ALLE ORIGINI DELLA DEMOCRAZIA INDIANA: LE RIFORME ISTITUZIONALI NELL’INDIA COLONIALE

It is not possible to trace the roots of the Indian democracy without understanding its intrinsic connection with a process of gradual construction and reform of the institutions. This process started in the immediate aftermath of the Mutiny, the great revolt of the Indian ranks of the British army that, in 1857, put an end to the rule of the East India Company. The direct rule of the British government was introduced in 1858 and in 1861 the first institutions with ministerial duties were progressively created, types of provincial governments were drafted that represented the grounds of the future Indian federation. However, this was not a linear and peaceful process and the reforms introduced by the British rulers between1861 and 1935 were not the result of a benevolent concession: on the contrary, the institutional evolution of India was the product of a political warfare, sometimes bloodstained, between Indian nationalists and British rulers, in London and Delhi, with alternating mass mobilisations and political negotiations. Indian democracy was born from below, from the engagement of the civil society and the involvement of men and women belonging to different classes, castes, groups and communities. The construction of the Indian democracy represents a unique case in Asia and the Indian democracy, due to its long and complex reform process, is completely comparable with western democracies.