Three years after the regime change at the Centre, contemporary liberalism in India is under political siege. Even liberals have appeared uncertain about what they stand for. Not just liberals, leaders of some mainline opposition parties have been reluctant to articulate a compelling public philosophy that would appeal to the people at a time when large sections of the electorate have quite readily embraced conservative values that would otherwise be repugnant in a supposedly aspiring India.

A study last year by the Centre for the Study in Developing Societies (CSDS) and Konrad Adenaur Stiftung (KDS) concluded that “Socio-culturally, there have been frequent conflicts between the forces of conservatism and liberalism on various issues such as women’s rights, minority rights, decriminalising homosexuality, censorship and freedom of expression, and more recently on the issue of growing intolerance in society.” Alarmingly, more than half of India’s youth (53 percent) feel that “people have become less tolerant”.