Indian Democracy and Development: Hermeneutic Challenges to the Incomplete Portraits

 India, with a rich tradition and history' o f  more than 5000
years is still a vibrant democracy, where freedom is very much cher­-
ished, if not always realised. The modem India that is progressing is
truly a story o f  living contradictions and creative paradoxes. In this
article, I want to show that only debate and dialogue can make India
a viable player in the globalized world o f  today, where democracy is
cherished, development is furthered and freedom is realized.
In the first part, the author highlights the contribution of  Amartya
Sen, who equates genuine freedom with enabling development and
fostering capabilities. Later he reflects on the present state of  politi­-
cal freedom and democratic polity in India following the analysis
of  Mukulika Banerjee. This takes him to the burning problem of
corruption in India and the sad, ambivalent and unending story of
Anna Hazare movement. These issues point to the need to carry on
dialoging with adversaries o f  different sorts, an imperative to foster
development and freedom. In the concluding part, basing on the
novel The White Tiger, the author takes up some o f  the contradic­-
tions inherent in our vibrant India, which makes it an incomplete
story, a dynamic and complex movement. The author hopes that we
can move towards “completing” the story of  progress and develop­-
ment only be emphasizing respectful and on-going dialogue with
all players that constitute the larger or entangled stories that the
emerging India is: something to be achieved by reinterpreting and
appropriating the weakest individual man or woman in India!