How and Why Liberal and Representative Politics Emerged in India

How did liberal, representative politics take root in India during the first phase after independence? An adequate explanation must consider certain aspects of Hindu culture and Indian social structure, the distinctive character of British rule and the formidable Indian response to it. It must also assess the role of formal political institutions, which the British had created and the Indians adapted, and relations between Indian nationalists and key indigenous elites both before and after independence. Most important was the landowning elite that dominated the socioeconomic order in rural areas, where most Indians lived. Central to this story was the organization or ‘machine’ of the Indian National Congress, which integrated the two main sources of order in India – the institutions of state and the agrarian socioeconomic order – as well as the various regions and levels within the political system.