Indian Democracy and Development: Hermeneutic Challenges to the Incomplete Portraits

India, with a rich tradition and history' o f more than 5000 years is still a vibrant democracy, where freedom is very much cher­- ished, if not always realised. The modem India that is progressing is truly a story o f living contradictions and creative paradoxes. In this article, I want to show that only debate and dialogue can make India a viable player in the globalized world o f today, where democracy is cherished, development is furthered and freedom is realized. In the first part, the author highlights the contribution of Amartya Sen, who equates genuine freedom with enabling development and fostering capabilities. Later he reflects on the present state of politi­- cal freedom and democratic polity in India following the analysis of Mukulika Banerjee. This takes him to the burning problem of corruption in India and the sad, ambivalent and unending story of Anna Hazare movement. These issues point to the need to carry on dialoging with adversaries o f different sorts, an imperative to foster development and freedom. In the concluding part, basing on the novel The White Tiger, the author takes up some o f the contradic­- tions inherent in our vibrant India, which makes it an incomplete story, a dynamic and complex movement. The author hopes that we can move towards “completing” the story of progress and develop­- ment only be emphasizing respectful and on-going dialogue with all players that constitute the larger or entangled stories that the emerging India is: something to be achieved by reinterpreting and appropriating the weakest individual man or woman in India