DEMOCRACY, FEAR AND POLITICAL VIOLENCE IN POSTEMERGENCY INDIAN ENGLISH FICTION
Keywords:
Democracy, Political Violence, Emergency Period, Fear, State Power, Suppression, Indian English Fiction, Post-Emergency Literature.Abstract
Post-Emergency Indian English fiction presents the Internal Emergency (1975–1977) as a period in which democratic values were weakened by authoritarian political practices, censorship, violence, and fear. The declaration of Emergency transformed political institutions into instruments of control that frequently suppressed the rights
and freedoms of ordinary citizens. This article analyses the representation of democracy, fear, and political violence in A Fine Balance, Midnight's Children and Rich Like Us. The study argues that these novels portray the Emergency as a historical moment in which democratic institutions lost their moral authority and citizens became vulnerable to political manipulation and state violence. Through the depiction of censorship, police brutality, imprisonment, and suppression of dissent, the novels expose the contradiction between democratic ideals and authoritarian governance. The article further examines how fear became a political instrument for controlling society and preserving power during the Emergency period.
