5 min readOct 15, 2026 05:22 PM IST First published on: Oct 15, 2026 at 05:22 PM ISTThe election cycle beginning next year is upon us. In 2027, seven states will elect new governments. These elections will shape the political landscape ahead of the 2029 Lok Sabha elections and, more importantly, test the purpose and processes of Indian democracy at a time when the fairness and integrity of the electoral system are under scrutiny.The deafening noise of inanities and abuse, the breakdown of consensus on the fundamentals of a federal polity, the encroachments of the limits of constitutional power, and the moral impoverishment of public life compel a considered reflection on the state of the nation and its politics. This must begin with a reminder that the ultimate purpose of the popular vote is not majority rule alone. It is to secure a government committed to the advancement of human dignity anchored in fundamental freedoms. It is necessary, therefore, to ask why, despite India’s material and technological progress, the constitutional promise of a just society founded on fraternity and empathy remains as distant as ever.AdvertisementAlso Read | Jantar Mantar: Why the powers that be want to move protest sites out of sightWe must first ask whether a true democracy can be nourished when political loyalties are secured through freebies that often exploit the vulnerabilities of the marginalised. The unwholesome living conditions of a vast majority of Indians cannot be the good life envisioned by our founders and the philosophers of the welfare state. Sahir Ludhianvi’s verse, written barely a decade after Independence, retains an unsettling resonance: “Har ik jism ghayal, har ek rooh pyasi/ Nigahon mein uljhan, dilon mein udasi/ Yeh duniya hai ya alam-e-badhawasi/ Yeh duniya agar mil bhijaye to kya hai.” (Every body is wounded, each soul is thirsty; eyes are clouded with turmoil and hearts steeped in sadness. Is this the world we aspire to, or merely a realm of despair?). We also know that a government that plays “fast and loose” with civilisational values forfeits the trust of its people. Illustratively, the government’s approach towards the Rohingyas seeking refuge in our country negates our proclaimed civilisational philosophy of vasudhaiva kutumbakam.We must continue to ask whether our political leaders are thinking, speaking and acting with sufficient seriousness to confront the strains that have impeded the nation’s march towards a dignitarian society.Hard as it may sound, we have acquiesced in political intolerance and the suffocating fear of power. We have allowed art and literature to be subjected to “a blindfold morality of obedience” and lost the capacity for moral indignation in the face of grave injustices. The unending ostracism of political opponents and the “vanity and villainy of power” sit uneasily with democratic principles. While the ruling party is entitled to govern within the constitutional framework, it must recognise that constitutional power is delegitimised by its arbitrary use. Ruling dispensations must know that democracy is vindicated in the moral assertion of the people against injustice and that suppression of popular movements feeds the democratic spirit.Also Read | Shashi Tharoor: When citizens march to defend the vote, democracy speaksThe Opposition can claim the nation’s moral imagination only through intellectual integrity and political consistency. The espousal of grand causes, followed by a willingness to make sacrifices and difficult choices, will alone enable political leaders active at Jantar Mantar and elsewhere to inscribe themselves in history as agents of progressive change.AdvertisementThe nation can, and should, take pride in the trajectory of its progress. Yet we must pause in the wake of Mahatma Gandhi’s 157th birth anniversary to reflect on the correctives necessary to make India a model democracy at a time when democracies across the world are in retreat. Renewing democracy requires the humanising of politics and the civilising of power. It requires that we read into our political conduct an irrevocable moral code that places dignity, fraternity, freedom and justice above the transient demands and triumphalism of electoral politics.you may likeIn a homage to the Father of the Nation, one may recall the inspirational words of the American suffragist Carrie Chapman Catt: “To the wrongs that need resistance/ To the rights that need assistance/ To the future in the distance, Give yourselves.” The call to resist wrong, assist the vulnerable and dedicate oneself to the future may well provide the moral compass that Indian democracy needs as it enters its next electoral cycle.The writer is a senior advocate and former Union minister for law and justice. Views are personal