Nation from below: Rethinking Indian nationalism through subaltern voices and democratic contradictions

This paper offers a critical interrogation of Indian nationalism through the epistemological framework of subaltern studies, contesting the hegemonic, elite-centric historiographies that have traditionally structured the discourse on the Indian national movement. By foregrounding the agency of structurally marginalized constituencies such as agrarian labourers, Adivasis, Dalits, women, and informal sector actors, the study aims to democratize the discursive construction of nationalism across both colonial and postcolonial temporalities. Employing a decolonial lens and engaging with epistemic disobedience, the paper integrates empirical insights from contemporary developmental datasets, including the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5), PRS Legislative Research, and civil society reports, to critically map continuities in exclusion and resistance. The analysis foregrounds subaltern political praxis through modalities of everyday resistance, non-state mobilization, and insurgent citizenship, while simultaneously critiquing the structural violence embedded in the neoliberal developmental paradigm. Historical instances of subaltern contestation, such as agrarian uprisings, anti-caste mobilizations, and gendered interventions in mass movements, are juxtaposed with contemporary cases like the Bhima Koregaon assertion, resistance to the CAA/NRC regime, and indigenous mobilization against resource dispossession. These cases exemplify the paradoxes of postcolonial democracy, wherein procedural inclusion coexists with substantive marginalization. The paper advances a