This book addresses the paradox of political mobilization and the failings of governance in India, with reference to the conflict between secularism and Hindu nationalism, authoritarianism and democracy.

It demonstrates how the Internal Emergency of 1975 led to increased support of groups such as the BJS and the RSS, accounting for the rise of political movements advocating Hindu nationalism - Hindutva - as a response to rapid political mobilization triggered by the Emergency, and an attempt by political elites to control this to their advantage. Vernon Hewitt argues that the...