Re-exploring the New Homo Sacers: Arundhati Roy and her "Broken Republic”

Abstract

The present paper probes into the marginalized positions of the tribals and adivasis in today's India, as reflected in Arundhati Roy's book Broken Republic. In this book comprising three essays, Roy makes a thorough research on the tribal plight, state coercion and hegemony, and the subaltern resistance that ultimately metamorphosed into Maoist insurgency. The colonial policy of appropriation and exploitation is pervasive in the post-independence era through myriad forms of coercive strategies and oppressive tools. Tribal lands and resources have been usurped in the name of development. People have been rendered ‘Homo Sacers' in the words of Giorgio Agamben or bare human beings bereft of the basic demands of existence. When these subalterns try to speak the language of protest, they are silenced by various hegemonic forces. This unequal battle still continues. Roy lays bare the naked reality of the largest democracy of the world and unmasks its lies and hypocrisies. In the light of Roy's book this paper attempts an unbiased evaluation of the tribal resistance and offers to examine the drawbacks of neoliberalism, capitalism, state absolutism and the question of power and justice.