The Struggle for India’s Soul: Nationalism and the fate of democracy, by Shashi Tharoor

Author: Shashi Tharoor. Review by Reg Naulty

This book was precipitated by Narendra Modi’s second term as prime minister of India. The country is becoming more autocratic, like Hungary and Turkey. The title suggests that something mystical, or at least spiritual, is in danger of being lost, but that is not what Shashi Tharoor is arguing for. Instead he claims that India’s democratic pluralism is in danger, and that is where its soul is.

India’s constitution was written by Jawaharlal Nehru and others who put together what is essentially a legal document. ‘The others’, like Nehru, were westernised intellectuals. Indeed, Nehru’s upbringing was so western that it was only in adulthood that he discovered India; he wrote The Discovery Of India to mark the occasion.

According to Tharoor, Modi dislikes Nehru’s legacy. Modi is a Hindu nationalist who wants Hinduism put into the country’s foundations – i.e. the constitution. Our author is strongly opposed to this. Tharoor is also the author of Why I Am A Hindu, but India’s constitution is secular and he wants to keep it that way.

What does ‘secular’ mean in the constitution? Tharoor contends that it does not imply any opposition to religion. It left people to adopt any religion they choose. But, crucially, it does not give priority to any religion. That is where Modi and Tharoor differ. Modi would give prominence to Hinduism. India would then become a nation like Pakistan, which gives a special place to Islam.

What alarms Tharoor, who sits on opposition benches in the national parliament, is that Modi almost has the majority he needs to change the constitution. He just needs his party to win in a few more states. Hence this book. And Tharoor does need to get the word out. Although his party was crushed in the last election, there was a less than fifty per cent voter turnout.

There is no doubt about the group of heads of state to which Modi belongs: he has a deep suspicion of expertise and there is a minority he demonises: Muslims. He embraced Vladimir Putin on his recent visit to India, and had India abstain from voting in the UN when it condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Modi aspires to top-down control, with himself on top.

The idea of one-person rule in India is absurd. It has a population of over a billion and is exceedingly diverse. It recognises twenty-three languages (rupee notes proclaim their value in fifteen of them), and there are thirty-five which are spoken by more than a million people. India cries out for a decentralised form of government.

Modi would consider this book modern but deracinated and superficial, in contrast to genuine Indians who are timeless and authentic. Maybe so, but it contains much wisdom. It would be a tragedy for the world if its largest democracy became an autocracy.

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