Democracy is an endorsement of the will of the people. But this collective will needs to be nurtured in the right spirit. Democracy has chosen the politician — the representative of the people — to bear this onerous responsibility. It is this pact between people and politicians that keeps the wheels of democracy turning. But there are signs that this sacred bond is fraying. Jairam Ramesh, a veteran leader of the Congress, said recently that there is a case to keep the politician at arm’s length from the people.

Mr Ramesh was making this singular point while referring to the spontaneous people’s protests against the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act. The distancing between the protests and politicians has been necessitated, in Mr Ramesh’s opinion, by the propensity of elected leaders to act as a contagion that contaminates public mobilizations. The former Union minister has mandated distinct roles for the two constituencies in this case. The people should lead the charge on the streets, while the politician must fight the law within the precincts of the legislature and the court, as Mr Ramesh’s party, the Congress, seems content to be doing.

The problem with Mr Ramesh’s suggestion is that it seeks to introduce a dangerous chasm between people and politicians. The success of mobilizations, in India and around the world, has been predicated upon the politicians’ ability to lead the people towards a common goal. What made a subjugated nation rise to M.K. Gandhi’s call for independence was the Mahatma’s credential as a mass leader. To say that people should do what is expected of a politician is to undermine one of the fundamental tenets of leadership in a democracy. The hollowness of Mr Ramesh’s statement is, in fact, borne out by the reality on the political turf. The Congress has not been able to erode the people’s trust in Narendra Modi simply because the Opposition, at the moment, lacks a politician who has the ability to wrest public support from the prime minister. In fact, by choosing to stay away from people’s movements, the Congress is playing into the Bharatiya Janata Party’s ploy of portraying the movement against the CAA as localized and engineered by vested interests. Mr Ramesh’s prescription is not only inimical to the prospects of the Congress’s revival but, if implemented, would also erode the people’s trust in their representatives.