Gujarat Under Modi: Laboratory of Today''s India

In 2012 Narendra Modi became the first Hindu nationalist politician thrice elected to lead a state of the Indian Union, his stewardship as Chief Minister of Gujarat being the longest in that states history. Modi and his BJP supporters explained his achievement by pointing to economic growth under his leadership, yet detractors point out that Modi has been more business-friendly than market-friendlyto the benefit of large industrial corporations, and at the cost of great social polarisation.

In 2002, an anti-Muslim pogrom of unparalleled ferocity occurred in Gujarat, leading to the biggest number of Muslim deaths since Partition. The states Hindu majority immediately rallied around Modi. No serious riot has occurred in Gujarat since, but polarisation was key to Modis strategy there, and he has deployed that strategy again and again since he became Prime Minister of India in 2014. For Modi has cultivated a communal image. A marketing genius, his messaging combines the politics of Hindutva with economic modernisation, to the clear appreciation of Gujarats middle class.

Christophe Jaffrelots revealing book shows how Modis Gujarat served as the laboratory of Modis India, not only in terms of Hindu majoritarianism and national populism, but also of caste and class politics.