In this historically rich, detailed account of the Hindu nationalist movement in India since the 1920s, Christophe Jafferlot explores how rabid changes in the political, social and economic climate have made India fertile soil for the growth of the primary arm of Hindu nationalism, a paramilitary-style group known as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), together with its political offshoots. He shows how the Hindu movement uses religion to enter the political sphere, and argues that the ideology the speak for has less to do with Hindu philosophy than with ethnic nationalism. This book makes a major contribution to the study of the genesis and development of religious nationalism, and is essential reading for anyone who seeks to comprehend the spread of ethnic conflict.

Hindu Nationalist Movement and Indian Politics, 1925 to the 1990's

Politics & Social Sciences

JAFFRELOT, Christophe

Politics & Government

South Asia Books

Review\n"Jaffrelot and Anil present a comprehensive account of the suspension of formal democracy in India. A sharp analytical assessment of the Emergency, it is bold, original and well-researched. This promises to be a landmark work in Indian politics."-- Uday Chandra, Assistant Professor of Government, Georgetown University, Qatar, and co-editor of Staking Claims: The Politics of Social Movements in Contemporary Rural India\n"The best and most wide-ranging account of the Emergency in India. It is a ground-breaking contribution to the study of Indian politics and political history. Widely and deeply researched, comprehensive and analytical.'"-- Srinath Raghavan, Professor of International Relations and History, Ashoka University, and Senior Fellow, Carnegie India\n"Jaffrelot and Anil's meticulously researched account of India's brief period of authoritarian Emergency rule in 1975-77 rightly approaches it not as an aberration, but as a product of the ambiguity of Indian democracy. Engaging and authoritative--it could prove definitive."-- James Chiriyankandath, Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London\n"Jaffrelot and Anil bring a rare depth of scholarship and nuanced analysis to their remarkable account of India's Emergency. Drawing upon an unparalleled range of sources, this book is indispensable for anyone seeking to understand global authoritarianism and Indian politics today."-- Rochana Bajpai, Associate Professor in Politics, SOAS University of London, and author of Debating Difference: Group Rights and Liberal Democracy in India\n"The best and most comprehensive book on the Emergency."-- Business Standard India\n"To be commended, not just for [its] extensive research and intellectual sweep, but because of [its] contemporary relevance... Indeed, [its] studied analysis that the world's largest democracy is fundamentally vulnerable to despotic rule will no doubt provide fresh insights on the current Indian political landscape, which many believe is under an undeclared Emergency."-- India Today\n"This book rightly claims that this specific study of Emergency helps looking at Indian history through different lenses where the subordinated and oppressed citizenry are always at loggerheads. 'This is the history of a constant struggle between the people on the one hand and the Republic's rulers on the other.' Indeed, this excellent volume does live up to this claim very well."-- The Book Review\n"Offers a meticulous and convincing analysis of the Emergency, but also does more than that. The suspension of democracy in India is used as a lens to understand the maladies and weaknesses of India's democracy and to remind the contemporary reader that the brief authoritarian interlude of the 1970s might not have been India's first and last dictatorship."-- The Bookshelf\n"Detailed and fascinating." -- The Wire\n"A timely reminder that India's hard-won democratic ethos cannot be taken for granted. ... [ India's First Dictatorship] is a compelling account, which displays an extraordinary grasp of the political milieu that led to the state of emergency and provides a level of detail about its consequences never before attempted." -- Foreign Policy\n"Represents a yet unmatched attempt to convey the elements of the Emergency in their many-sided complexity." -- Los Angeles Review of Books\n"[Christophe Jaffrelot and Pratinav Anil] must be complimented for pointing out among other things that democracy had not then, and still has not, become as deep-rooted in India as is necessary for it to strengthen the institutions of the state and benefit all sections of the people... [India's First Dictatorship] is a welcome ... addition to the existing material, most of which either tends to glorify the emergency and play down its excesses, or to vilify the principal participants in that sorry episode of Indian history." -- The Commonwealth Lawyer\nIn June 1975 Prime Min

India's First Dictatorship

History

Anil, Pratinav

Asia

Oxford University Press

In 2012 Narendra Modi became the first Hindu nationalist politician thrice elected to lead a state of the Indian Union, his stewardship as Chief Minister of Gujarat being the longest in that state's history. Modi and his BJP supporters explained his achievement by pointing to economic growth under his leadership, yet detractors point out that Modi has been more business-friendly than market-friendly--to the benefit of large industrial corporations, and at the cost of great social polarization. In 2002, an anti-Muslim pogrom of unparalleled ferocity occurred in Gujarat, leading to the biggest number of Muslim deaths since Partition. The state's Hindu majority immediately rallied around Modi. No serious riot has occurred in Gujarat since, but polarization was key to Modi's strategy there, and he has deployed that strategy again and again since he became Prime Minister of India in 2014. For Modi has cultivated a communal image. A marketing genius, his messaging combines the politics of Hindutva with economic modernization, to the clear appreciation of Gujarat's middle class. Christophe Jaffrelot's revealing book shows how Modi's Gujarat served as the laboratory of Modi's India, not only in terms of Hindu majoritarianism and national populism, but also of caste and class politics.

Gujarat Under Modi: Laboratory of Today's India

Legal Theory & Systems

There seems to be no end to the growing number of victims of civil war, terrorism, guerrilla warfare and military repression on the Indian subcontinent, despite the absence of interstate wars over the past ten years. These conflicts often involve armed paramilitary militias or insurgents of one sort or other, and it is their ideology, sociology and strategies that the contributors to this book investigate. Whether based on ideological motives--such as the Maoists and Naxalites in Nepal and India--or invested with a fundamentalist religious mission--the Hindu nationalist Bajrang Dal in India, the Sunni SSP in Pakistan, or Islamist militias in Bangladesh--all these movements use violence to exercise social control, challenge the authority of the state and impose their own particular worldview. Although they seek also to undermine the state, depriving it of the monopoly on legitimate violence that it supposedly holds, governments are equally adept at exploiting them to make them serve their own ends. For the authorities, these movements can be useful tools for their pursuit of both moral and social order. However delegating power to such groups for short term political gains can be an extremely risky enterprise, as demonstrated by Indira Gadhi's patronage of the Sikh militant group that later assassinated her. Armed Militas of South Asia is the first comprehensive book of its sort and will be required reading for all those interested in the politics of the subcontinent and Myanmar.

Armed Militias of South Asia: Fundamentalists, Maoists and Separatists

Gayer, Laurent

Religion Caste and Politics in India

After Independence the Nehruvian approach to socialism in India rested upon three pillars: secularism and democracy in the political domain; state intervention in the economy; and diplomatic Non-Alignment mitigated by pro-Soviet leanings after the 1960s. These features defined the "Indian model," and even the country's political identity. From this starting point Christophe Jaffrelot explores the manner in which some of these dimensions have been transformed over the course of time, more especially since the 1980-90s. The world's largest democracy has sustained itself by making more room, not only for the vernacular politicians of the linguistic states, but also for Dalits and OBCs, at least after the Mandal Commission report. But the simultaneous--and related--rise of Hindu nationalism has put the minorities--and secularism--on the defensive, and in many ways the rule of law is on trial too. The liberalisaton of the economy has resulted in growth but not necessarily in development: while the new middle class is changing the face of urban India, the rural areas lag behind and inequalities have become more acute. India has also acquired a new global status, that of an emerging power seeking new political and economic partnerships in Asia and in the West, where the United States remains the first choice of the Indian middle class. The traditional Nehruvian system is giving way to a less cohesive but a more active India, a country that has already become what it is against all the odds. Christophe Jaffrelot tracks India's tumultuous journey of recent decades, exploring the role of religion, caste and politics in weaving the fabric of a modern democratic state.

Religion Caste and Politics in India (Comparative Politics and Internatioanl Studies)

A detailed account of the Hindu nationalist movement in India since the 1920s arguing that political uneasiness, created by real and imagined threats of colonialism and the presence of minority groups, paved the way for militant Hinduism on the Indian subcontinent.

The Hindu Nationalist Movement in India

Columbia Univ. Pr.

A detailed account of the Hindu nationalist movement in India since the 1920s arguing that political uneasiness, created by real and imagined threats of colonialism and the presence of minority groups, paved the way for militant Hinduism on the Indian subcontinent.

Columbia University Press

Since the 1960s a new assertiveness has characterized India's formerly silent majority, the lower castes that comprise more than two-thirds of the population. Today India's most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, is controlled by lower-caste politicians, as is Bihar, and lower-caste representation in national politics is growing inexorably. Jaffrelot argues that this trend constitutes a genuine "democratization" of India and that the social and economic effects of this "silent revolution" are bound to multiply in the years to come.

India's Silent Revolution

Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (1891–1956) rose from a community of "untouchables," to become a major figure in modern Indian history. Christophe Jaffrelot's biography reconsiders Dr. Ambedkar's life and thought and his unique combination of pragmatism and idealism. Establishing himself as a scholar, activist, journalist, and educator, Ambedkar ultimately found himself immersed in Indian politics and helped to draft the nation's constitution as law minister in Nehru's first cabinet. Ambedkar's ideas remain an inspiration to India's Dalit community.

Dr. Ambedkar and Untouchability: Fighting the Indian Caste System (The CERI Series in Comparative Politics and International Studies)

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by JAFFRELOT, Christophe. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by JAFFRELOT, Christophe

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by JAFFRELOT, Christophe. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Hindu Nationalist Movement and Indian Politics, 1925 to the 1990's

India's First Dictatorship

Gujarat Under Modi: Laboratory of Today's India

Armed Militias of South Asia: Fundamentalists, Maoists and Separatists

Religion Caste and Politics in India

Religion Caste and Politics in India (Comparative Politics and Internatioanl Studies)

The Hindu Nationalist Movement in India

The Hindu Nationalist Movement in India

India's Silent Revolution

Dr. Ambedkar and Untouchability: Fighting the Indian Caste System (The CERI Series in Comparative Politics and International Studies)