The search for democracy in the world's largest democracy
Hosted by International Inequalities Institute, LSE Human Rights, Department of Anthropology and Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity
Tuesday 26 March 2024, 6.30pm to 8.00pm. In-person and online event. Centre Building (CBG) Auditorium.
Speaker:
Professor Alpa Shah, Professor of Anthropology, LSE
Discussants: Professor Christophe Jaffrelot, Avantha Chair and Professor of Indian Politics and Sociology at the King's India Institute; Professor Tarun Khaitan, Professor (Chair) in Public Law, LSE; Priyanka Kotamraju, independent journalist from India
Chair:
Professor Deborah James, Professor in the Department of Anthropology, LSE
Join us to launch and discuss Alpa Shah’s new book, The Incarcerations: BK-16 and the search for democracy in India.
As general elections fast approach in the world’s largest democracy, this event asks what democracy today must urgently ensure for our common future. In her latest book, Alpa Shah pulls back the curtain on Indian democracy to tell the remarkable and chilling story of the Bhima Koregaon case, in which 16 human rights defenders (the BK-16) – professors, lawyers, artists – have been imprisoned, without credible evidence and without trial, as Maoist terrorists. The BK-16 were accused of inciting violence and plotting to kill the Indian prime minister. But Professor Shah finds a shocking case of cyber warfare - hacked emails, mobile phones and implantation of electronic evidence used to make the arrests. Diving deep into the lives of the BK-16, The Incarcerationsshows how the case is a bellwether for the collapse of democracy and why these events matter to all of us.
Register to attend