Lok Sabha 2024: The return of the argumentative Indian

In ancient Athens, the clepsydra – a water clock used for timekeeping – was the chief protagonist in debate and democracy. In courthouses, it ensured that speakers and debaters selected at random from among the citizenry were granted equal time to deliberate and debate matters of policy.

In India, the clepsydra of deliberation has often favored the electoral winner: the ruling party. The last decade has seen Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party elbowing out from the deliberation table members of civil society, the Opposition and also India’s citizens.

The ruling coalition in Modi’s third term is indeed posturing strength – status quo in the cabinet, the re-election of the Lok Sabha speaker and an attempt to silence dissenting voices. However, with the new power-balance of the parliament, the administration’s attempt to steamroll criticism will not be quite so easy. There has already been an unprecedented election for the position of the speaker and pushback to the microphones of Opposition politicians in Parliament mysteriously going silent. The scales are being reset.

Deliberation is not merely a moral obligation but a political imperative. Besides allowing the pushes and pulls of diverse opinions that lead to collective wisdom being evolved, deliberation is critical in enhancing legitimacy and improving quality of...

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