The great Indian rope trick : does the future of democracy lie with India

In the mythical indian rope trick, the rope stands straight up. Onlookers know, however, that the rope is staying up because the fakir wills it to stay up. India s democracy is much the same. Some observers have found it hard to see how it could support itself, and many have expected it to fall. But it will stand if indians want it to, and use their collective will to give it strength.when india shook off the chains of colonial rule in 1947, predictions abounded on how long it would take for the world's largest democracy to fall apart. The new nation appeared to be too large and too diverse to be held together by a powerful centre, and some argued that it was an artificial creation that would soon break apart at the seams. Yet, more than 60 years and 16 general elections later, and through conflict, poverty, wars, famines, natural disasters, communal riots and separatist movements, nothing has stopped the indian juggernaut from rolling on. Amid the chaos of 800 million voters and more