Interrogating Democracy and Human Rights ― The Telangana People's Movement

This book traces the relevance of people's movements in India and their roles in making democracy stronger. It discerns the interrelation and interdependence between democracy and human rights, and assesses how grassroots movements could strive for the deepening and substantialization of democracy. Critically assessing the Telangana people's movement for separate statehood, the book examines how these movements play a major role in the protection and promotion of human rights and the advancement of democracy. It also underlines the significance of the democratic forms of protests, the nature of political parties/processes, the response of the state, and the role of opinion makers and the underprivileged sections to interrogate democracy and human rights. The book argues that there is a noticeable tension between the formal democratic parliamentary political process and the substantive sociopolitical demands. The question that the movement poses is: whether the substantive democratic urges make a difference to parliamentary politics or if the latter will marginalize the democratic process?