Democracy Disfigured: India’s Political Devolution

On May 28, 2023, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the new Indian Parliament, a triangle-shaped edifice of concrete and stone, in a grand ceremony suffused with religious symbolism. The swarm of television cameras stayed transfixed on Modi as he performed a lengthy puja, a Hindu worship ritual, surrounded by a bevy of priests. Then, amid the chanting of Vedic mantras, Modi carried a