Author: John McGuire
Ian Copland/
Translator(s)/ Edito: John McGuire/Ian Copland
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year: 2007
Language: English
Pages: 476
ISBN/UPC (if available): 978-0-19-567922-9
Description
This volume—in the prestigious Themes in Politics series—describes the role of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the governance of India and dwells on its future as India’s main opposition party. A substantive introduction traces the BJP’s journey from the critical phase that followed the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992, to its rise to power in 1998, through to its defeat in the 2004 election. In doing so it raises several questions: To what extent did the BJP’s desire to rule compel it to forge strategic alliances? How did these alliances affect its hardline positions? To what extent was it able to implement the ideology of Hindutva? How did media shape the role of the BJP in power? What impact did BJP rule have on India’s foreign policy?
The essays demonstrate how the BJP repackaged core elements of its ideology to establish a stable coalition government. They show how, in order to meet the multiple demands of coalition politics, the BJP built regional alliances; transformed its economic policy from one that was informed by the idea of swadeshi to one that welcomed foreign capital; established Hindutva as the dominant cultural discourse in revisionist histories, cinema, and arts while simultaneously allaying the concerns of the regional parties; promoted a hegemonic Hindu discourse through the media; and fashioned significant shifts in India’s traditional foreign policy vis-à-vis Pakistan and Bangladesh.
The volume also sheds light on why the progress of the Hindu right has slowed in recent years, especially after the BJP’s 2004 election defeat. It speculates on how the BJP will balance demands of the Sangh Parivar with its need for regional allies-a test it cannot fail in its quest for power in the long-term.
With eminent contributors, this volume will be essential reading for scholars and students of politics and the history of modern India. In addition, it will be of interest to the general reader.
Contents
LIST OF TABLES AND MAPS
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
1. Introduction
The BJP and Governance in India: An Overview
JOHN MCGUIRE
2. Assessing the National Expansion of Hindu Nationalism: The BJP in Southern and Eastern India, 1996-2001
MICHAEL GILLAN
3. The BJP and the Shiv Sena: A Rocky Marriage?
MARIKA VICZIANY
4. Routines and routinization: Moving Towards Municipal Elections in Mumbai, 2001-2
JIM MASSELOS
5. From Swadeshi to Globalization: The Bharatiya Janata Party’s Shifting Economic Agenda
SALIM MAYER
6. The Hindu Rate of Reform: Privatization under the BJP-Still Waiting for that Bada Kadam
PETER MAYER
7. Swayed by the Humbug of Finance: Economic Policy under the BJP-Led Government
PRABHAT PATNAIK
8. Food Security, Governance, and Rural Development under the BJP
DOUGLAS HILL
9. The Work of the Indo-American Historians and the Rewriting of Indian History
GREG BAILEY
10. The BJP’s Intellectual Agenda: Textbooks and Imagined History
MUSHIRUL HASAN
11. Crucibles of Hindutva? V D Savarkar, the Hindu Mahasabha, and the Indian Princely States
IAN COPLAND
12. Fire, the BJP, and Moral Society
JULIE MARSH AND HOWARD BRASTED
13. The Water Controversy and the Politics of Hindu Nationalism
EDWINA MASON
14. Religion as Commodity Images: Securing a Hindu Rashtra
Brain Shoesmith and Noorel Mecklai
15. Grand Canyon, Shaky Bridge: Media Revolution and the Rise of Hindu Politics
ROBIN JEFFREY
16. Militarized Hindu Nationalism and the Mass Media: Shaping a Hindutva Public Discourse
RITA MANCHANDA
17. Making India Strong: the BJP-Led Government’s Foreign Policy Perspectives
ACHIN VANAIK
18. Kashmir: A Testing Ground
NAVNITA CHADHA BEHERA
19. Pakistan, the BJP, and the Politics of Identity
HOWARD BRASTED AND ADEEL KHAN
20. Bangladesh and the BJP
DENIS WRIGHT
BIBLIOGRAPHY
NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS