ABSTRACT
Two key forces are reshaping contemporary India. First, the spread of neoliberal economic policies is profoundly altering people’s lives. Second, international organisations and the Indian state itself have promoted notions of liberal democracy and universal citizenship. This chapter examines how youth respond politically to this somewhat contradictory situation. A distinctive feature of young people’s social mobilisation was the determination with which they presented their actions as non-political or even as ‘antipolitical’. The account of social politics provides a basis for questioning some popular commentaries on the vernacular public arena in India, especially Partha Chatterjee’s influential work. The networking and critique of young people in Bemni occurred in the sphere of direct negotiation between people and state officials that Chatterjee terms ‘political society’.
