In academic writings on multiculturalism in India the ''Shah Bano controversy'' (1985–1986) has b... more In academic writings on multiculturalism in India the ''Shah Bano controversy'' (1985–1986) has been a much cited example of the incompatibility between gender equality and cultural diversity. As a response to the Supreme Court's Shah Bano verdict in 1985, the then Congress-led Indian government introduced the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986. In this article, I analyze the parliamentary debates on the aforementioned Act in order to examine the dominant normative vocabulary of the Indian state in debating the issue of religious freedom versus demands for democratic citizenship rights. Such an exercise sheds light on how the Indian state has reconciled group-differentiated rights – the legal recognition of Muslim Personal Law in this case – with the liberal democratic principles enshrined in the Constitution of India.
There has been a sudden expansion and interest in Indian Political Thought (hereafter IPT) and th... more There has been a sudden expansion and interest in Indian Political Thought (hereafter IPT) and this review article seeks to map the changing trajectories of IPT. The four books under review are: Ananya Vajpeyi, Righteous Republic: The Political Foundations of Modern India. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2012.
C.A. Bayly, Recovering Liberties: Indian Thought in the Age of Liberalism and Empire. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012.
Gurpreet Mahajan, India: Political Ideas and the Making of a Democratic Discourse. London: Zed Books, 2013.
Pradip Kumar Datta, Sanjay Palshikar and Achin Vanaik, eds.: Indian Political Thought: Volume 3, ICSSR Research Surveys and Explorations: Political Science, Volumes 1-4. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2013.
Abstract
Given the popularity and success of the Hindu right in India’s electoral politics today, how may one study ostensibly ‘Western’ concepts and ideas, such as the secular and its family of cognates, like secularism, secularisation and secularity, in non-Western societies without assuming them to be simply derivative or colonial legacies or contrast cases of Western societies? In other words, what is the discourse of secularity in modern India? While recognising that the dominant language of political modernity of Western societies is not easily translatable in non-Western societies, The Secular Imaginary elaborates upon an intellectual history of secularity in modern India by focusing on the two most influential political leaders – M. K. Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. It is an intellectual history of both idea(s) and intellectuals which sheds light on Indian narratives of secularity – the Gandhian sarva dharma samabhava, Nehruvian secularism and ‘unity in diversity’. It revisits this dominant narrative of secularity of the twentieth century, which influenced and shaped the imagination of the modern nation-state.
In academic writings on multiculturalism in India the ''Shah Bano controversy'' (1985–1986) has b... more In academic writings on multiculturalism in India the ''Shah Bano controversy'' (1985–1986) has been a much cited example of the incompatibility between gender equality and cultural diversity. As a response to the Supreme Court's Shah Bano verdict in 1985, the then Congress-led Indian government introduced the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986. In this article, I analyze the parliamentary debates on the aforementioned Act in order to examine the dominant normative vocabulary of the Indian state in debating the issue of religious freedom versus demands for democratic citizenship rights. Such an exercise sheds light on how the Indian state has reconciled group-differentiated rights – the legal recognition of Muslim Personal Law in this case – with the liberal democratic principles enshrined in the Constitution of India.
There has been a sudden expansion and interest in Indian Political Thought (hereafter IPT) and th... more There has been a sudden expansion and interest in Indian Political Thought (hereafter IPT) and this review article seeks to map the changing trajectories of IPT. The four books under review are: Ananya Vajpeyi, Righteous Republic: The Political Foundations of Modern India. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2012.
C.A. Bayly, Recovering Liberties: Indian Thought in the Age of Liberalism and Empire. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012.
Gurpreet Mahajan, India: Political Ideas and the Making of a Democratic Discourse. London: Zed Books, 2013.
Pradip Kumar Datta, Sanjay Palshikar and Achin Vanaik, eds.: Indian Political Thought: Volume 3, ICSSR Research Surveys and Explorations: Political Science, Volumes 1-4. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2013.
Abstract
Given the popularity and success of the Hindu right in India’s electoral politics today, how may one study ostensibly ‘Western’ concepts and ideas, such as the secular and its family of cognates, like secularism, secularisation and secularity, in non-Western societies without assuming them to be simply derivative or colonial legacies or contrast cases of Western societies? In other words, what is the discourse of secularity in modern India? While recognising that the dominant language of political modernity of Western societies is not easily translatable in non-Western societies, The Secular Imaginary elaborates upon an intellectual history of secularity in modern India by focusing on the two most influential political leaders – M. K. Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. It is an intellectual history of both idea(s) and intellectuals which sheds light on Indian narratives of secularity – the Gandhian sarva dharma samabhava, Nehruvian secularism and ‘unity in diversity’. It revisits this dominant narrative of secularity of the twentieth century, which influenced and shaped the imagination of the modern nation-state.
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Papers by sushmita nath
C.A. Bayly, Recovering Liberties: Indian Thought in the Age of Liberalism and Empire. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012.
Gurpreet Mahajan, India: Political Ideas and the Making of a Democratic Discourse. London: Zed Books, 2013.
Pradip Kumar Datta, Sanjay Palshikar and Achin Vanaik, eds.: Indian Political Thought: Volume 3, ICSSR Research Surveys and Explorations: Political Science, Volumes 1-4. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2013.
Books by sushmita nath
Abstract
Given the popularity and success of the Hindu right in India’s electoral politics today, how may one study ostensibly ‘Western’ concepts and ideas, such as the secular and its family of cognates, like secularism, secularisation and secularity, in non-Western societies without assuming them to be simply derivative or colonial legacies or contrast cases of Western societies? In other words, what is the discourse of secularity in modern India? While recognising that the dominant language of political modernity of Western societies is not easily translatable in non-Western societies, The Secular Imaginary elaborates upon an intellectual history of secularity in modern India by focusing on the two most influential political leaders – M. K. Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. It is an intellectual history of both idea(s) and intellectuals which sheds light on Indian narratives of secularity – the Gandhian sarva dharma samabhava, Nehruvian secularism and ‘unity in diversity’. It revisits this dominant narrative of secularity of the twentieth century, which influenced and shaped the imagination of the modern nation-state.
https://books.google.de/books?id=G0t6EAAAQBAJ&newbks=0&printsec=frontcover&hl=de&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
C.A. Bayly, Recovering Liberties: Indian Thought in the Age of Liberalism and Empire. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012.
Gurpreet Mahajan, India: Political Ideas and the Making of a Democratic Discourse. London: Zed Books, 2013.
Pradip Kumar Datta, Sanjay Palshikar and Achin Vanaik, eds.: Indian Political Thought: Volume 3, ICSSR Research Surveys and Explorations: Political Science, Volumes 1-4. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2013.
Abstract
Given the popularity and success of the Hindu right in India’s electoral politics today, how may one study ostensibly ‘Western’ concepts and ideas, such as the secular and its family of cognates, like secularism, secularisation and secularity, in non-Western societies without assuming them to be simply derivative or colonial legacies or contrast cases of Western societies? In other words, what is the discourse of secularity in modern India? While recognising that the dominant language of political modernity of Western societies is not easily translatable in non-Western societies, The Secular Imaginary elaborates upon an intellectual history of secularity in modern India by focusing on the two most influential political leaders – M. K. Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. It is an intellectual history of both idea(s) and intellectuals which sheds light on Indian narratives of secularity – the Gandhian sarva dharma samabhava, Nehruvian secularism and ‘unity in diversity’. It revisits this dominant narrative of secularity of the twentieth century, which influenced and shaped the imagination of the modern nation-state.
https://books.google.de/books?id=G0t6EAAAQBAJ&newbks=0&printsec=frontcover&hl=de&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false