Perceptively concluding that our failure has something to do with governance, we tried both dictatorship and democracy, but neither worked. This calls for an urgent analysis of why what works for swans does not work for us, and developing our own walk. Sociologists say that political systems derive from social structures. Democracy works best in societies with atomistic families where sub-national identities between national and family levels, e.g., based on community and religion, are weak or do not affect people’s political choices, which are based on policies. … The grass-root approach adopted by Congress, particularly Gandhi—going to villages to raise awareness—also helped in establishing democracy on a stronger footing than in Pakistan where the Muslim League co-opted feudal elements. Even though most of India was not ready for democracy in 1947, enough of it allowed an urban educated leadership to become the largest single group and gain control in parliament. This was not true of Pakistan. That is why land reforms were easy in India and difficult in Pakistan. Nehru’s longevity also helped.

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