Majoritarianism in India

Description

Majoritarianism in India examines the strident nationalism seizing India today, tracing its roots back to decisions made in the 1940s, particularly Partition and the drafting of the Constitution. Pre-Partition India had debated whether ‘liberty’—understood as ‘one man, one vote’—or ‘equality’—the equal political representation of minorities within a federal structure—should be the basis of a state. Congress chose ‘liberty’, but contemporary India is reaching the point where it has neither: its democracy is compromised and majoritarianism prevails. By dividing the subcontinent and elevating the ‘cow belt’, Partition seriously impeded social and economic progress in the newly created states, and brought communalism and casteism to the fore. 

Javed Gaya investigates the origins and consequences of India’s increasingly majoritarian system, assessing the frailty of constitutional safeguards, the role of the judiciary and the subversion of federalism. He analyses the futility of today’s quest for cultural purity, and shows how history is being rewritten with an exclusionary intent. He both interrogates the myths created to sustain this nativist ideology—including around the causes of Partition and the alleged privileging of minorities—and discusses the role of citizenship and the externalisation of the Hindu–Muslim conflict.

Reviews

‘At a time of rising sectarianism and alarming hate-fuelled attacks on minority communities, it is inspiring and deeply edifying to read Javed Gaya’s beautifully lucid and profoundly erudite book. His exploration of the current “architecture of hate” in contemporary India deserves a very wide audience.’ — Jacqueline Bhabha, Professor of the Practice of Health and Human Rights, Harvard Kennedy School

‘A detailed and fascinating analysis not only of the making of India’s constitution and its law of citizenship, but of the various controversies and judgements that have come to define citizenship differently for Hindus and Muslims. An entirely unique book.’ — Faisal Devji, Professor of Indian History and Director of the Asian Studies Centre, University of Oxford

‘Modi’s Hindu Rashtra cries out for a revisionist history of modern India to account for his success. Javed Gaya’s fluent, forensic account of the consolidation of a majoritarian common sense in politics and the law over the last hundred years, is that indispensable book. In a world crowded with illiberal democracies, everyone should read it.’ — Mukul Kesavan, essayist, author and contributor to The Guardian and the New York Review of Books; previously Professor of History, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi

‘A tour d’horizon of Indian politics with a passionate and clearly articulated argument. A very serious and learned book that will be of interest to the broader intelligentsia and to specialists on South Asia.’ — Uday Singh Mehta, Distinguished Professor of Political Science, CUNY Graduate Center

‘A sobering read. Gaya offers a stark picture of how Partition cemented the sweeping effects of majoritarianism on almost all aspects of the social, cultural and political mechanisms of the post-colonial Indian state.’ — Pallavi Raghavan, Assistant Professor of International Relations, Ashoka University, and author of Animosity at Bay: An Alternative History of the India–Pakistan Relationship, 1947–1952

Author(s)

Javed Gaya is a lawyer from Mumbai, specialising in commercial arbitration law. He studied jurisprudence at the University of Oxford and has taught law at colleges affiliated to the University of Mumbai. He contributes to various publications on topics including constitutional law, history and foreign affairs, and writes book reviews.