Sunil Khilnani, The Idea of India

Southeast Review of Asian Studies, Annual, 2005 by Tromila Wheat

Sunil Khilnani, Theldea of India. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1999. Isbn: 0-374-52591-9. Paper $14.00

Sunil Khilnani's The Idea of India purports to offer a snapshot of India and illustrate what makes India a successful nation-state today. Through the analysis of four aspects of Indian society, Khilnani presents a complex picture of India's rich history since independence. Each of these features gives the reader a more complete picture of India itself. Though one should never presume to have gained complete knowledge of a place or a culture from reading a single book, The Idea of India does provide a brief survey of an incredibly diverse country that has defied many odds in order to become the rising nation state that it is today.

The new introduction by the author brings the subject precisely into focus for the reader. Since India gained its independence in 1947, it has struggled to remain a free, independent and viable nation, and Khilnani believes this struggle is most obvious in Indian efforts in politics and economics. Discussing the rich cultural diversity of India, Khilnani demonstrates many of the difficulties in maintaining a successful democracy in such a varied land, yet he says that this very diversity is what holds the country together. One of the starkest barriers to India's democratic success is the subject of the second half of Khilnani's introduction on the nation's economy. India has managed to survive as a democracy even though a majority of its people live in poverty with little, if any, immediate hope of overcoming it. However, despite its economic strife and possibly because of its political diversity, India has managed to endure as a democracy to this day, and Khilnani chooses to begin with this point in order to introduce some general ideas.

Khilnani goes to great lengths to demonstrate that India was not born as a democratic nation. Indeed, he details that, politically, India had no democratic history until independence in 1947 due to the autocratic nature of British rule. India's struggle for nationhood was further hampered by the fact that it had never fully been united as an entire subcontinent under British rule. Therefore, modern India's founding fathers had to establish the rules of living together as a political and economic unit. Nehru was one of the most influential figures in this process, as he was a strong proponent of the idea of collective liberty, where the individual did not necessarily hold the West's values so highly but held the idea that the nation-state of India has the right to rule itself. This idea of collective liberty helped to solve the problem of social inequality because under collective identity there could be the "one man, one vote, one value" policy so that everyone was politically equal without having to alter the social structure. However, especially after the election of Indira Gandhi in 1965, this emphasis on voting caused the democracy of India to focus almost completely on elections so that little was done between them, except by the politicians. This factor led to the development of open elections, but did not bring about a strong civil society that would have strengthened India as a whole.

In the following chapter Khilnani illustrates that the economic viability of India depends very much on the strength of its democracy. Democratic strengths like a free, independent press and an open opposition in Parliament and in elections have allowed the country to remain free from economic catastrophes such as widespread famine, and regular elections ensure that politicians do not enact any substantial inflationary policies. The economy of India is itself divided, and it is difficult to determine an economic policy for the whole state because there are so many regional areas that want their own control. However, one of the most important characteristics inherited from the British Empire was the small state budget, and India has managed to continue in that vein. With more efficient management, the Indian economy has the potential to grow quickly.

Although it is clear through the first chapters that the political climate and the economy are important in defining India, Khilnani grasps and conveys the idea that India is much more than just a political and economic system. He describes the impact that Indian cities have had on Indian society, beginning with the idea that Indian cities were not a creation of the British Empire, but their present state has been greatly influenced by it. Cities existed in India before the British came although many of these cities were built for very specific purposes like holidays, holy shrines, and pilgrimages. Yet there were cities like Ahmedabad that were completely Indian-built cultural and economic centers that flourished even after the British artificially built their port factory facilities. These cities were often microcosms of Indian culture as each city was divided by caste, and the people strictly adhered to the social structure. However, it would be unreasonable to believe that the British left existing Indian cities wholly unchanged. The British saw the filth that dominated Indian cities and used their efficient infrastructure to build drainage and sewer systems. Nehru then moved the cities further into the modern era with architects like Le Corbusier, setting the stage for cities like Bangalore to become one of the centers with the greatest international investment rates and Bombay to become the city of modern Indian culture. Khilnani shows that even though the cities have changed over the years, they still retain the distinct individuality of Indian cities and demonstrate much of idea of India.