Dear Prime Minister, a majority does not own the national interest

It is my birthday today, and I am sure you will remember me and perhaps even post a message acknowledging my contribution during the years I occupied the office that you now hold. I appreciate such gestures, although as you can imagine, I remain more interested in what governments do with the ideas of their predecessors than in what they say about them on ceremonial occasions.

You may find it irksome that I should write to you again. After all, I appear to occupy a curious place in your political imagination. More than six decades after my departure from office, I am summoned into your speeches with a regularity even my most devoted contemporaries might have considered excessive. I have never been uncomfortable with criticism; democracy would be poorer without it. My only concern is that our preoccupation with the quarrels of history should not become an escape from the more demanding obligations of the present.

You are well aware of the circumstances in which we got Independence. Partition wrecked countless dreams. We did not possess the reassurance of readymade answers. Despite our limitations, we endeavoured to build a republic where the wounds of yesterday would not imprison the possibilities of tomorrow. I have no desire to justify every decision we made. History must remain open to scrutiny.

Bapu’s leadership taught us that peaceful resistance, sustained by moral courage and collective determination, could challenge an empire equipped with instruments of coercion. We also knew well that if colonial habits continued in Indian self-government, independence would have little meaning. For this reason, the freedom of every citizen to question authority is foundational in our Constitution. I am deeply disturbed by the treatment of peaceful protesters, especially young people and women, and by the shrinking of spaces where citizens may assemble to express grievances. A government confident of its democratic legitimacy should listen attentively to them. If you do so, you may discover that a few uncomfortable conversations reveal more about the condition of the country than several carefully choreographed public meetings.

You frequently invoke our ancient civilisation. I welcome that interest, although I suspect we might disagree about what constitutes its most remarkable achievement. For me, India’s greatness emerged through the extraordinary capacity of different traditions, languages, faiths and ways of life to influence one another. I find it deeply unsettling when patriotism is measured through religious identity or minorities are made to feel that their belonging depends on the majority’s goodwill.

I would also like to convey something about Parliament and the Opposition. I sometimes wonder whether parliamentary democracy is being reimagined as a contest between those who supposedly embody the nation and those who are accused of obstructing it. That would be an unfortunate misunderstanding of our constitutional arrangement. During my years in office, I encountered critics whose arguments were often uncomfortable. Hiren Mukherjee, among others, could be particularly formidable. A majority gives you the right to govern, but it does not confer exclusive ownership of the national interest. Opposition members enter Parliament with democratic mandates. When debate is curtailed, Parliament risks losing the very quality that distinguishes it from an executive gathering.

Political power has a peculiar ability to persuade its occupants that electoral victory establishes the correctness of their every judgment. I was not immune to this temptation, and neither, I suspect, is any PM. That is why constitutional restraints and independent voices matter. When we spoke of India’s tryst with destiny, we imagined a journey in which every generation would enlarge the freedoms inherited from its predecessors.

You may disagree with my policies and criticise my understanding of India. I will defend your right to do so, but I hope you will also defend the right of ordinary Indians to disagree with you.

With good wishes for you and our beloved Republic, Jawaharlal Nehru