Liberalism & its contradictions

The author's dismay about the twilight of liberal democracy in India is deepened by the awareness that intolerance and bigotry against the Muslims is not limited to the ignorant and obscurantists

Twilight Falls on Liberalism  

Rudrangshu Mukherjee 

Aleph

159 pages; Rs 399

One only has to look at any day’s newspaper headlines to appreciate the extent of the problem. US President Donald Trump calls African-American sportsmen, commentators and politicians dumb. Yet another American Sikh is assaulted. A prominent British politician compares burqa-clad women to “letter-boxes” and bank robbers. Another Muslim man is killed in Rajasthan, adding to the growing list of victims of Hindu lynch mobs. The spate of stories about discrimination, insult and violence against minority communities has one thing in common: They are happening in democratic countries with a liberal political order,