Author: Zoya Hasan
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year: 1999
Language: English
Pages: 280
ISBN/UPC (if available): 978-0-19-565323-6
Description
Setting the analysis within a broader spectrum of change in Indian society and politics, this book explores the oppositional politics of farmers, Other Backward Classes, and Hindutva that contributed to the collapse of the Congress Party and the disintegration of the Congress system.
A significant phenomenon in Indian politics over the last few years has been the growth of oppositional political movements. Through an analysis of oppositional politics in India’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, this book offers insights into the interplay between Congress and opposition politics in the transition to a post-Congress polity.
Two discernible trends in this transition are identified first, the greater participation and empowerment of the hitherto excluded groups, and second, the assertion of exclusivist identities and communal interests.
Setting the analysis within a broader spectrum of change in Indian society and politics, this book explores the oppositional politics of farmers, Other Backward Classes, and Hindutva that contributed to the collapse of the Congress Party and the disintegration of the Congress system. It also delineates the strategies and tactics of mobilization employed by leading political parties and organizations to accomplish this transformation.
EXCERPTS FROM REVIEWS:
A veritable tour de force of political change in Uttar Pradesh in the last two decades and ought to read by every serious student of Indian politics. - The Book Review
The most interesting element in the author’s presentation of events is its open-ended nature. The author leaves one entering uncharted territory, but the path to it is well-lighted and mapped out. - The Hindu
Contents
* Introduction
* Social Conflict and Political Discontent: The Historic Decline of the Congress
* Agrarian Change and Rural Unrest: Farmers in the Forefront
* Other Backward Classes and Competitive Mobilizations: Recasting the Political Order
* Ayodhya Movement and the Politics of Communal Compromise: The Struggle to Control Uttar Pradesh
* Interpreting Political Change
* Appendices
* Bibliography
* Index