TheDaak review

Politics of Representation: Historically Disadvantaged Groups in India’s Democracy. Edited by Sudha Pai & Sukhadeo Thorat, Palgrave Macmillan; 1^st edition, 2022 XIV + 288 pp. Hardcover ₹ 11,733.

By Mohammad Wali Akhtar

Recent trends in Indian politics have witnessed a renewed interest in the question of political representation. Partly, it emerges from theoretical works that significantly expand the concept of representation by introducing key theoretical propositions. In Politics of Representation: Historically Disadvantaged Groups in India’s Democracy, editors Sudha Pai and Sukhadeo Thorat bring together the contributors to explore the issue of representation in Indian democracy. The essays in this recently published book provide vivid historical and empirical examples of representation in parliament and state legislatures. This is a thought-provoking and analytically helpful collection that challenges established assumptions and suggests fruitful paths for further research. 

Since India’s independence, there has been an ongoing debate regarding representation in Indian democracy. The issue of representation for various groups has been debated in the constituent assembly since the foundational moments, which include the choice of electoral method to ensure proper representation. The need for representation of historically marginalized groups, such as the SCs and STs, Muslims, and women, has been one of the concerns of our day and has been consistently discussed and argued throughout this country’s democratic path. This edited work is an attempt to address the question of representation in contemporary Indian politics in a few carefully chosen chapters. It covers historically disadvantaged groups as well as groups that are left behind in the nation’s post-colonial politics.

The contributors to the volume further developed the question of representation and illustrated it by providing vivid historical and empirical examples. Through figures and tables, the authors illustrate how the representatives of marginalized communities raise questions and affect policy framing. These range from the percentage of elected members in the legislature from these marginalized groups to a role analysis of their MPs, etc. While arguing on Muslim representation, Prof. Zoya Hasan utilizes Christophe Jaffrelot’s statement that the importance of “‘your people’ representing your interests in elected bodies is that if they do not, there will be fewer people in defense of minorities” (p.154).

Among the above-mentioned groups, the author argues that the SCs and STs have comparatively improved because of their descriptive representation. It is a questionable fact whether descriptive representation provides them with real representation. It would not have been possible without the efforts of Ambedkar, who, in order to secure representation for his community, flipped the idea of a minority on its head and said, “Social discrimination is the real test of defining a group as a minority, not separation in religion, which constitutes the only test of a minority, as it is neither a good nor an efficient test” (p.82).

This volume is organized around three overarching themes: the SCs and STs, Muslims, and women. Through these themes, the central aspects of contemporary political marginalization such as representation in legislatures, group politics, and the empowerment of these groups are explored and discussed.

In the first part of the book, the authors explore representation in the electoral system by focusing on historically marginalized groups, i.e., the SCs and STs. The essays on the SCs reflected on the role played by electoral reservation, which the Schedule Castes were able to secure because of the constant effort of Ambedkar, the changes within society because of education, and the rise of the middle class, which led to the emergence of Dalit identity. On the other hand, the STs are unable to develop political consciousness, leadership, or influence in policymaking because of their reservations. The tribal parties have been sandwiched between the politics of the Congress and the BJP and remain limited to their region. It is still debatable whether the descriptive representation in the lawmaking body or other institutions provides them with real representation and a share in power and policymaking.

The second part of the book discusses the issue of Muslim representation, which has been one of the most troubled issues because of the horrors of partition and the lack of a leader who can put forth their demands. Political safeguards for religious minorities did not receive a principled defense from nationalist opinion, and constitution-makers did not attempt alternative legitimacy for their protection (Bajpai, 2000). Leaders like Nehru and Patel were against communal reservation. The author argues that the crisis of representation was first felt after the 1980s with the decline of Congress and the demolition of the Babri Masjid, and later reports of the Sachar Committee brought the issue of reservation to the center of Muslim politics. The ‘Ranganath Mishra Commission’ shifted India’s discourse on equal opportunity away from national integration towards justice and equality, recognizing religion as a category of social exclusion, ensuring proportionality, and monitoring social diversity (Kim, 2019). Eventually, with the coming back of the BJP in 2014, representation has fallen very sharply in state assemblies and in parliament, so unlike the SCs and STs, the author argues that the Muslim community has witnessed a decline in representation, which can also make them second-class citizens with little representation. 

Finally, the book’s last section tackles the issue of women from various perspectives. Shefali Jha first philosophically traces the gender question and representation in modern democracies, where large groups can experience exclusion even though they participate in the system. A prime example of what the author highlights is the issue of the Women’s Reservation Bill, which has still not passed. The author argues that women’s symbolic representation would perhaps turn into a form of substantive representation. However, the main thrust of Shirin Rai’s chapter is that the larger subject of empowerment cannot be addressed unless women’s groups in India truly address the issue of class and caste-based disparities. It is still unclear if representation always equals recognition, and since party ideology takes precedence over gender solidarity, it is critical that women’s representatives hold themselves accountable for advancing women’s issues. 

Although the ideas and arguments in the book have been explored before by scholars, they are perhaps more acute today with the rise of Hindu majoritarian politics than in the initial years of post-independence politics. The contribution of this volume is distinctive in that it brings these dispersed studies together and gives them a new shape by highlighting the distinctions and similarities of these underrepresented groups’ experiences. Prof. Vidhu Verma argues that “Though support for reservation for SCs, STs, and even OBCs is present for different kinds of reasons, the same kind of support is not widely accepted for religious minorities” (p. 51). This may, of course, change at some point in the future, but for the time being, contemporary politics reflects the ramifications of the path undertaken in the earlier decades, with minorities and women still struggling after many decades to obtain representation. 

This book draws our attention to the fact that ensuring proper representation for the above-mentioned groups in society today is still a major challenge. This representation challenge is further exacerbated by the advent of an authoritarian nationalist government that is unwilling to share power with marginalized communities. According to data presented throughout the book, Muslim representation has reached a record low since the BJP won an absolute majority in 2014, making them the most susceptible of the groups the book discusses. In the context of contemporary India, Mamdani’s words are becoming more and more relevant. In Neither Settler nor Native, he argues that in democracy, majorities and minorities are formed through political processes. However, in a nation-state, it can only be real for the national majority (Mamdani, 2020).

The book left a few questions unexplored, like the evolution of the idea of minority, thereby creating a path for further research. The collection of chapters in this volume is well organized around a certain theme, and it can significantly advance the research in this field. The many viewpoints of the writers, informed by their specialized fields, combine to provide an integrated impact that challenges the way the entire field thinks, inspiring researchers to consider their research and the field’s future in novel ways. Anybody interested in representation and politics, gender, reservations, communalism, or empowerment should read the Politics of Representation. 

References 

Bajpai, R. (2000). Constituent Assembly debates and minority rights. Economic and Political Weekly, 1837-1845.

Kim, H. (2019). The Struggle for Equality: India’s Muslims and Rethinking the UPA Experience. Cambridge University Press.

Mamdani, M. (2020). Neither Settler nor Native, Harvard University Press.

Tawa Lama-Rewal, S. (2016). Political representation in India: Enlarging the perspective. India Review, 15(2), 163-171.