One of the many gratifying elements of the endless summer of protest that has overtaken our nation — aside from the galvanising of the young, the mobilisation of an increasingly united Opposition, and a palpable sense of discontent with “politics as usual” — has been the fact that popular agitation has transcended particularism. The public across the country has been standing up and speaking out for issues that affect every Indian citizen, irrespective of their other identities. This year’s protests have not been about minorities, specific castes, or particular occupational groups. They have been about everybody.

This pleases me no end, because it is the kind of politics I believe in and have sought to practice in my nearly two decades in the profession, in the face of the overwhelming onslaught of the other variety. Every successful political dispensation requires a compelling answer to a fundamental question: “Who are we, and what do we owe one another as members of the same republic?” In India it has too often been about “Who are we, and what can we get for ourselves from the others in our fractured polity?”

In most democracies, enduring political majorities are built by articulating a broad civic identity, one that transcends local divisions, fosters national solidarity, and promises developmental progress for the body politic. In India, however, politics and parties have largely been about patching together identity alliances: From Brahmins Muslims Harijans in the classic 1950s Congress formulation, to “PDA” (the Samajwadi coalition of “Pichde, Dalit, Alpsankhyak” or OBCs, Dalits and minorities) today. While the BJP has pursued an unabashed majoritarian agenda, dressed up in the language of civilisational glory, economic growth and nationalist pride, the Opposition, rather than constructing a........

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