ABSTRACT
This chapter builds on the discussion on technologies of citizenship from the previous chapter and develops it further with the concepts of parrhesia and care for the self which are integral to the Foucauldian discourse of counter-conduct for the development of new subjectivities and conduct. It puts forth two arguments: first, it argues that the strategic use of the RTI act by ACAUT to uncover and publicise instances of ‘backdoor appointments’ in government jobs and misappropriation of funds in various government departments can be seen as instances of parrhesiastic truth telling. The second argument develops from the ethical dimensions of parrhesiastic truth telling. It argues that the unravelling of multiples cases of corruption through the use of RTI and PIL as parrhesiastic exposures can be described as acts that aimed to encourage collective self-examination and care of the self towards a new or alternate practice of conduct and self-conduct in the public as well as private sphere. Care of the self refers to the techniques or conducts that the individual permits on the self to change, transform, and transfigure oneself. The analysis of the care of the self is done with the Clean Election Campaign (CEC) launched by the Nagaland Baptist Church Convention, a close ally of ACAUT. The aim of the campaign is to advance the development of self-responsible citizenship through the ‘One Person, One Vote’ campaign. The care of the self as a mode of counter-conduct directs attention to the fact that resistance is not merely a reaction to outside force but also in terms of how the individual imagines or re-imagines oneself in a particular power relationship that fosters new subjectivities.
