Hindu Nationalism and the Language of Politics in Late Colonial India

Abstract

In this book William Gould explores what is arguably one of the most important and controversial themes in twentieth-century Indian history and politics: the nature of Hindu nationalism as an ideology and political language. Rather than concentrating on the main institutions of the Hindu Right in India as other studies have done, the author uses a variety of historical sources to analyse how Hindu nationalism affected the supposedly secularist Congress in the key state of Uttar Pradesh. In this way, the author offers an alternative assessment of how these languages and ideologies transformed the relationship between Congress and north Indian Muslims. The book makes a major contribution to historical analyses of the critical last two decades before Partition and Independence in 1947, which will be of value to scholars interested in historical and contemporary Hindu nationalism, and to students researching the final stages of colonial power in India.

‘A new type of revolution’: socialist thought in India, 1940s–1960s

“…100 Even many of those who favoured a secular form of government understood India and its history in distinctly religious terms, and many often implicitly equated India with Hinduism. 101 The search for a higher purpose for India's socialism was not just an outgrowth of religious revival, it also a product of the Indian critique of Stalinism. As Jayaprakash Narayan wrote in 1951, the 'Stalinist interpretation of socialist philosophy has reduced it to a crass Machiavellian code of conduct utterly devoid of any sense of right or wrong, good or evil.'…”

The Historiography of India's Partition: Between Civilization and Modernity

“…10 If one were to characterize a dominant strand in historical writing on the immediate coming of partition it would instead focus on the politics of elite conflict in late colonial India in the 1930s and 1940s, and to the elite manipulation of religion (and popular politics) as the central key to partition's coming. 13 For Punjab, see Nair (2011); for the United Provinces, see Gould (2004). Such issues have also shaped controversies on women and Hindu nationalism, and have been explored by Amrita Basu and others (see, e.g., Jeffery and Basu 1998).…”

“…For Punjab, see Nair (2011); for the United Provinces, see Gould (2004). The operation of caste conflicts, including questions surrounding the political affiliations and alliances of Dalits, remains a critical focus here, and is beginning to be the subject of important research.…”

Elites and Decolonization in the Twentieth Century

“…16. See William Gould (2004). 17. The key text on the making of the constitution is Granville Austin (1966).…”