Presenting the Past: Anxious History and Ancient Future in Hindutva India

(Hardback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

The interface of identity construction practices and the role of knowledge of the past in that continual process manifests itself in contemporary Hindu-Muslim relations and political governance. Presenting' the Past studies the religious, cultural, sociological, and ideological dimensions of the Hindutva historiographical project going back and forth into the realms of history, myth, socialization, and governance. Taking Ram' and the division of the Indian society into Rambhakts (Ram devotees) and non-Rambhakts as the core, Udayakumar proceeds by reading the closely related set of texts: the Ramayana, Ramarajya (State of Ram) imageries in political discourses, the Babri Masjid/Ramjanmabhumi controversy in Ayhodhya and the Ramraksha governance of the BJP-led government in New Delhi. With analysis of events dating to the 1920s and the establishment of Muslim separatism and Hindu fundamentalism, extending to the 1990s when the Sangh Parivar's narrative of national history' reached its pinnacle with the demolition of the Babri Masjid and the attainment of state power, and terminating in 2004 when the BJP lost power and prominence at the center, this illuminating discourse is readily accessible to students and scholars of contemporary Indian politics and society.

Reviews

"Endorsement From Joseph E. Schwartzberg Professor Emeritus University of Minnesota: Rewriting the history of India to promote the fundamentalist Hindu nationalist agenda has been a major project of the so-called Sangh Parivar, a still potent collectivity of exclusivist political, social and cultural entities that flourished under the aegis of India's recently deposed BJP-led government. In this trenchant and salutary work, S.P. Udayakumar exposes the methods employed by the revisionists and demonstrates their remarkable similarity to those developed so effectively under the European Fascist and Nazi regimes more than half a century ago. Endorsement From Johan Galtung Professor of Peace Studies Director, TRANSCEND Rector, TRANSCEND Peacre University: Presenting the Past has two very basic ramifications. The BJP-led government in Delhi was substituting Nehruvian secularism with its virulent Hindutva, a fundamentalist ideology that put Muslims and other minorities in India on a collision course with the "Hindus." It also sought to replace another Nehruvian principle, Non-alignment, and create a sort of Asian NATO with the United States against China. If the reader wants to know the background, this is the best book."

Author Bio

S. P. Udayakumar directs the South Asian Community Center for Education and Research (SACCER) at Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu, India.