This is the full reply I posted in reply to an article titled, ‘ Is India a Republic’ by Professor Bhikhu Parekh published in the Asian Voice. Asian Voice published a shorter version of my reply.
Here is the full version of my reply:
In his article titled, ‘Is India a Republic’, Professor Parekh describes a Republic as one that is based on the ideals of the French Revolution. Equality, Dignity, absence of a superior class( Parekh is hinting at the Dalit caste) are the principles of modern European Republics which according to Parekh won the praise of Nehru. Nehru and the author of the Indian constitution Ambedkar envisaged an India where economic divisions in society would be diminished, there would be civic courage, public spirit and egalitarian ethos. In other words they wanted some form of Socialism. Professor Parekh claims that calling India a democracy is to utter a half truth. The term he says obscures commitment to social and economic equality. Parekh claims that the ideas of the Republic have disappeared from India.
Here is where Professor Parekh is on slippery grounds. Socialism while looking good on paper has failed all over the world. Even France is hardly a Socialist country. It is Capitalism that has brought equality for the downtrodden. Under the leadership of PM Modi millions of people have come out of poverty, Dalits are playing an active role in all aspects of public life. Under the BJP rule we have had a Dalit as well as a Tribal President.
According to Parekh, Thomas Paine claimed that the decline of India
began with the overthrow of Buddhist Republics by Brahmin monarchs. This is an imperialist propaganda. Buddhism declined in India of its own accord and Hinduism reclaimed its lost position.
It is a great pity that Professor Parekh is not able to see and acknowledge what the whole world is witnessing. A rapidly progressing India. It questions Professor Parekh’s professional credibility. He is clinging on to vintage and outdated ideas of Socialism and to his antipathy towards Hinduism. The world has moved on.
Nitin Mehta
10 March 2026.
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