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"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 to this earlier era of "Mandir politics," new Hindutva is a governance and governmental formation with considerable institutional heft that converges with wider global currents and enjoys mainstream acceptance. Contemporary Hindu nationalist politics is also significantly different, both in form and substance, from earlier versions. To understand these political forms and their implications for democratic futures, a fresh set of reflections is in order. This book approaches the phenomenon of 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. The volume is a collective effort in anticipatory writing that engages a particularly fraught present in order to understand its implications for democratic futures. Can we avoid the pitfalls of presentism when studying current and recent events? Equally, can we reflect on the futures that will follow these troubled times without falling into the trap of predictive analysis? The authors offer different answers to these questions about what it means, both analytically and politically, to study new Hindutva at this particular moment in time"--
List of contents
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.
Summary
Examines the phenomenon of contemporary Hindu nationalism or “new Hindutva” that is presently the dominant ideological and political-electoral formation in India.
