Democracy and Social Cleavage in India

<p>This book explores the emergence of identity politics and violence at the forefront of political life in an Indian state. Through a close reading of everyday politics in West Bengal, India, which until recently boasted of the longest-serving elected communist government in the world, the volume presents unique observations on Indian politics and its trajectories.</p><p>One of the first ethnographic studies of religious polarisation and its interface with politics in West Bengal, this book:</p><ul> <li>Offers a fresh perspective, both theoretically and empirically, by using longitudinal, multi-site ethnography, to explain the mechanisms by which identity issues have re-emerged;</li> <li>Studies key policy changes, political practices and series of invented traditions during periods of political transition;</li> <li>Examines intricate details of the micro-dynamics of the formulation and expansion of Hindu and Islamic fundamentalism and their political counterparts, which carry a capacity to push away secular, democratic forces from the existing political spectrum;</li> <li>Sheds light on the mechanisms of riots, its design, organisational bases and mechanisms of spread;</li> <li>Includes key observations from the 2021 elections in the state.</li> </ul><p>The volume will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of political science, social and cultural anthropology, sociology and South Asian studies.</p>