India, Nov. 1 -- When political actors blur the distinction between challenging an elected government and suggesting that political authority can be displaced without winning public consent, we have a problem on our hands.

Democracies have an inconvenient habit of producing electoral verdicts that the loudest self-appointed defenders in these democracies refuse to accept. When voters deliver a mandate, those who oppose the outcome are entitled to challenge the government, question its policies and mobilise public opinion.

What they cannot reasonably claim is that their own political convictions carry greater democratic legitimacy than the choices of the electorate. This vital distinction between dissent and delusion begins precisely her...