ABSTRACT
Chapter 10 locates endogenous potentialities for building local democracy in contemporary India through analyses of new dynamics in panchayat politics. I pay particular attention to the agency of subalterns in redefining the ontology of caste and, thereby, attempting to culturally underpin the significance of democratic representation and the cooperation of multiple social groups in local self-government. Instead of seeing the democratisation process in India as a sign of the internalisation of the values of the modern state, which would entail a top-down perspective towards universalising subjects, I see the new possibilities as a sign of subaltern agency that utilises and mediates both indigenous and exogenous resources towards the realisation of democratic cooperation that recognises difference. What we are witnessing in contemporary India may be the creation of a ‘vernacular democracy’ based on the creative mediation by the people between embodied cultural resources and the ideas and institutions of democracy. Here ‘vernacular’ refers to the non-official cultural resources of discourse and practice that are historically accumulated and moral-practically embodied in the lifeworld of the villagers. Notably, the lower castes draw on the sacrificial idioms of ‘duty’ (kartabya), ‘service’ (sebā) and ‘share’ (bhāga) to legitimise and insist on their equal participation and entitlement in the public sphere. These vernacular idioms, related to the ontology of caste and sacrificial principles, are employed in the present local politics to ensure proper representation and entitlements to the multiple groups in the recognition of difference and yet retain the sense of cooperation and community. Moreover, there is a subaltern emphasis on ontological equality in sacrificial ethics. This egalitarian sacrificial ethics is presented today from a subaltern viewpoint as the new foundational idea for the democratic local community.
