Author: Ram Puniyani
Editor(s): Ram Puniyani
Publisher: Sage Publications
Year: 2005
Language: English
Pages: 332
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0761933387
Description
The rise of communalism in recent years as the major claimant to power in Indian politics has posed a serious challenge to the survival of democracy and is even threatening the fabric of the Constitution. Coupled with the fact that political discourse in the international arena has been increasingly using the language of religion, this phenomenon has posed a serious challenge to human rights movements worldwide.
The 17 original essays in this volume have been written against the backdrop of the 9/11 attacks on the USA; US attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq; the worldwide demonization of Islam; and, in India, the Mumbai blasts, the Gujarat riots, and the BJP-led NDA government’s covert support to the US-led war on terror, Collectively, they examine:
The use of religion to evoke mass hysteria and to cushion any possible uprising among underprivileged sections.
The manner in which liberalization, globalization and privatization appear to go hand-in-hand with the rise of religion-based politics.
The fact that people like Osama bin Laden are the creation of the US, and that equating terrorism with Islam actually suits America’s ultimate aim of controlling OPEC countries.
The myth of the educational backwardness of Muslims.
NRI funding of Hindutva’s divisive politics.
The Hindutva strategy of simultaneously oppressing and attempting to mobilize tribals, Dalits, women and other minority groups.
Traversing a large canvas and critically interrogating Hindutva from multiple vantage points, this thought-provoking volume will interest students and researchers in the fields of politics, sociology, history and religion, as well as journalists and general readers.
Contents
LIST OF TABLES
PREFACE
INTRODUCTION: RELIGION, POWER AND VIOLENCE
1. Religion: Opium of the Masses or
2. Globalization and Communalism-Locating Contemporary Political discourse in the Context of Liberalization
3. Terrorism and Imperialism-Two Sides of the Same Coin
4. Islam, terrorism and the New World Order
5. Syncretism and Communal Harmony in Bengal
6. RSS and the Raj
7. Hindutva and Indian Diaspora
8. Hindutva and Weaker Sections-Conflict between Dominance and Resistance
9. Mobilization for Hindutva
10. Fundamentalism, Communalism and Gender Justice
11. Hindutva Agenda and Dalits
12. The Supreme Court, Media and UCC Debate
13. Educational Backwardness among the Muslims in India: A Case of Misrepresentation?
14. Violence against the Cross
15. Gujarat-Hindu Rashtra Laboratory
16. After Gujarat -Making Sense of Reports on the Post-Godhra Violence and its Aftermath
ABOUT THE EDITOR AND CONTRIBUTORS
INDEX