ABSTRACT
Chapter 11 is the concluding chapter. It summarises the arguments of each chapter and argues that the emergence of vernacular democracy in today’s India indicates a post-postcolonial transformation that mediates the vernacular sacrificial ethics and the spirit of democracy through the value of ontological equality and the affirmation of diversity. It argues that the post-postcolonial transformation of Indian society marks an important phase in local socio-political practices where there is an apparent mediation between postcolonial dichotomies. This does not mean, however, the end of antagonism, conflict and division. Rather, conflicts and dilemmas hitherto suppressed in the postcolonial structure of hegemony have begun to manifest in the political process as the subalterns have found a voice. There is a widening of agenda in this process. We cannot presuppose that the pedagogy of rationality automatically brings about the universal basis for democracy. Rather, the key to democracy lies in enhancing the capability of individuals for human agency, recognising division and dilemma in society and ensuring participatory and enunciative space for the widest possible range of people. In this participatory process, more churning of cultural resources, both old and new, is still required for the emergence of a democratic ethos that is grounded in senses, values and practices embedded in the vernacular lifeworld of the people. Here, the very existence and political enrolment of plurality, conflicts and dilemmas would be the conditions, rather than impediments, for the democracy that is always ‘to come’.
