Once in a Blue Moon Academia (OBMA)

  The Crocodile’s Jaw: Piramal’s Architecture of Vocabulary Theft and Semantic Re-Stipulation Posted on 14th April, 2026 (GMT 01:58 hrs) ABSTRACT This article interrogates the neoliberal appropriation of language as a commodity under conditions of electronic capitalism and philanthro-capitalism in contemporary India. Drawing on Marx’s theory of commodity fetishism, Foucault’s analytics of discourse-power, and Debaprasad Bandyopadhyay’s concept of linguistic cyber-colonization, it argues that radical and emancipatory lexemes — such as “university,” “changemaker”, “sewa bhaav” (selfless service), “sustainability,” “regeneration,” and “biophilic living” — are systematically subjected to vocabular theft. Stripped of their historical, ethical, and subversive genealogies, these terms are re-stipulated within corporate and state discursive regimes to serve capital accumulation, ideological normalization, and regulatory impunity. By examining the Piramal Group as a paradigmatic case, ...