Passionate Politics

Indrajit Roy is Professor of Global Development Politics at the University of York

‘Departing from the conventional scholarship on elections, dominated by psephology and discussions of the real, imagined or mistaken interests of sociological groups, this innovative collection of essays focuses instead on the role of feeling, play and aspiration in political life. The result is a stimulating analysis of citizenship and nationalism in contemporary India.’Faisal Devji, Professor of Indian History, University of Oxford‘At a time when politics in many national contexts is marked by heightened emotions of anger, outrage, paranoia, hatred and adoration, it has become imperative to give emotion due analytic value. This volume is an excellent example of what such a study could look like. Contributors from a variety of disciplines show how the outcome of the 2019 national elections in India cannot be explained by conventional metrics alone and require a recognition of the role that emotions play in determining political outcomes. This volume will be of huge interest for anyone interested in passionate politics!’Mukulika Banerjee, Associate Professor of Anthropology, London School of Economics and Political Science‘India's 2019 national elections have challenged the core assumptions of its post-1947 polity. We need a proper understanding of what exactly happened, how and why. A volume like this is hugely necessary. It is remarkable in its breadth of coverage and notable in its range of insights. It will advance our understanding in very significant ways.’Ashutosh Varshney, Sol Goldman Professor of International Studies and the Social Sciences, Brown University‘An engaging exploration of the passions and emotions – fear, awe, love, hate, anger, aspiration, anxiety, protection, care, trust – that suffuse politics. The unusual lens of the 2019 general election in India provokes an interrogation of standard assumptions about the rational voter, as well as reflections on the mutual imbrication of emotion and reason in shaping how political choices are made.’Niraja Gopal Jayal, Avantha Chair in King’s India Institute, King’s College London‘The emphatic, expanded support of India’s electorate for the incumbent Modi government in the general elections of 2019 has puzzled observers. Indrajit Roy gathers a diverse range of scholars to view these elections through the prism of emotions. The result is an engaging, vibrant, sometimes provocative, sometimes perplexing portrait of an electorate driven by an overwhelming but contradictory panorama of emotions, ranging from fear, hate and anger at one end to adoration and hope at the other. This is a valuable addition to our understanding of a time of tumultuous upheaval and change in India’s political landscape.’Harsh Mander, author and human rights activist

• Introduction: Passionate politics in India today – Indrajit RoyPart I: Fear, love and fake news1 Ordinary conspiracy theories and everyday communalism: Hindutva on the Indian cyberspace – Amogh Dhar Sharma2 People-led campaigns in the 2019 general election: A case study of #Academics4NaMo – Swadesh SinghPart II: The emotive politics of Hindu nationalism3 Neoliberalism and cultural majoritarianism in India – Ajay Gudavarthy4 The BJP and the war on history – Shalini Sharma5 The passionate politics of the Savarna poor – Indrajit Roy6 Seeking humanist Hinduism: Education and new Gurukul coaching models of Hindutva– Suryakant WaghmorePart III: Love, hate and Kashmir7 The historical roots of conflict over/in Kashmir – Sarah Ansari8 This side of paradise: The rise, fall and decimation of regional politics in Kashmir – Shaswati Das9 The fear of Indian settler colonialism and the battle for Kashmir’s soul – Ather ZiaPart IV: Women, gender and love10 Love taboos: Hindus, Muslims and moral panics – Charu Gupta11 Why is romance political? – Sneha Krishnan Part V: What young Indians want12 In pursuit of Parivartan: Youth agency and the 2019 general election in Sikkim – Mabel Denzin Gergan and Charisma K. Lepcha 13 What do young people want from elections? – Sneha KrishnanPart VI: The economics of India’s passionate politics 14 Social oppression and exploitation of Adivasis and Dalits in contemporary India – Jens Lerche andAlpa Shah 15 Two large shocks and a long-term problem: The economic performance of the Modi government,2009–14 – Kunal Sen 16 Agrarian crisis, farmers’ protests and women’s assertion – Nitya Rao Part VII: India tomorrow17 The Modi government’s authoritarian project in India – James Manor 18 The 2019 elections and their implications for Muslim politics – Mujibur Rehman 19 Cementing emotions: The new reasoning of majoritarian politics – Gurpreet Mahajan Index