In the Indian context, talking about the phenomenon of identity politics in soft if not patronising language has become a part of shishtachar—a form of politically correct etiquette that seems to have been adopted as a safety blanket by ‘progressive’ political commentators. Such public practice of political etiquette tends to mean avoiding objectively critical, frank and, therefore, redemptively forward-looking evaluation of such politics. In fact, the scholars as well as commentators who cast their eye on identity politics end up becoming mere ‘observers’, defending the phenomenon less out of conviction or any radical commitment to emancipatory possibilities and more out of social obligation. The practice of shishtachar as public protocol, thus, mostly results in them offering mere rhetorical affirmation rather than any real critical evaluation of this genre of politics. This includes avoiding commenting on what could be termed as the deeply problematic directions in which the practitioners of identity politics may have...
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