Democratic politics has undergone significant transformation in the last seven decades of post-independence India. While electoral participation has increased significantly over the decades, primordial identities as rooted primarily in caste have further strengthened 'politicization of castes' as well as 'casteization of politics'.

The 21^st Century Market State in India has paved the way for a third democratic upsurge. However, instead of dismantling the primordial. Structures in its pursuit of development, the Market State seems to be oscillating between populism and governance.