ABSTRACT
A major socio-historical factor has to be understood in order to comprehend the phenomenon of liberalization. Communalism prevents one from seeing the real cause of one’s politico-economic powerlessness; it creates a false enemy; it is, in other words, a kind of displacement. Liberalization demands the gradual withdrawal of the state from all sorts of welfare policies. Liberalization seeks to “rescue” the ‘rational’ individual from the ‘tyranny’ of all collectivities. But the new politics is based on the memory of collective injustice. Culture is yet another realm in which this conflict is taking place. Any egalitarian project must support the struggles of the oppressed castes, their urge to fight the forward caste domination and hegemony. The new worldview, it is obvious, will demand a state committed to the welfare of people, particularly the subaltern sections of society. Peace is impossible without faith——the faith that human beings can understand one another and resolve their conflicts.
