The recent incident near Delhi
where a Muslim man was lynched to death on suspicion of eating and storing beef
has once again underlined the lack of liberal values in our country. It is
likely that the mob that carried this vigilante action was confident of
escaping punishment for its actions. After all, perpetrators of many communal
riots have not been punished till date in the country.
Such facts stand in sharp contrast
to the fact that India is among a handful of developing countries that has
maintained its track record of having free and fair elections since
Independence. There can be one possible answer and it’s between two kinds of
democracies. Electoral democracies can guarantee the first two sets of rights,
but only a liberal democracy would ensure that civil rights are honored as
well.
Chances of emergence of a liberal
democracy in a country depend on the nature of dominant cleavages in the social
mobilization that ushered in democracy whether it was class based or identity
based. While the majority would like to transition to electoral democracy as it
gives them control over policies such as taxation and provision of public
goods, it might not always be interested in liberalism. This is because the
majority stands to increase its gain by denying civil rights to the minority
once it has captured political power through universal suffrage in an electoral
democracy.
The reason why countries of Western
Europe have liberal democracies is because liberalism, a product of events such
as Protestant reformation and resultant acceptance of ideas of tolerance and
equality despite religion, preceded a democratic transition. In contrast to
this, democratic transition in most developing countries was achieved after an
anti-colonial struggle in which identity rather than class occupied center stage.
Liberalism must have political legs in addition to normative appeal.
