A01=Christophe Jaffrelot
A01=Pratinav Anil
Age Group_Uncategorized
Age Group_Uncategorized
Author_Christophe Jaffrelot
Author_Pratinav Anil
automatic-update
Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=HBJF
Category=HBLW3
Category=JPB
Category=NHF
COP=United Kingdom
Delivery_Delivery within 10-20 working days
dictatorship
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
Indian history
Indira Gandhi
Language_English
PA=Available
post-colonial India
Price_€50 to €100
PS=Active
softlaunch
Product details
- ISBN 9781787384026
- Dimensions: 136 x 216mm
- Publication Date: 17 Dec 2020
- Publisher: C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
- Language: English
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
In June 1975 Prime Minister Indira Gandhi imposed a state of emergency, resulting in a 21-month suspension of democracy. Jaffrelot and Anil explore this black page in India's history, a constitutional dictatorship of unequal impact, with South India largely spared thanks to the resilience of Indian federalism.
India's First Dictatorship focuses on Mrs Gandhi and her son, Sanjay, who was largely responsible for the mass sterilisation programmes and deportation of urban slum-dwellers. However, it equally exposes the facilitation of authoritarian rule by Congressmen, Communists, trade unions, businessmen and the urban middle class, as well as the complacency of the judiciary and media. While opposition leaders eventually closed ranks in jail, many of them—especially in the RSS—tried to collaborate with the new regime. Those who resisted the Emergency, in the media or on the streets, were few in number.
This episode was an acid test for India's political culture. While a tiny minority of citizens fought for democracy during the Emergency, in large numbers the people bowed to the strong woman in power, even worshipped her. Equally importantly, Hindu nationalists were endowed with a new legitimacy. Yet, the Emergency was neither a parenthesis, nor so much a turning point but a concentrate of a style of rule that is very much alive today.
Christophe Jaffrelot is Research Director at CNRS, Sciences Po and Professor of Indian Politics and Sociology at the King’s India Institute. Hurst has published nine of his books, most recently the co-edited Majoritarian State. Pratinav Anil, a Clarendon scholar, is a DPhil candidate at St John’s College, University of Oxford.
