Review of Ruchi Chaturvedi, Violence of Democracy: Interparty conflict in South India

Violence of Democracy: Interparty conflict in South India is an ethnographic account of political violence and democracy in Kerala, India. Divided into two sections, it looks at the violence and political factors that have contributed to the right-wing authoritarian turn in Indian politics and how violence is imbued in the democratic order. Covering over five decades of political violence in Kerala, Chaturvedi outlines the rise of violence between the local-level Left (CPI-M) and Hindu Right (RSS- BJP) party political workers in Kannur, many of whom are unemployed or semi-employed. These workers come from similar backgrounds (caste, religion, class, ethnicity etc.), yet deep political divisions and hostility, marked by intense violence, run between them. The violence seen in Kannur includes politically motivated murders, attacks, revenge and counter-murders perpetrated and experienced by the CPI-M and RSS-BJP political workers. This violence is both “exceptional and normal”, a framework Chaturvedi uses throughout the book.