This democracy is threatened by the fact that it does not have enough elitism. By elitism I do not mean inherited privilege structured along class or class lines. By elitism I simply mean a confidence to speak for your own thoughts without second guessing the logic of numbers. Elitism is also an aspiration towards intellectual distinction, an aspiration that public opinion can be brought around to the right argument, rather than the right argument being defined by it. Elitism is the view that what matters is the rightness of the argument, not the identity of who made it. Elitism is the view that once can aspire to uphold values and interests that are not just of particular sections, that one is not simply defending ones’ own cause. What is striking about our founding generation, Ambedkar, Gandhi, Nehru, Patel or even Lohia, was that they never thought of themselves as sectarian leaders. They would accuse each other of being deeply mistaken, but they would not reduce their arguments to a mere articulation of identity.

Perhaps this diminution of public space has deeper roots; there is a lot of noise of contending parties. But there is also a crisis of articulacy that is putting public reason at risk. But when democracy is reduced to a clash of interests and counting of numbers, you know it is at serious risk.

The writer is president, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi pratapbmehta@gmail.com