India is in rebellion. At stake is the very future of the country’s democracy and the potential of its renewal. The mass protests that have unfolded in New Delhi since July and flared again this month are nothing less than a contest over the foundations of the Indian state and whether it lives up to its constitutional commitments.

Demonstrations began in the summer as students decried perceived unfairness in the country’s examination system. They have now widened to a struggle over the integrity of India’s elections, after authorities began to purge over 130 million people from draft voting lists over the last year. Many of those stripped from the electoral rolls are appealing their removal—an often laborious process—but the possibility of mass disenfranchisement is real. Tens of thousands of mostly young people have taken to the streets in New Delhi in the past week, with protests now spreading to other major cities.…