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9780190078171

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When a majority claims sovereign authority to impose its will on the rest of society, democracy is threatened. The present volume, consisting of contributions from leading scholars of Indian politics, offers a comprehensive view of how the recent mobilization of Hindus as victims of minority appeasement is violently tearing apart communities and institutions. A valuable and timely contribution. -- Partha Chatterjee, Professor of Anthropology and Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies at Columbia University Implicit in these comprehensive and well-documented essays are questions crucial to the perception of contemporary India and they reach out to current debates. Attempts to imprint a Hindu majoritarian identity on the state and on various aspects of the lives of citizens, bring about some contestations. These are analysed. The high-quality discussion of these provides a diagnosis, which in turn could suggest a prognosis for the India of post 2019. The book therefore is essential reading. --Romila Thapar, Emeritus Professor of History at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi [Majoritarian State is] a subversive resource in India's current political climate . . . thorough and compelling in its sharp critique of India's right-wing majoritarian politics and policies. -- Asian Affairs [Majoritarian State includes] contributions from some of the keenest and most perceptive scholars working on India today; most of the essays are thoughtful, and some are fresh and provocative. -- CHOICE

When a majority claims sovereign authority to impose its will on the rest of society, democracy is threatened. The present volume, consisting of contributions from leading scholars of Indian politics, offers a comprehensive view of how the recent mobilization of Hindus as victims of minority appeasement is violently tearing apart communities and institutions. A valuable and timely contribution. -- Partha Chatterjee, Professor of Anthropology and Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies at Columbia University Implicit in these comprehensive and well-documented essays are questions crucial to the perception of contemporary India and they reach out to current debates. Attempts to imprint a Hindu majoritarian identity on the state and on various aspects of the lives of citizens, bring about some contestations. These are analysed. The high-quality discussion of these provides a diagnosis, which in turn could suggest a prognosis for the India of post 2019. The book therefore is essential reading. --Romila Thapar, Emeritus Professor of History at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

Author Information

Angana P. Chatterji is Founding Co-chair of the Political Conflict, Gender and People's Rights Initiative and Visiting Research Anthropologist at the Center for Race and Gender at University of California, Berkeley. Her books include: Violent Gods: Hindu Nationalism in India's Present; and Conflicted Democracies and Gendered Violence (co-edited). Thomas Blom Hansen is Reliance-Dhirubhai Ambani Professor in South Asian Studies and Professor and Chair of the Department of Anthropology at Stanford University. His books include: The Saffron Wave: Democracy and Hindu Nationalism in Modern India; and Melancholia of Freedom: Social Life in an Indian Township in South Africa. Christophe Jaffrelot is Research Director at CNRS, Sciences Po and Professor of Indian Politics and Sociology at the King's India Institute. His books include: Hindu Nationalism: A Reader (edited); The Pakistan Paradox: Instability and Resilience; and Religion Caste and Politics in India.

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