The Battered Lives of the Others and the Issue of Indian Liberal Thought: A Critical Study of Neel Mukherjee’s A State of Freedom

Abstract

Aims: This article examines how A State of Freedom interrogates dignity, freedom, migration, aspiration, and the contradictions of liberalism in modern India through the fractured realities of contemporary society.

Methodology: The study adopts a qualitative and interpretative approach grounded in postcolonial and Subaltern Studies frameworks. Through close textual reading, it analyses representations of subaltern subjectivities and critiques of Indian liberalism concerning caste, class, gender, and neoliberal development.

Outcome: The paper argues that Mukherjee’s fragmented narrative exposes the persistence of caste, class, gender, and neoliberal inequalities through marginalised figures such as Milly, Lakshman, and Ramlal, while reimagining Indian liberalism as an unfinished and contested project.

Conclusion and Suggestions: This study argues that A State of Freedom exposes the contradictions of Indian liberalism by revealing the gap between its ethical promises and the lived realities of subaltern communities shaped by caste, class, and neoliberal inequality. Through fragmented narration and shifting perspectives, Neel Mukherjee critiques neoliberal India while reimagining Indian liberalism as an evolving ethical tradition rooted in indigenous thought rather than merely a Western import. The study concludes that the project of Indian liberalism remains unfinished and calls for continued engagement with questions of dignity, agency, and freedom at the margins of society.