South Asia in Motion. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2024. US$35.00, paper. ISBN 9781503637986
The Political Outsider aims to unpack the phenomena of “curative democracy” through the tropes of political outsiders and populism in Indian politics. While explaining the dynamics of populist mobilization in India’s contemporary politics, Srirupa Roy investigates the historical lineage and political institutional contexts that have shaped and guided the trajectory of democracy in India. Structurally, the book is neatly divided into two parts: “Elements” (chapters 1 and 2) and “Lineage” (chapters 3 and 4), which document the emergence of curative democracy and outsider politics in contemporary India.
At the core of Roy’s argument is an attempt to offer to “intervene in discussion about populism by offering a ‘consequent’ rather than a causal explanation of its rise” (6). The Introduction guides the reader to the larger canvas of the book’s argument through historical insights deeply embedded in the twentieth century project of curative democracy. It further links “outsider politics, the distinctive institutional and normative formation that was central to the idea of the democratic cure first articulated in the 1970s in India, and which is at the core of the twenty-first century populist project as well” (6). The author underlines recent scholarly and media focus on a people/elite binary that fails to recognize the idea of political outsider as an “agent of populist redemption”; “normative justification of populist movements”; and the location of populist figures in some “putative pure space outside politics is the beating heart of populist imagination” (7).
Roy’s most valuable contribution arrives in chapter 1 as she establishes the groundwork for the emergence of a politics of curative democracy and its subsequent political consequences. Chapter 2 further dissects the role of the media in imagining a new politics for the twenty-first century and how it “has been shaped and amplified by media actors” (87).
In the second section, “Lineages,” Roy’s investigation into the historical context of curative democracy in India further establishes the context within which “ideas about democratic redemption by political outsiders” (31) gain public acceptance. The third chapter provides a revised history of politics in post emergency India and attempts to unravel the limits of democratic restoration as planned in the late 1970s and 1980s. The fourth chapter successfully establishes emergency “as a generative rather than a deviant event in India’s political history” (192). It further charts the authoritative emergence of political outsiders and their long lasting and deep impact on Indian democracy. Further, the successive pages in this chapter elaborate on the role of political intermediators who strengthened their positions within India’s democracy to eventually explore the implications of defining “peoplehood as a common experience of injury” (195). The strength of this chapter lies in its investigation into why, even after more than four decades of emergency, anti-democratic legacies are alive in the “rhythms and texture” of ordinary democratic practices throughout India. By summarizing these “crooked lines” in the book’s Conclusion, Roy succeeds in linking curative democracy with political outsiders and the desperation among the common people to address existing incongruities. In this process, Roy argues, everyday politics is linked to notions of wounded citizenship, anger, and outsider political agency.
While the book does succeed in dissecting the inherent tensions in the democracy project of India since independence, it fails to examine the possible link of the acceptance of curative politics and the celebration of anti-politics in the pre-independence Gandhian movement. A deeper analysis of the nature of politics as it emerged during India’s freedom struggle and its consequent impact on the post-independent Bihar/JP movement is not dealt with in detail in the book, and thus the possibility of a more nuanced understanding of the trajectory of curative politics is lost. The canvas of the book solely emphasizes post-independent India, and as a result, invites the suggestion of an additional chapter that would address the nature of mass politics during India’s freedom struggle. Such a chapter would have added more depth to this study on curative politics in post-independent India.
For the student of politics, The Political Outsider not only offers valuable insight into the workings of democracy in India post emergence but also opens the field to the immense possibility of further research. If the recent dramatic ascendance of populist politics across the globe is indicative of deeper crises in the liberal democratic framework, then this needs to be explored in future research. The book provokes its readers to look for a mechanism to further examine the nature of democracy and the state in India as it has evolved post liberalization. This is an essential read for anyone interested in the dynamism of democracy, populism, and its possible direction in the near future. Roy ultimately provides a careful blend of historical examination and theoretical insight through anti-politics and the possible democratic implications of curative democracy.
Shashank Chaturvedi
Nirma University, Ahmedabad