Religion, Caste and Politics in India

AUTHOR – Christophe Jaffrelot

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INFORMATION

  • AUTHOR : Christophe Jaffrelot
  • HB ISBN : 978-93-80607-04-7
  • PB ISBN: 978-93-84082-19-2
  • HB Year : 2010, PB Year : 2014
  • Extent : xxxii + 802
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Religion, Caste and Politics in India

HB
₹ 2250 . $  . ₤
PB
₹  . $  . ₤
POD
₹  . $ . ₤
e-Book
₹  . $  . ₤

 

   

INFORMATION

  • AUTHOR – Christophe Jaffrelot
  • ISBN – 978-93-80607-04-7
  • Year – 2010
  • Extent: 400 + 40 coloured illustrations
  • 10% discount + free shipping
  • Usually dispatched within 3 to 5 working days.

Post independence, the Nehurvian approach to socialism rested upon three pillars: secularism and democracy in the political domain; state intervention in the economy; and a policy of non-alignment mitigated by some Soviet leanings after the 1960s in the field of diplomacy. These features defined the Indian way and even the country’s political identity. From this starting point this book explores the manner in which some of these dimensions have been transformed in the course of time, more especially since the 1980s-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 Mandal. 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.
The liberalization 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 countryside lags behind and inequalities become more acute. India has reached a new status in the world, that of an emerging power looking for more partners in Asia and in the West where the US is the first choice of the Indian middle class. The Nehruvian pattern is giving way to a less cohesive but a more active India, a country which has already become what it is against all odds. Against this background, this book explores the role of religion, caste and politics in weaving the fabric of modern India.

The Author
Dr Christophe Jaffrelot is Research Director at the CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) and teaches South Asian politics and history at Sciences Po (Paris). From 2000 to 2008, he was Director of CERI (Centre d’Etudes et de Recherches Internationales) at Sciences Po. Dr Jaffrelot’s publications include The Hindu Nationalist Movement in Indian Politics, 1925 to the 1990s (1996 and 1999), India’s Silent Revolution: The Rise of the Lower Castes in North India (2003), and Dr Ambedkar and Untouchability: Analysing and Fighting Caste (2005). He has also edited Pakistan: Nationalism without a Nation? (2002), and co-edited with P. van der Veer, Patterns of Middle Class Consumption in China and India (2008) as well as, with L. Gayer, Militias of South Asia (2010).

‘Christophe Jaffrelot has for some fifteen years been a major source of work first on Hindu nationalist politics, and more recently on low caste politics in India. [This volume] brings together a collection in English of more than 30 of Jaffrelot’s many articles and contributions to edited volumes on different aspects of Indian politics. Some of these articles have been very influential in their own right, whilst others have worked as “feeders” into his major works such as those mentioned above. My judgement is that this kind of volume would be a welcome addition to the literature on modern Indian politics.’— JOHN ZAVOS, University of Manchester

Post independence, the Nehurvian approach to socialism rested upon three pillars: secularism and democracy in the political domain; state intervention in the economy; and a policy of non-alignment mitigated by some Soviet leanings after the 1960s in the field of diplomacy. These features defined the Indian way and even the country’s political identity. From this starting point this book explores the manner in which some of these dimensions have been transformed in the course of time, more especially since the 1980s-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 Mandal. 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.
The liberalization 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 countryside lags behind and inequalities become more acute. India has reached a new status in the world, that of an emerging power looking for more partners in Asia and in the West where the US is the first choice of the Indian middle class. The Nehruvian pattern is giving way to a less cohesive but a more active India, a country which has already become what it is against all odds. Against this background, this book explores the role of religion, caste and politics in weaving the fabric of modern India.

The Author
Dr Christophe Jaffrelot is Research Director at the CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) and teaches South Asian politics and history at Sciences Po (Paris). From 2000 to 2008, he was Director of CERI (Centre d’Etudes et de Recherches Internationales) at Sciences Po. Dr Jaffrelot’s publications include The Hindu Nationalist Movement in Indian Politics, 1925 to the 1990s (1996 and 1999), India’s Silent Revolution: The Rise of the Lower Castes in North India (2003), and Dr Ambedkar and Untouchability: Analysing and Fighting Caste (2005). He has also edited Pakistan: Nationalism without a Nation? (2002), and co-edited with P. van der Veer, Patterns of Middle Class Consumption in China and India (2008) as well as, with L. Gayer, Militias of South Asia (2010).

‘Christophe Jaffrelot has for some fifteen years been a major source of work first on Hindu nationalist politics, and more recently on low caste politics in India. [This volume] brings together a collection in English of more than 30 of Jaffrelot’s many articles and contributions to edited volumes on different aspects of Indian politics. Some of these articles have been very influential in their own right, whilst others have worked as “feeders” into his major works such as those mentioned above. My judgement is that this kind of volume would be a welcome addition to the literature on modern Indian politics.’— JOHN ZAVOS, University of Manchester