RN Kao Memorial Lecture: ‘India can be world leader, can’t succumb to dark temptations’

He likened the crisis of liberal democracy with the crisis in capitalism, saying this was the first time in the history of modern liberalism that the power and authority of intermediate institutions within and outside the state were “under threat.” Among the institutions he listed were the media, universities, legislatures and NGOs. “This creates the conditions for populist democracy, a democracy founded on suspicion of all representative institutions. It is characterised by a political style that is nationalist, centralising, authoritarian and conspiratorial…,” he said.

Mehta acknowledged that he was speaking to a gathering of sleuths, who had remained incognito through their careers, but said he was currently witnessing a “new information order” wherein the social media has dissolved entrenched forms of authority. “This new information order has several features that are inimical to democracy. Globally, in the contest between surveillance and liberty, liberal democracies are opting for surveillance. The entire effort of states (and corporations) is to make citizens legible to the state, to record, control, mark their every move… We are transparent to the state, the state is not transparent to us,” he said.

He added that the response of nationalism and populism was unlikely to solve the deep underlying problems faced by liberal democracies. “At this moment,” he said, “India has the possibility of positioning itself as a leader of the free world, but showing fresh thinking on the triple global crisis (of economy, of institutions and of the information order). But it will have to remain true to its core liberal values, and not succumb to the dark temptations that grip the rest of the world.”

During an interaction with the audience, Mehta spoke specifically about the situation in India and said he was worried about the absence of a “professional identity” for the Indian bureaucracy.

In response to a question by Kiran Bedi, Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry, Mehta said, “Bureaucrats do not know whether they are PR agents or civil servants… they are under the impression that visibility is all that matters. The relationship between the political class and the bureaucracy is distorted…”