The Pakistan Paradox: Instability And Resilience

CHRISTOPHE JAFFRELOT

Penguin Book

BUSINESS AND POLITICS IN INDIA

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS (33.33%)

Pakistan at the Crossroads: Domestic Dynamics and External Pressures (Religion, Culture, and Public Life Book 21)

Columbia University Press

Rise of the Plebeians?: The Changing Face of the Indian Legislative Assemblies

Routledge Chapman & Hall

Rise of the Plebeians? The Changing Face of the Indian Legislative Assemblies

SANJAY KUMAR

Routledge

Gujarat Under Modi Laboratory of Today's India

Hurst Publishers

Religion, Caste and Politics in India

After Independence the Nehruvian approach to socialism in India rested upon three pillars: secularism and democracy in the political domain; state intervention in the economy; and diplomatic Non-Alignment mitigated by pro-Soviet leanings after the 1960s. These features defined the 'Indian model', and even the country's political identity. From this starting point Christophe Jaffrelot explores the manner in which some of these dimensions have been transformed over the course of time, more especially since the 1980-90s. The world's largest democracy has sustained itself by making more room, not only for the vernacular politicians of the linguistic states, but also for Dalits and OBCs, at least after the Mandal Commission report. But the simultaneous-and related-rise of Hindu nationalism has put the minorities-and secularism-on the defensive, and in many ways the rule of law is on trial too.  The liberalisaton of the economy has resulted in growth but not necessarily in development: while the new middle class is changing the face of urban India, the rural areas lag behind and inequalities have become more acute. India has also acquired a new global status, that of an emerging power seeking new political and economic partnerships in Asia and in the West, where the United States remains the first choice of the Indian middle class. The traditional Nehruvian system is giving way to a less cohesive but a more active India, a country that has already become what it is against all the odds. Christophe Jaffrelot tracks India's tumultuous journey of recent decades, exploring the role of religion, caste and politics in weaving the fabric of a modern democratic state.

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

Hurst & Co.

The violent campaign to erect a temple to Lord Ram on a site occupied by a mosque in the north Indian city of Ayodhya is only the latest manifestation of extreme Hindu nationalism. Hindu chauvinists argue that India's Hindu heritage was usurped by the secular idealism of the Nehru dynasty and their "pandering" to the interests of minorities, above all the 120 million Muslims. In the 1991 general election the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), the principal political vehicle for Hindu militancy, won some notable victories and became the largest opposition party in parliament. Christophe Jaffrelot presents a study of the Hindu nationalist phenomenon and explores the movement's use of religious symbolism and popular iconography, thereby combining anthropology and political history. He begins by tracing the origins of the RSS - a party that Nehru described as "the Indian version of fascism" and which was proscribed following Mahatma Gandhi's assassination in 1948. This is followed by an analysis of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the most successful first-generation Hindu nationalist party, its opposition to Indira Gandhi, involvement in the JP movement and later integration into the Janata party coalition; the formation of the BJP; the relaunch by the RSS of a "front" organization, the VHP; and the BJP's change of strategy and consequent electoral success in 1989-1991.

The Hindu Nationalist Movement and Indian Politics, 1925-1994: Social and Political Strategies

Politics & Government

C. Hurst & Co. Publishers Ltd.

<p>More than half a century before, Muslims that ripped the Punjab part of India to create their own country, are still searching for their identity. This work talks about this issue.</p>

Pakistan: Nationalism Without A Nation

History

Asia

Manohar

B.R. Ambedkar (1891 1956) was the first Dalit or low-caste Hindu to be formally educated to the highest level, gaining his PhD in the West. Despite this huge achievement he remained true to his background and origins, fighting for Dalit rights throughout his life. No one today doubts Ambedkar s status as India s first and foremost Dalit. For years, Ambedkar waged a singular and lonely battle against India s brahminical and higher-caste political establishment, which included Mahatma Gandhi, who resisted Ambedkar s effort to formalize and codify a separate identity for lower-caste Hindus. Nonetheless, Ambedkar became Law Minister in the first government of independent India, and chairman of the committee which drafted the Indian constitution, and was able to modify Gandhian attempts to influence India s polity. In the final stage of his life Ambedkar distanced himself from politics and sought solace in Buddhism, to which he converted a short while before his death. Jaffrelot s major new book focuses on the three key areas that are central to a full understanding of India s pioneering Dalit: Ambedkar as social theorist; Ambedkar as statesman and politician; and Ambedkar as an opponent of caste Hinduism and advocate of Buddhism as a method of release from Hindu social oppression. In each case, Jaffrelot argues, Ambedkar was the first to forge new political, symbolic, and emotively powerful strategies for Dalits. These not only proved effective in Ambedkar s own lifetime, they resonate powerfully even today.

Dr Ambedkar and Untouchability: Analysing and Fighting Caste

Permanent Black

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Books by CHRISTOPHE JAFFRELOT