Like many of the world’s leading democracies, India faces unprecedented stresses, from economic challenges wrought by premature deindustrialisation to political tensions created by majoritarianism. The erosion of constitutionally framed democratic governance represents more than just an old political order giving way to a new one: institutional decay has been the result of conscious, sustained and systemic political action. The multidimensional pressures on the rule of law make it essential for us to deconstruct democracy as it is conceived, understood and practised in India today.