes through an introductory tour of the various aspects of Indian democracy. The political economy, caste system and its geopolitical ambitions too. There is no distinct narrative within the book, its a smorgasbord of the progress and digressions India has made on various fronts.
Because of its short length, it fails to cover something as important as the Indian judiciary and legal system too. Other areas like Legislature, Law & Order are very briefly touched upon. There is quite a bit on India’s economy in its early years and the missteps we made in the Congress era. It briefly tackles the territorial conflicts we have with China and Pakistan.
To conclude, so-so book to get a surface level understanding of India at 70. Lacks depth because of its short length, would barely recommend or there are other books out there that cover the same issues with a lot more rigour.
January 22, 2022
The book gives loads of information and opinion on the post independence era in india. However, the narrative is not too clear and the author has tried covering too many topics in one book. Sometimes, the opinions provided are not substantiated with valid evidence or arguments. The book can be read to get a brief summarry of what transpired in the past 70 years, but one has to look past the biases which creep in and lean slightly towards the right
November 2, 2020
Thus book is just like a report card of India after 70 years of Independence. It depicts the achievements and shortfalls of the nation in the perspective of different ruling governments.
Its a casual read and not anything to be dazzled about. Its just like a summary. But the language is simple and good enough.
Its a casual read and not anything to be dazzled about. Its just like a summary. But the language is simple and good enough.
September 6, 2025
The Raisina Model is an engaging read, and Desai raises many pertinent points particularly about post-independence India lacking politicians with Foreign Policy expertise and the failure to modernize agriculture.
I disagree with the segments of political history mentioned and the optimism about Trump seems premature in hindsight.
I disagree with the segments of political history mentioned and the optimism about Trump seems premature in hindsight.
March 22, 2020
Good one to understand india at 70s.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews