Are Coalition Governments Actually Better For India? | NL Hafta ft. Ramachandra Guha

Tune into NL Hafta: https://www.newslaundry.com/2026/07/0... Subscribe to Newslaundry: https://pages.razorpay.com/nlsm On Hafta, historian Ramachandra Guha argued that coalition governments have historically produced more independent institutions – the judiciary and bureaucracy – alongside deeper federalism and stronger economic growth. Anand Vardhan traced coalition governments’ poor reputation to horse-trading – which Manisha Pande wryly pointed out is happening plenty even today – and “policy paralysis”, a framing often used to campaign for stronger mandates, though he added this isn’t something that worries the average Indian voter. Manisha then steered the discussion from judiciary and bureaucracy to policing, asking whether communal bias among police reflects the same pattern. Raman Kirpal pointed to Bajrang Dal’s role alongside police in cow-vigilante and ‘love jihad’ cases as evidence of weakening checks. Rinchen Norbu added that the communalisation of the police predates the Modi years – citing journalist Josy Joseph’s The Silent Coup – but that the institutionalised role of non-state actors is new, and possibly irreversible. Subscribe to Newslaundry: https://pages.razorpay.com/nlsm Join the NL-TNM Book Club: https://www.newslaundry.com/book-club Join us on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Va61... Download the accessible Newslaundry app: https://www.newslaundry.com/download-app Follow and engage with us on social media: Facebook:   / newslaundry   Twitter:   / newslaundry   Instagram:   / newslaundry