Constituent Assembly sowed seeds of majoritarianism, says Javed Gaya

Lawyer and author Javed Gaya has argued that the Constituent Assembly made a foundational error in the 1940s by prioritising individual liberty over structural representation for minorities, a choice he says laid the ground for today's majoritarian politics. In his new book, <i>Heartland Rising: The Making of Majoritarian India</i>, Gaya traces a direct line from that decision to the rise of Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party rule.

Gaya told The Federal that the real question before the founders was whether India would become a unitary society with a centralised system or a federal structure recognising linguistic and other differences. He blamed the Congress party and Jawaharlal Nehru for pushing centralisation, and said the RSS has always favoured a centrally imposed system. Gaya also linked the current push for a Uniform Civil Code and the 'love jihad' narrative to a vigilante mindset enabled by the state.

Gaya described contemporary India's political trajectory as "very much in line with a kind of fascism" seen in Europe, but stressed that Modi "didn't come out of nowhere." The book argues the majoritarian turn is not a recent phenomenon but a decades-long project rooted in the original constitutional architecture.