The year 2025 will be recorded in history as a period when India's foundational pillars of governance, security, and democratic responsibility showed alarming signs of strain. According to an analysis by lawyer and MP Manish Tewari, the state's machinery appeared fragile, operating on a model that was reactive and disconnected from constitutional promises.
Security, Foreign Policy, and Domestic Unrest
The tragic conflict in Manipur remained an unhealed wound on the national conscience. The resignation of the state government and the imposition of President's Rule in February 2025 were admissions of failure, not solutions, leaving deep ethnic divisions unresolved.
In national security, the horrific Pahalgam terror attack exposed grave intelligence and governance lapses. While military responses from May 7 to 10 demonstrated tactical capability, they failed to answer the strategic question of establishing lasting deterrence against a nuclear-armed adversary engaged in asymmetric warfare. A subsequent parliamentary debate devolved into political point-scoring, ignoring a critical dilemma: why does India, with a defence budget nearly nine times larger than Pakistan's, remain stuck in a cycle of provocation and response?
The blast near Delhi's Red Fort highlighted the growing threat of homegrown radicalisation and underscored the need for stronger parliamentary oversight of intelligence agencies.
Foreign policy faced significant setbacks. The anticipated upgrade in India-US relations under President Donald Trump fell into diplomatic uncertainty. The "Neighbourhood First" policy was under severe stress, with strategic unease following Sheikh Hasina's ouster in Bangladesh and Gen-Z protests in Sri Lanka and Nepal exploiting social media. The supposed thaw with China masked unresolved border issues and a widening trade deficit.
Economic Populism and Institutional Erosion
On the domestic front, economic and social policies seemed unanchored, driven by electoral panic rather than vision. Income tax and GST cuts were reactive, not part of a coherent fiscal plan. The sudden announcement of a caste census represented an ideological U-turn without a genuine commitment to rigorous, error-proof data collection essential for meaningful social justice.
Most alarmingly, the subordination of the state to politics led to a deliberate weakening of democratic institutions. The new process for appointing Election Commissioners, which removed the Chief Justice from the panel, resulted in a Commission undertaking a "Special Intensive Revision" of electoral rolls, a move criticised as a mass disenfranchisement campaign.
The passage of the SHANTI Act for the nuclear sector, capping operator liability at a mere Rs 3,000 crore and exempting foreign suppliers, jeopardised public safety. Laws like the National Sports Governance Act and the Higher Education Bill were seen as centralising power grabs, showing deep distrust of federalism. The Digital Personal Data Protection Rules of 2025 were criticised for handing citizens' digital sovereignty to the state with minimal safeguards.
Infrastructure Failures and the Opposition's Mandate
The theme of deferred accountability extended to crumbling infrastructure. The railways witnessed avoidable tragedies, bridges collapsed due to maintenance failures, and the crash of Air India Flight 171 in Ahmedabad in June raised serious questions about aviation safety and regulatory capture. A culture of prioritising optics over accountability prevailed, with ministers avoiding moral responsibility.
This grim panorama, however, presents a clear opportunity for the Opposition. The INDIA alliance, with 230 seats in Parliament, holds not just the right but a solemn duty to present a united alternative. The agenda is clear: addressing rural distress, staggering unemployment, corrosive inflation, and the subversion of the social welfare net. The bloc must move beyond fragmentation and forge a united, policy-driven front, articulating clear alternatives on national security, federalism, economic revival, and institutional integrity. This, Tewari concludes, was the essential mandate of the 2024 election.
