Author: John Zavos
Thomas Blom Hansen/Christophe Jaffrelot
Editor(s): Pratap Bhanu Mehta
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year: 2004
Language: English
Pages: 974
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0195669649
Description
The rise and growth of Hindu nationalism is the salient feature of contemporary Indian politics. This omnibus brings together the best scholarship on Hindu nationalism, its organizational forms, political strategies, ideological claims, social base, and its relationship to other variants of nationalism. Meticulously researched and lucidly written, each of the three books included here, provides a wealth of empirical material and theoretical insights on this phenomenon.
Pratap Bhanu Mehta’s thought-provoking introduction, especially written for this volume, examines the idea of Hindu nationalism and situates the three books in the present context.
While complementing each other, the volumes offer a powerful and persuasive analysis of the politics of Hindutva and its prospects. John Zavos’ The emergence of Hindu Nationalism in India traces its origins in the early part of the twentieth century, and enumerates the different political idioms and organizational strategies it employed. Thomas Blom Hansen’s the Saffron wave places it in the modern context and reflects on the relationship between Hindu nationalism and other forms of nationalism and democracy. Christophe Jaffrelot and Thomas Blom Hansen in The BJP and the Compulsions of Politics in India bring together scholarly studies on the B JP’s political strategies in the context of electoral politics. The book analyses the party’s political trajectories at the regional as well as the national level and the specific challenges it faces.
At a time when the political resilience of Hindu nationalism is again in focus, these works will engage both the scholar and the general reader. This omnibus is a unique resource for students of modern history and politics, as also for policy-makers, analysts, and journalists.
REVIEWS
This omnibus edition of three outstanding studies by leading scholars of Indian politics provides a timely but enduring contribution to scholarship about the place of Hindu nationalist politics in
India’s public life.
-Lloyd I Rudolph and Susanne Hoeber Rudolph, University of Chicago
Hindu nationalism is undeniably a formidable force in Indian politics today. Its true character and future trajectory remain mired in controversy and dispute. A compendium of three remarkable books, this omnibus, more than any single text, allows one to make sense of Hindu nationalist ideology and politics. Not only are some of the best scholars of Hindu nationalism presented here, but we also have a new, politically insightful and intellectually fascinating introduction.
-Ashutosh Varshney, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
This omnibus usefully brings, between a single pair of covers, some of the best scholarship on the ideology and politics of Hindu nationalism.
-Naraja Gopal Jayal, Jawaharlal Nehru University
Contents
INTRODUCTION TO THE OMNIBUS
The Emergence of Hindu Nationalism in India
JOHN ZAVOS
THE SAFFRON WAVE
Democracy and Hindu Nationalism in Modern India
THOMAS BLOM HANSEN
The BJP and the Compulsions of Politics in India
EDITED BY CHRISTOPHE JAFFRELOT AND THOMAS BLOM HANSEN
PART I
NOTE ON ORHOGRAPHY
INTRODUCTION
Situating the Ideology of Hindu Nationalism
The State and the Hindu Religion in the Nineteenth Century
Indian Nationalism and Representations of Hinduism towards the End of the Nineteenth Century
Imagining the Constituency of Hindus in the Early Twentieth Century
Contextualizing Hindu Nationalism:
The Development of Political Discourse in the Post-War Years
Organization and the Development of Hindu Nationalism in the Twenties
Conclusion
Glossary of Indian Terms
Bibliography
Index
PART II
INTRODUCTION
Hindu Nationalism and Democracy in India
Modernity, Nation, and Democracy in India
Imagining the Hindu Nation
Organizing the Hindu Nation
Democracy, Populism, and Governance in India in the 1980s
The saffron Wave
Communal Identities at the heart of the Nation
Hindu Nationalism, Democracy, and Globalization
Notes Glossary
Bibliography
Index
PART III
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS
INTRODUCTION
The Rise to Power of the BJP Thomas Blom Hansen and Christophe Jaffrelot
BJP AND THE CASTE BARRIER: BEYOND THE TWICE-BORN?
The Sangh Parivar Between Sanskritization and Social Engineering
The BJP in Uttar Pradesh: From Hindutva to Consensual Politics?
Rajput Hindutva, Caste Politics, Regional Identity and Hindu Nationalism in Contemporary Rajasthan
A HINDI-BELT PARTY OR A NATINAL PARTY?
BJP and the Politics of Hindutva in Maharashtra
Southern Discomfort: The BJP in Karnataka
Bounded Nationalism: Kerala and the Social and Regional Limits of Hindutva
The Akalis and BJP in Punjab: From Ayodhya to the 1997 Legislative Assembly Election
DIVIDED THEY STAND
The BJP’s Riddle in Gujarat: Caste, Factionalism and Hindutva
BJP and the Challenge of Factionlism in Madhya Pradesh
The Ethics of Hindutva and the Spirit of Capitalism
AFTERWORD
The BJP at the Centre:
A Central and Centrist Party?
Index