‘Chasm between Hindus and Muslims greater than ever’

“Politics has become a way of empowering new social groups. But when we look at our public policies,practices etc. we realise that even though the democratic process is very advanced,the outcomes are not ones which we could have accepted as citizens. When we look at our representative process,we see that our democracy is not democratic enough. That brings us to the question,what is politics for,” he asked. Mehta was of the view that in a heterogeneous society like India,the main function of politics would be to find mutually acceptable ideas on important matters.

“We need a shared understanding of why is it that we disagree and how we can learn to live with each other despite our differences. The core function of politics is to find mutually acceptable agreements.”

Even graver than the political crisis,Mehta said,was the issue of religion in India. “The crisis of religion is that we do not know who the authority is.”

Regarding differences in the country,Mehta said that proliferation of extremist groups needed to be studied and that the state would have to uphold the constitution and not allow such groups to transgress. “In India there is diversity in our unity. In a democracy,where we are going should matter more than where you come from,” he said.

Justice Srikrishna concluded by saying that politics needed to concentrate on how the ‘twain could meet’ and that values taught by ethical principles and religion could function as identities and could help sustain democracy.