8/13/2019 Write Gurcharan Das

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Sessionon

"IndiaGrowsatNight"ALiberalCaseforaStrongState

with

AuthorGurcharanDasFebruary2

nd,2013

International

Management

Institute,

Alipore,

Kolkata

DrRudrangshuMukherjee,OpinionsEditorTheTelegraph(Left),MrGurcharanDas,notedAuthor

(Center)andMrMohitKampani,ChiefExecutiveSpencersRetail(Right).

Aspen Institute India and the RPSanjiv Goenka Group hosted the celebrated author and political

commentatorGurcharanDasattheKolkatalaunchofhislatestbook,IndiaGrowsatNight.Organisedat

theInternationalManagementInstitute(IMI),inAlipore,Kolkata,on2February2013,thebooklaunch

was followed by the author in conversation with Dr Rudrangshu Mukherjee, noted historian and

OpinionsEditorofTheTelegraph,andMohitKampani,CEOSpencersRetail.

TheIMI

auditorium,

packed

to

almost

full

capacity,

had

an

eclectic

mix

of

people

who

attended

the

event.ThestimulatingpaneldiscussionbecamethehighlightoftheSaturdayeveningwithtwoofIndias

foremostpoliticalthinkerssharingtheirinsights.MukherjeeposedaseriesofincisivequestionstoDas

whofieldedthemwithpersuasiveeloquence.

ThebasicargumentofIndiaGrowsatNightisthatIndiahasrisenfrombelow.AccordingtoDas,oursisa

bottomupsuccess,unlikeChina,whichisatopdownsuccess.ThismeansthatthepeopleofIndiahave

sofartakentheonusofdrivinggrowth,whilethestatemachineryandthegovernmenthasfailedtoact.

Daspostulatesthat it is imperativethat Indiaalsogrowduringtheday,whichwouldentailreforming

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theinstitutionsofthestate,sothattheycontributemuchmoretothegrowthofthecountry.Hefinds

thestoryofprivatesuccessandpublicfailureinIndiaunsustainableinthelongrun.

Admittinghisuneasewiththisbasicpremise

at the outset of the panel discussion,

RudrangshuMukherjeeaskedDastoexplain

how a selfconfessed liberal like him was

advocating the case for a strong state. To

this,Dasspokeaboutwhathemeantbythe

notionofastrongstate.Drawingacontrast

with the totalitarian regimesofMao,Stalin

andHitler,he referred to the18th century

thinkersintheUS,whohadfirstarticulated

the idea of a strong, yet liberal and

democratic state. Such a state needed to

have three key qualities: Decisive and

determined in its action, governed by the

ruleof lawandaccountable to thepeople.

Dr Mukherjee then went on to question

whetherDas

argument

that

the

Indian

state

being

weak

was

based

on

the

current

context

(where

the

PrimeMinister is perceived as weak and governance isweighed down by the demands of coalition

politics),orwhetheritreferstoamoresystemiccondition.GurcharanDasassertedthathisreadingwas

basedonboththeseconsiderations.Hearguedthatthegrowingpowerofstatebasedpartiesandtheir

leaders was similar to the political situation in medieval India that was characterised by competing

kingdoms. He went on to add that India was witnessing a failure of governance because regional

politicalgroupswerebusyaddressingthegrievancesofspecificcommunities.Intheprocesstherehave

beenscantattemptstoreformpublic institutions, likethepolice,thejudiciary,thebureaucracyorthe

economy,whichaffectallcommunitiesofpeople.

GurcharanDasdrewattentiontotherecentoutcrysurroundingtheLokpalBillortheDelhigangrapeas

symbolicof

the

rise

of

anew

middle

class

that

was

eager

to

reform

these

public

institutions

rather

than

seepoliticianspanderingtonarrowsectarianinterests.Itisthismiddleclass,hestated,thathasalways

changedthecourseofhistory. In India,thisclass istodayactingforthecauseofgoodgovernance,he

pointedout.Theauthorpinnedhishopesonthisgroupandsaidthatanewpoliticalentitywillemerge

fromitsrankstogiveIndiaaliberalyetstrongstate.

GurcharanDasinconversationwithRudrangshuMukherjee Glimpseoftheaudienceattheevent

KolkataLaunchofIndiaGrowsatNight

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He concluded the sessionwith the discussion of Tyranny of Majority. The phrase "tyranny of the

majority"wasusedbyJohnAdamsin1788.]Thephrasegainedprominenceafteritsappearancein1835

in Democracy in America, byAlexis de Tocqueville, where it is the title of a section. It was further

popularizedby JohnStuartMill,whocitesdeTocqueville, inOnLiberty (1859).TheFederalistPapers

refer to thebroadconcept,as inFederalist10, firstpublished in1787,whichspeaksof"thesuperior

forceofaninterestedandoverbearingmajoritywhereeitherperformorperishbeingtheattitude.The panel discussion was followed by a Q&A

where members of the audience had an

opportunity to interact with Das, probing him

withadditionalquestionsandobservations.

February2nd,2013Kolkata

BookingsigningbyGurcharanDasWatchthesessionhere:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=429UwaZ6HVM&list=UUIvdd1ncT8Z9OtE6gEXc8HQ&index=2