What is a substantive form of democracy? Do we want to share power or be protected from its accesses/ abuses? Do we want to generate a future together or navigate, survive and hesitatingly reach what is fantasized as a golden Hindu Rashtra? Will this push give us emancipatory freedom? It does not seem so as we know that freedom...
Pyropolitics
It appears that the reigning BJP likes fire. It has a love of fire that is almost akin to Emperor Nero of Rome. These pyro tactics have been played in Gujrat, Delhi and now in Manipur. Lightning up fires is taught to produce votes by RSS and BJP. Now that it has tasted defeat in South India, besides, the...
Necropolitical Citizens
When people do not fear death, politics tries to frighten them. Death is beyond the power of powers that be. They can only instrumentalize life. The fear of death is another aspect of the subjugation of life to death. We seem to be nursing this fear of death. The demographic anxiety of the upper caste is riding the politics...
Death and Power
Death appears to be a private matter. Only Heroes and public figures and celebrities are remembered for their moments of becoming a corpse. The rest of us are lucky because our loved ones accompany our final goodbye to the world. Although it is personal and most intimate to the dying, it is also most public as those who have...
Restoring Mediality, Restoring a Shared World
There is an interesting anecdote told by Lewis Gordan. He says once an Anglican minister asked a boy: who fell the walls of Jericho. The boy promptly said, ‘ I did not do .’ We can sense a clear miscommunication between the boy and the minister. They do not seem to share a world of meaning between them. We...
Between ways of Being Human and Human ways of Being
Indians are seeking to become ontological. To our society, it seems to have become essence first. We have already set aside what that essence it. It is expressed by the word Hinduness. It is thought to be the absolute being of India. It will set the soul of our country free. The desire to shed away the bondage of...
The Paradox of Being a Failed Indian
There is a construction of the minorities in our country. This construction is saffron. It seems to say if the minorities are really Indian, they have to go beyond the boundaries that are deemed to hold them back for now. This view seems to suppose that a minoritized person can really choose to be ‘ otherwise’. This other way...
Necro-Politics
The notion of Necro-politics of Achille Mbembe indicates that the ultimate expression of sovereignty resides in a large degree, in the power and capacity to dictate who must live and who must die. To exercise sovereignty is to have control over death and life. It seems this power is more than the bio-power of Michel Foucault. It is a...
Forgetting the Minority in Us
We are living in desultory times. The digital revolution has accelerated time and the internet has bridged space. While the world is coming together as a global village we are moving away. Divergent political as well as religious beliefs are rapidly driving us apart. We seem to be ironically coming together on disagreements and conflicts that seem to express...
Democracy under Acceleration
Is there a speed limit to democracy? The acceleration of politics, economics and technology is thought to be a threat to democracy and as a result, there is an acceptance of greater powers to the executive. So-called strong leaders have gained greater legitimacy and currency in the political landscape. The spectre of a ticking bomb, thus, may be seen...
