Warriors in Politics: Hindu Nationalism, Violence, and the Shiv Sena in India

ISBN-13: 9780367217297 / Angielski / Miękka / 2022 / 224 str.

Sikata Banerjee

Opis

In theorizing about the link between violence and the politics of nationalism, most scholars have rejected the idea that primordial hatred between different ethnic and/or religious groups residing in close proximity will inevitably lead to conflict and the call for an ethnically/religiously pure nation-state. Rather, conflict tends to occur when humans manipulate social, political, economic, and ideological factors to construct nationalist identities and movements. The manipulation perspective is the underlying theoretical framework of Warriors in Politics which uses the Mumbai riots of December 1992 and January 1993 to analyze the brand of nationalism created and disseminated by the Indian political party Shiv Sena. While the theoretical and empirical research of others is an important part of this study, interviews conducted by the author when she lived in Mumbai during this tumultuous period as well as her own theorizing on the links among masculinity, militarism, and nationalism, provide an analysis of the factors - economic, political, and ideological - that converge to transform the simmering discontent of the politics of nationalism into violent conflict.

While the theoretical and empirical research of others is an important part of the study of Hindu nationalism, interviews conducted by the author during this tumultuous period as well as her own theorizing on the links among masculinity, militarism and nationalism, provide an analysis of the factors that converge to transform the discontent of the politics of nationalism into violent conflict.

Spis treści

Acknowledgments; Introduction; 1. Theoretical Dichotomies; Instrumentalism and Primordialism; A Critique of Instrumentalism; Conclusion; 2. Incidents of Violence; Jogeshwari; Behrampada; Dharavi,; Govandi/Deonar,; Context of the Riots in Mumbai,; Conclusion,; 3. Economic Dislocations; Unique Conditions; De-Industrialization; The Informal Sector; Demand for Factory Labor; Growth in the Services Sector; Aftermath of the Textile Strike; Conclusion; 4. Political Dislocations; Crisis of Congress Governability; Internal Rivalry and the Political Vacuum in Maharashtra; Shifts in Caste Voting; Betrayal of Secularism; Politics of Demolition; Conclusion; 5. Mobilization of the Shiv Sena; The Political Story of the Shiv Sena; The Recruitment of Party Activists; The Shiv Sena: Who Leads?; The Shiv Sena and Its Economic Role; Conclusion; 6. Masculine Hinduism; Hegemonic Masculinity and Nationalism; Hinduism and Colonialism; Masculine Hinduism and Hindu Revivalism; Tactics of Masculine Hinduism in Maharashtra; Ideas of Masculine Hinduism in the Mumbai Riots; Conclusion; 7. The Future of Secular Democracy; Public Responses to the Mumbai Riots; Hindu Nationalism and the Elections; Sena/BJP Governance: Loss of Credibility; Sena/BJP Governance: Selected Policies; Hindu Nationalism and Nuclear Testing; Conclusion; 8. Conclusions; Selected Glossary; Selected Bibliography; Index

O autorze

Sikata Banerjee