Detangling Knots in the Narratives: A Response to Theunis Roux

This article is part of a symposium on Theunis Roux’s article titled ‘Grand Narratives of Transition and the Quest for Democratic Constitutionalism in India and South Africa’, which proposes two dominant narratives about the constitutional transitions in India and South Africa. The author focuses on Indian constitutional praxis to evaluate the claims of both. Part A engages with Roux’s version of the ‘Liberal Progressive Narrative’ and demonstrates what post-liberal accounts of the Indian constitutional transition offers that differs from the standard narrative as presented by Roux. Part B turns to the ‘Culturalist Grand Narrative’ and teases out the differences between (and stakes of) its decolonial and culturalist strands.