POLITICAL TRANSFORMATIONS IN CONTEMPORARY INDIA Annual Report 2020 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABOUT CPR ................................................................................................................................. 2 THE TEAM ................................................................................................................................. 3 ABOUT THE PARTNERSHIP ............................................................................................................. 4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................................... 5 LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES ....................................................................................................... 7 CHAPTER 1: MUSLIM REPRESENTATION AT THE GRASSROOTS .................................................... 10 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 10 POLITICAL REPRESENTATION OF MUSLIMS ........................................................................ 11 MUSLIMS IN UTTAR PRADESH ............................................................................................ 12 LOCAL BODIES IN INDIA ..................................................................................................... 13 LOCAL BODIES IN UTTAR PRADESH ................................................................................... 16 METHOD NOTE .................................................................................................................. 17 ANALYSIS ..................................................................................................................... 18 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................... 24 CHAPTER 2: THE INDIA MANIFESTO PROJECT.............................................................................. 28 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 28 WHY STUDY MANIFESTOS? ................................................................................................ 29 METHOD NOTE .................................................................................................................. 30 ANALYSIS ..................................................................................................................... 34 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................... 48 CHAPTER 3: STUDENT POLITICS IN INDIA .................................................................................... 52 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 52 CONCEPTUALIZING STUDENT POLITICS............................................................................... 53 METHOD NOTE .................................................................................................................. 55 ANALYSIS ..................................................................................................................... 56 REPRESENTATION AND PATTERNS OF GROUP DOMINANCE ................................................. 57 PARTY POLITICS AND UNIVERSITY CAMPUSES .................................................................... 61 PARTICIPATION IN STUDENT POLITICS ON CAMPUSES ......................................................... 64 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................... 69 CHAPTER 4: DECLINE OF THE CONGRESS ..................................................................................... 74 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 74 WHEN DO PARTIES WANE? SITUATING CONGRESS DECLINE IN COMPARATIVE THEORY ..... 75 METHOD NOTE .................................................................................................................. 78 ANALYSIS ..................................................................................................................... 79 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................... 86 APPENDIX … ................................................................................................................................ 89 ANNUAL REPORT 2020 About CPR The Centre for Policy Research (CPR) has The vibrant community at CPR regularly been one of India’s leading public policy collaborates with the central and state think tanks since 1973. The Centre is a non- governments, civil society organizations and profit, non-partisan independent institution other think-tanks on research projects. This dedicated to ethical and high-quality makes the Centre especially visible in the scholarship on all aspects and processes that public sphere, where it is known to lead shape life in India. conversations from the front. CPR fosters a community of distinguished The Political Economy team is a new academics and practitioners committed to its addition at the Centre. The team aims to values of robust public discussion. Through examine questions of political economy in a different verticals of research, the Centre rapidly changing India. This report provides a snap-shot of their work in the previous engages in questions of economic policy, year. The team members regularly write state capacity and governance, law and state commentaries in leading media outlets, a regulation and domestic and international comprehensive summary of which is politics. These verticals, while separate in available on the CPR website. their functioning, often have overlapping research interests, which promotes Centre- wide dialogue and collective intervention in India's policy domain. CENTRE FOR POLICY RESEARCH ANNUAL REPORT 2020 THE TEAM PROJECT COORDINATOR Rahul Verma, Fellow RESEARCH ASSOCIATES Asim Ali Ankita Barthwal Jatin Rajani Talha Rashid RESEARCH ASSISTANTS Abdul Najah Ilika Trivedi RESEARCH INTERNS Durgesh Dixit Pragyna Divakar Rakesh Kumar Gautam Satyam Shukla COMMUNICATION & DESIGN SUPPORT Dhruv Bhasin Sristi Bhatt Praveen D'Souza ADMINISTRATION SUPPORT Puneet Aggarwal ANNUAL REPORT 2020 CPR-RLS PARTNERSHIP 2020 Our project is supported by the Rosa- As we expand our research agenda to study Luxemburg-Stiftung (RLS)*, a German political democratic politics, RLS' commitment to the foundation that is part of the grassroots values of freedom and fairness adds to the movement of democratic socialism. Bearing the quality and non-partisanship of our work. name of Rosa Luxemburg (1871-1919), the foundation serves as a forum for debate and Our expanding network of researchers, critical thinking about political alternatives, as academics and journalists create opportunities well as a research centre for progressive social for both organisations for greater public development. outreach. Such outreach enables us to inform and participate in discussion on issues that Our partnership with the RLS, South Asia has matter. We present our research output for the been a rewarding experience. 2020 has been year 2020 in the hope that it adds value to this unanimously challenging: the research and discussion, and to our on-going partnership. academic community has found its projects stalled and carefully laid timelines go awry. In *DISCLAIMER: Sponsored by the RLS with funds of the the midst of this, our partnership with the RLS Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of the Federal Republic of Germany. This has only expanded and improved. What started publication or parts of it can be used by others for free as as a pilot project in 2019 has matured this year long as they provide a proper reference to the original to become a comprehensive research output publication. The content of the publication is the sole shedding light onto crucial, yet understudied, responsibility of the partner and does not necessarily reflect a position of RLS. aspects of India’s democratic system. PAGE 5 ANNUAL REPORT 2020 Executive Summary The CPR-RLS Annual Report brings together a presentation of our expansive research agenda undertaken in the year 2020. We began this agenda to stir greater conversations around understudied facets of India’s polity. In this pursuit, our research presents and proposes new questions regarding substantive representation, activism and issues in Indian politics. It also finds new lens to address old concerns of how parties flounder and decay. While each report chapter is independent and comprehensive, they string together with our broader interest of understanding changing dynamics of democratic processes in the country. As with the many academic events held in partnership with RLS during the year, this compendium opens up the space for future research and moves the conversation forward. Muslim Represetation at the Grassroots sheds light on a largely neglected question- the representation of Muslims in the local level structures of power. Indian democracy has constantly rejuvenated itself by providing ever greater representation to its marginalized sections. Yet, in recent times a clear trend has been observed in the declining Muslim representation in the national and state level. Our report finds an interesting paradox: while the Muslim representation is declining