It, of course, was enabled by the fact that democratic traditions are deeply rooted in Indian history and culture. But this aspect was not asserted even by India in earlier years, and its modern incarnation was depicted for years as an anomaly. So much so that opinions in the West were quite comfortable recommending military rule as a better governance solution for the ‘less worthy’. Our own region provided the most telling examples in that regard, with Pakistan touted for years as a preferred partner.
