The Revolt of the Cockroaches Panel Discussion

Content

The government calls India the "Mother of Democracy." Commentators now call it an "electoral autocracy." Critics have charted the erosion: activists jailed without trial under anti-terror laws, protests barricaded, the internet shut down, Muslims cast as outsiders, and now some 130 million names reportedly struck from the voter rolls. Into this moment stepped a generation dismissed as "cockroaches." What does their revolt reveal about democracy, dissent and "the people" in India today?

Panelists:

Amrita Basu, Professor of Political Science and Sexuality, Women's & Gender Studies, Amherst College

Jayati Ghosh, Professor of Economics, UMass Amherst 

Krupa Shandilya, Professor of Sexuality, Women's & Gender Studies, Amherst College 

Vamsi Vakulabharanam, Professor of Economics, UMass Amherst; Co-Director, Asian Political Economy Program