Saffron Republic
Hindu Nationalism and State Power in India

Approaches contemporary Hindutva as an example of a democratic authoritarianism or an authoritarian populism.

Thomas Blom Hansen (Edited by), Srirupa Roy (Edited by)

9781009100489, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 10 November 2022

330 pages
23.6 x 16 x 2.3 cm, 0.54 kg

This volume examines the phenomenon of contemporary Hindu nationalism or 'new Hindutva' that is presently the dominant ideological and political-electoral formation in India. There is a rich body of work on Hindu nationalism, but its main focus is on an earlier moment of insurgent movement politics in the 1980s and 1990s. In contrast, new Hindutva is a governmental formation that converges with wider global currents and enjoys mainstream acceptance. To understand these new political forms and their implications for democratic futures, a fresh set of reflections is in order. This book approaches contemporary Hindutva as an example of a democratic authoritarianism or an authoritarian populism, a politics that simultaneously advances and violates ideas and practices of popular and constitutional democracy.

List of abbreviations
Acknowledgements
List of tables and images
1. What is New about New Hindutva? Thomas Blom Hansen and Srirupa Roy
Part I. Rule: 2. New Hindutva Timeline: September 2013–October 2020 Ashwin Subramanian
3. Normalizing Violence: Lessons from Hindu Nationalist India Amrita Basu
4. Hindutva Establishments: Right-wing Think Tanks and the Mainstreaming of Governmental Hindutva Srirupa Roy
5. New Hindutva and the UP Model: An Interview with Neha Dixit and Nakul Sawhney Srirupa Roy and Thomas Blom Hansen
Part II. Articulation: 6. The Making of a Majoritarian Metropolis: Crowd Action, Public Order, and Communal Zoning in Calcutta Ritajyoti Bandyopadhyay
7. Social Segregation and Everyday Hindutva in Middle India Thomas Blom Hansen
Part III. Inclusion: 8. 'Mitakuye Oyasin – We Are All Related:' Hindutva and Indigeneity in Northeast India Arkotong Longkumer
9. From Castes to Nationalist Hindus: The Making of Hinduism as a Civil Religion Suryakant Waghmore
10. When Hindutva Performs Muslimness: Encounters with the Muslim Rashtriya Manch Lalit Vachani
Part IV. Violence: 11. Violence after Violence: The Politics of Narrative over the Delhi Pogrom Irfan Ahmad
12. Development: India's Foundational Myth Mona Bhan
13. Pratikriya, Guilt, and Reactionary Violence Parvis Ghassem-Fachandi
About the contributors
Index.

Subject Areas: Constitution: government & the state [JPHC]