India’s Democracy-Strained But Stable

The fortieth anniversary of India’s independence, on August 15, 1987, passed with relatively little fanfare, even in India. There was a small parade in New Delhi; Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi gave a long dull speech lampooned by pundits for its inelegant Hindi; and the capital was festooned with miniature Indian flags—minus the chakra, or wheel, in the white center stripe, and hung sideways, prompting one newspaper to note that they looked more like Irish than Indian flags.

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