99% Indians don’t believe that the constitution of India constitutes India: Prof. Vinay Sitapati at Ideas of India’ Summit 3.0

Mumbai, February 24, 2024: “India remains a free country. Most parts of India look like a bento box and not a salad bowl. Indian politics will reflect Indian society.” Prof. Vinay Sitapati, Author and Associate Professor, Ashoka University spoke on Understanding Politics Personalities, Ideas, Ideologies at ‘Ideas of India’ Summit 3.0. Politicians don’t have a fixed canvas to get votes. The canvas changes all the time.
 
Departing from conventional understanding of right, left, and centre, Prof. Sitapati establishes newer concept of Indian ‘Right and Left’, explaining, “Civilizational and constitutional views of India are different. If your moral compass is broadly the constitution of India, then you are left of centre. If you believe that civilizationally Indian nationalism is thousands of years old, you are right of centre.”
 
He further added, “99% Indians don’t believe that the constitution of India constitutes India. We think that secularism is central to the idea of India. Native Indian language  don’t have a word for secularism, which native language speakers don’t relate to. These ideas from the constitution does not have popular purchase in India. The constitutional view of India as a popular project has failed.”
 
Speaking about the Indian society and its dynamics, Prof. Vinay Sitapati said, “India hasn’t dramatically changed. It is just that the dynamics of the society that a particular politician has been able to leverage has changed.”
 
Comparing Dravidian movement to Hindutva, Prof. Vinay Sitapati, said, “The Dravidian movement lasted in Tamil Nadu from 1960’s onwards. It is not very different from how Hindutva has become so dominant in Gujarat after KHAM alliance and Madhav Singh Solanki.”
 
“For a typical BJP voter, India is rising, and things are getting better. Indians don’t only think in material terms of Roti, Kapda and Makkan. They think in spiritual terms as well. It is the feeling that we have arrived. Boring foreign policies have been used by the Government as a strong message to the common man that Indians can stand-up to the West,” Prof. Vinay Sitapati explains the psyche of BJP voter.  
 
On being asked who has been the best PM of India, Prof. Vinay Sitapati, said, “Narasimha Rao is the best PM India has had. He brought an extraordinary scale of transformation with one-tenth the power Narendra Modi has”