A Coalition Government Will Give Voice to the Ignored Minority
After a marathon election, the resilience of Indian democracy has once again shone through, leaving us reassured and confident. Whichever party forms the government and whoever becomes the prime minister, this term will see a coalition government. The idea of coalition governments is often dismissed as inherently unstable. But it is this fragility that gives strength to democracy in India. No one party should believe it can singularly represent the myriad aspirations of India’s billion-strong populace. No single leader should be elevated to the level of an avatar in a democracy. A democratic state ceases to be democratic when there is no opposition, either as elected representatives in Parliament or as a voice in the media.
Coalition ensures that diverse interests and regions are represented and policies are not bulldozed through with the brute force of a majority. A government or a leader with unbridled power can undermine the democratic institutions it is meant to uphold. A brutal majority silences minority voices, just as relentless floods silence the gentle bubbling of streams and tributaries. If by the word minority, you are thinking about only the religious minority in general and one religion in particular, please stop and reflect on how much the relentless propaganda has influenced your thinking. All of us are minorities in one sense or another.
There are linguistic minorities, caste minorities, ethnic minorities, minorities by profession, economic minorities and so on. India is a volcanic kaleidoscope of minorities. Each of these minorities has its own voice, its needs and aspirations which cannot be ignored or brushed aside under the brute rug of majority rule. Thus, no single party can claim to understand and address these diverse issues with equal empathy and efficacy.

The delimitation of constituencies looms ahead in 2027, which has the potential to rip apart India. If implemented as envisaged by the previous regime, it would have punished the states that had achieved better social progress and family planning and rewarded the states with more parliamentary seats with even more power and seats. This would skew the representation and upset the delicate balance of power among the states.
An effort to impose a monolithic ideology could lead to violent discord and social disharmony and possibly open up old wounds that have taken years to heal. Remember the torrid past when attempts to force Hindi on non-Hindi speaking states resulted in violence and protests? A coalition government has diminished the possibility of this dangerous exercise.
The new government must tread carefully. It must approach the delicate task of delimitation with great sensitivity, keeping in mind India’s rich diversity. It should view this opportunity not as a tool to consolidate power but as an instrument for equitable representation. Being answerable not just to their core voter bases but also to the coalition partners will ensure that no party can act unilaterally without considering the broader consequences of their action. A coalition government is best suited for such sensitive exercise.
Coalition governments are more susceptible to instability and disagreement, but this uncertainty is the beating heart of democracy. It is the guarantee against autocracy, dictatorial rule and attempts to centralise power in one person or a single group.
There will be some delay in policies, which may not be a bad thing. In the last Parliament, many of the crucial laws and acts were passed even without a debate. A group of devoted media, which the detractors called the lapdog media, served as court jesters composing eulogies instead of doing their democratic or journalistic duties.
With a coalition in charge, the Parliament may finally see meaningful debates once more. Economically, we can only hope that our exceptional growth will continue. It may be wishful thinking, but this time we should prioritise including the majority of common people who have been left behind in our pursuit to become the world’s third-largest economy by GDP. The coalition government should focus on improving per-capita income, literacy rates, and other social indicators rather than solely measuring success by the number of Indian businessmen in the ranks of the world’s wealthiest.
One thing is clear by the results of this election. The people realised the danger of one party, leader, language, religion, election, and such centralising concepts. The common people watched as a few businessmen became richer by the second, while most of them subsisted on free ration that was doled out to them, hoping to get their votes. They voted wisely and ensured that the current regime, which did many remarkable things like infrastructure development, didn’t change completely but got the message of the people loud and clear.
A message that the fourth estate of democracy, the media, forgot in its enthusiasm to cook up exciting and fictitious exit poll results that only served the stock market punters. Or maybe the whole idea was to help the punters. My sympathies are with those who got taken for a ride by such imaginative exit poll results, gambled in the stock markets and lost their shirts.
The real electoral results are more of a warning than a punishment to the previous regime from the wise common man and women of India. We prefer you over your opponents, but don’t take us for granted; that’s the loud and clear message. Welcome back to the coalition era. Viva democracy, Viva India.
Anand Neelakantan
Author of Asura, Ajaya series, Vanara and Bahubali trilogy
mail@asura.co.in