In this episode, we are joined by two distinguished scholars who have closely documented the changing social and political trends in India for close to half a century, Jan Breman and Ghanshyam Shah.
The two of them have come out with a new book, titled ‘Gujarat, Cradle and Harbinger of Identity Politics: India’s Injurious Frame of Communalism’, published by Tulika Books. This book, a collection of essays written during the period of Hindutva’s growth in Gujarat and beyond, is an attempt to answer why majoritarian politics found fertile ground in Gujarat, of all places.
In this edition of The Hindu On Books podcast, we speak with Breman and Shah about the history of communal politics in India, how it has evolved over the years, Gujarat’s role in its expansion, and whether it is changing the average India’s sense of nationhood and what it means to be an Indian.
Guest: Jan Breman, Professor Emeritus of Comparative Sociology at the University of Amsterdam and Honorary Fellow at the International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam and Ghanshyam Shah, retired Professor of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and was earlier Dr Ambedkar Chair Professor at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie.
Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu
Edited by Reenu Cyriac
