Book review: Ruchi Chaturvedi, Violence of Democracy: Interparty Conflict in South India
| Published date | 01 December 2024 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/23210230241291261 |
| Author | Biswajit Mohanty |
| Date | 01 December 2024 |
Book Reviews
Ruchi Chaturvedi, Violence of Democracy: Interparty Conflict in South India. Orient BlackSwan, 2023, 250
pp., `1125.
Political violence is a ‘joint communique’ between the assassin and the victim, wrote Ashish Nandy, in
1980, describing it as a profound interplay between the perpetrator and the victim intertwined with deep-
seated historical and psychological forces. Ruchi Chaturvedi echoes similar observations in her book,
albeit with a distinct focus and approach. Chaturvedi examines political violence from a collective action
viewpoint and highlights how two antagonistic political entities—‘Hindu right’ and ‘political left’—pool
resources from society and institutional structures to endure hostile relationships, further illustrating the
complexities of political violence. Bearing in mind Kerala against the historical backdrop of partition
and the post-independence changes, she argues how representative democracy retains the tendency to
produce majority dominance and societal polarization, perpetuating conditions for political violence.
Chaturvedi belongs to a pioneering group of ethnographers who have spearheaded ethnographic
research on local-level electoral politics. Akhil Gupta, Thomas Blom Hansen, A M Shah, Mukulika
Banerjee, and Satendra Kumar are among these scholars whose studies explore the micro-level dynamics
of democracy in India, emphasizing the daily lives and political struggles of marginalized communities.
The book’s key contribution to the existing ethnographic literature lies in its seamless integration of
micro-level ethnographic research with national and international perspectives on democratic practices
and ethnic violence.
Chaturvedi’s ethnographic research on the Kannur district of Kerala explicates layered texts of vio-
lence imbricated into competitive democratic politics spanning the continuum of Left and Right. One of
the harsh outcomes of electoral democracy in India, she contends, is the ‘divisive substance codes’
rooted in the vectors of ethnicity, caste, and religion. The Kannur district is the focal point for exploring
the complex relationship between violence and democracy. On this canvas, she outlines several issues
related to democracy’s ‘ambivalent bequest’ of peace, conflict, and violence.
Chaturvedi’s views are influenced by Steven Wilkinson’s and Paul Brass’s explanations of political
violence in South Asia; however, she diverges from their viewpoint that deliberate creation of ethnic
solidarity and animosity is central to intergroup conflicts. She argues against the notion that electoral
processes inevitably lead to the ‘self-conscious production of ethnic solidarities’, leading to political
violence. Her core thesis revolves around the explanation that the ‘spectacular’ violence in the Kannur
district, involving Left and Hindu-Right parties, stems from a gradual evolution of a ‘political field’ at
the local level. This field shapes community subjectivities and ‘draws in’ individuals from the same caste
and class background into an intense realm of political violence.
According to Chaturvedi, politics underwrites the ascendance of power, competition, and contain-
ment of minorities or minoritizing opponents. While minoritizing a group can be one facet of democracy,
Studies in Indian Politics
12(2) 353–360, 2024
© 2024 Lokniti, Centre for the
Study of Developing Societies
Article reuse guidelines:
in.sagepub.com/journals-permissions-india
DOI: 10.1177/23210230241291261
journals.sagepub.com/home/inp
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