26 SOCIAL SCIENTIST foundation of the Indian nation-state consistent to claims to erudite comprehension, in theoretical terms, of contemporary India? At different, but not lesser, levels it might be useful to ask ourselves: how is that social theory as yet remains unilluminated by the Total Revolution? How is it that the first decade of Shah Commission Report went unnoticed by the burgeoning class of political scientists and theorists? And why in this heydey of banner waving about 'secularism' and 'pseudo-secularism* do we manage to maintain University libraries devoid even of a full set of reports—since the sixties—of judicial commissions of enquiry on the so-called 'communal riots'? And what happened to our theoretical consciousness concerning reservational equality for ten long years of existence of the Mandal Commission Report? I know the questions can be reformulated with greater precision and elegance. But even in their rawness they do invite attention to a series of absences which severely question some of our own traditions of padagogy, research and scholarship. V To conclude this very rough sketch, it would appear that our espousal of transformative causes has not kept pace with the need to renovate our practices of theoretical labour. None would be happier than I if this hypothesis is proved abundantly false. But I have a feeling, at least for myself, that much of our social engagement does not inform our academic being. Even if there is grain of truth in this perception, we must acknowledge the 'germ of doubt gnawing at the heart of conviction.' And this should goad us, perhaps to proceed beyond the merger of heroic activism with tearful accountability. REFERENCES Baxi, U. 'The Struggle for Redefinition of "Secularism" in India' (being a paper presented to Iowa Conference on State and Religion in India, October 1991; Mimeo.) Baxi, U. Liberty and Corruption: Antulay Case and Beyond (1989) Baxi, U. 'Violence, Dissent and Development' in Law and Social Change: Indo-American Reflections 72 (1988; R.B. Meagher ed.) Baxi, U. Towards a Sociology of Indian Law (1985) Benjamin, W. Illuminations (1973) Das, Veena and Nandy, Ashish. 'Violence, Victimised and the Language of Silence' 19 Contributions to Indian Sociology (N.S.) 177 (1985) Das, Veena.Mfrrors of Violence: Communities, Riots and Survival in South Asia (1990.) Deleuze G. and Guattari, F. A Thousand Plateaus (1987) Derrida, }. Writing and Difference (1978) Gandhi, M.K. : The Moral and Political Writings of Mahatma Candhi (1986; Raghavan lyer, ed.) Lyotard, Jean Francois. The Differend: Phrases in Dispute (1988) Raisman, M. Folded Lies: Bribery, Crusades and Reforms (1973)