Summary

Roy’s second essay opens with the author’s belief that not only Kashmir but all of India has become a mental asylum. She notes that the Indian government has recently institutionalized its right to harass and terrorize people through the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA). Roy notes that predominantly, POTA has been used to target poor and/or Muslim citizens. She observes that to India’s urban class, “Laws like POTA are like buttons on a TV. You can use them to switch off the poor, the troublesome, the unwanted” (56).

Next, Roy discusses what she calls the succession movement of a small, wealthy group of people “appropriating everything—land, rivers, water, freedom, security, dignity, fundamental rights, including the right to protest—from a large group of people” (57). She discusses how, in a country that is quickly separating into “India...