Resetting the Republic

Legatees of political forces Indira Gandhi locked up during Emergency are now redefining some of India's foundational principles. They can be challenged, just as she was in the 1970s

It would be delusional to argue that January 22 won’t henceforth be among the most important dates in our national calendar. Invention of a big new festival for the world’s oldest religion is quite an achievement for Narendra Modi. Some political questions that follow, however, deserve a debate.

Will January 22 mark a point of no return for our constitutional secularism? Is a counter to the ideological proposition now carved in the Ayodhya rock by the Modi-Shah Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) possible? Do Modi’s challengers have a future?

If the answer to all of these is one of resignation, then