This book is a reflection on the current political dispensation working under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi. It attempts to take a critical look at all the major events that transpired since 2014 and as a run-up to 2019. It is premised on the argument that ‘India after Modi’ is distinct from what it was before. I have attempted to tread a difficult line of making the book readable to the common reader and anyone interested in what is going on with democracy in India; further, this will appeal to social scientists, scholars, journalists, policymakers, and others with a degree of specialization relevant to reading politics.
Some of the articles published as short essays in various news dailies and web portals have been rewritten to further explore the interconnections between them and produce (hopefully) tightly held arguments, mapping the changes and pre-empting the ones to come. The essays have been published earlier in The Hindu, The Indian Express, New Indian Express, The Wire, News Laundry, Deccan Herald, South Live, Himal South Asian, Book Review and the Economic and Political Weekly (EPW). I gratefully acknowledge all of them.
I acknowledge with thanks all colleagues and friends who were part of this bumpy ride, including Janjira Sambatpoonaseri, Marc Saxer, Anil Menon, B.S. Chimni, Zoya Hasan, Arfa Khannum, Amir Ali, Neera Chandhoke, Satish Jha, Burra Srinivas, Afroz Alam, Maninder Thakur, Divyaraj Amiya, Trevor Stack, Anand Teltumbde, Anindya Purukayastha, Saswat Das, Nicholas Tampio, Heike, Samir Gandesha, Anup Dhar, Swagato Sarkar, A.P.S. Chauhan, Ashok Kaul, Taru Shikha, Bal Reddy, Govindraj Hegde, T.G. Suresh, Shiju Verghese, Supriya Roychoudhary, Manisha Sethi, G. Vijay, V.S. Prasad, Dr Narshima Reddy, and many others I inadvertently forget to mention here. I thank many students at the Centre for Political Studies for engaging discussions and filling in the days with mirth, helping me avoid the distaste of institutional realities! I immensely benefitted out of continuous dialogue and discussions with all of them. I thank Gurpreet Mahajan for the discussions and Satyender for the help in processing the funding of the field trips through the Departmental Special Assistance (DSA).
I am thankful to all those who have extended invitations to be part of academic meets that they organized including Mahesh Rangarajan, Mohan Gopal, Ravi Kumar, Afroz Alam, Bijaylakshmi, Venkatesu, Rashmi Doraisamy, Dhananjay Tripathi, J. Prabash, Vivek Kumar, Gurram Srinivas, Smriti Das, Maninder Thakur, Pia David, Ajay Behera, Biju, G.N. Trivedi, Subodh Kumar Sajjan, Anindya Purakayastha and Saswat Das, Dr Kuruvila, Mangesh Kulkarni, Srirupa Roy, Rama Rao, Muslim Education Society, Jaganatham, Deepak Kumar, Radhakrishnan, and Sudhir Suthur. Presenting papers and delivering public talks at the various events that they organized greatly contributed to the clarity with which I have been able to present the arguments in this book.
Finally, I wish to express my heartfelt thanks to Chandra Sekhar at Bloomsbury for suggesting the idea for the book and for suggesting that I rewrite it to read like a book. Without his persuasion, this book wouldn’t be what it is.