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Tuesday, January 07, 2025 | 11:29 AM ISTEN Hindi

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The price of majoritarianism

What do I mean by the word majoritarian? I mean the attitude that the religious majority is entitled to a certain degree of primacy

first Republic Day parade
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The first Republic Day parade in 1950. Our constitution is absolutely unique in South Asia because it gives no special position to Hinduism or Hindus

Aakar Patel
I like Republic Day more than Independence Day. We would have received independence from the United Kingdom in any case around that period. They were a nation badly affected by World War II (Indians may not be aware of how terrible a time the 1950s was for the British middle class). And the British were under pressure from America to decolonise. Independence would have come any way. It is the building of a republic that is important. And here we did brilliantly, while all around us in South Asia nations succumbed to parochialism and majoritarianism.
 
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