Universalisation of primary-secondary education would establish the rule of reason over emotion and empower citizens of the world’s most populous democracy to appreciate the profound logic of the Gandhian prescription of religious harmony, caste and gender equality and development of self-respect in all Indians, to reap the country’s much-awaited demographic dividend – Dilip Thakore With the Election Commission having announced the dates for General Election 2019 — polling will begin in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, J&K, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Bihar on April 11 and end in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Punjab on May 19 with final results scheduled to be declared on May 23 — the bell has clanged for the final lap of a crucial election likely to re-orient the future trajectory of the world’s most populous democracy. If the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which won a landslide victory in General Election 2014 with an absolute majority in the Lok Sabha in its own right, is returned to power in New Delhi, the hitherto secular, liberal character of post-independence India is certain to experience a makeover. “This is going to be a make-or-break election. It will either make the idea of India viable, or it will break it completely. The ruling dispensation knows that if they don’t win this time, they won’t win for a long time. And if they win, they’ll make sure they don’t lose again. Get ready for the bitterest, most cold-blooded election in the history of our democracy,” writes veteran journalist T.J.S. George in the New Indian Sunday Express (March 17). Founder-editor of the Hong Kong-based Asiaweek and currently editorial advisor of the Chennai-based New Indian Express, in his long career (65 years), George has monitored every general election since India under the inspirational leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, wrested political independence from British rule in 1947. George’s apprehension about the outcome of the looming election is not alarmist rhetoric. During its two full terms (1999-2004 and 2014-19) in office at the Centre, the BJP has established beyond reasonable doubt that its goal is to transform 21st century India into a Hindu majoritarian democracy. While the pros and cons of realising this objective are being debated — it’s pertinent to bear in mind that 80 percent of India’s population is Hindu — attempted realisation of the BJP’s mission to transform India into an Israel-style democracy with an official religion, represents a radical U-turn from the secular consensus of post-independence India shaped by the Congress party which governed at the Centre and in most state capitals for over half a century since 1947. The secular governance guidelines delineated by Mahatma Gandhi, who transformed the elitist Congress into a mass-based political party which completely bamboozled the British Raj and forced its exit from the subcontinent, are brilliantly presented by contemporary historian Ramachandra Guha in his latest monumental oeuvre Gandhi: The Years that Changed the World (Penguin, 2018). “To deliver India from British rule was by no means Gandhi’s only preoccupation.…
