Another India: The Making of the World's Largest Muslim Minority, 1947-77
Pratinav Anil
(Author)
21,000+ Reviews
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Description
Another India tells the story of the world's biggest religious minority. Weaving together vivid biographical portraits of a wide range of Indian Muslims--elite and subaltern, secular and clerical, activist and apolitical--it brings the experience of the country's Muslims under a single focus; and, by throwing light on the Indian Muslim condition during the first thirty years of independence, reflects on the true character of democratic India. What we have here is a rather different picture from received accounts of the 'world's largest democracy'. Challenging traditional histories of Nehru's India, Pratinav Anil shows that minority rights were neglected right from independence. Despite its best intentions, the Congress regime that ruled for three decades was often illiberal, intolerant and undemocratic. Muslims had to contend with discrimination, disadvantage, deindustrialization, dispossession and disenfranchisement, as well as an unresponsive leadership. Anil demonstrates how the Muslim elite encouraged depoliticization, taking up seemingly noble but largely inconsequential causes with little bearing on the lives of ordinary members of the community. There was no room for mass protests or collective solidarity in this version of Muslim politics. Another India explores this elite betrayal, whose consequences are still felt by India's 200 million Muslims today.Product Details
Price
$40.25
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Publish Date
July 01, 2023
Pages
432
Dimensions
5.9 X 8.49 X 1.57 inches | 1.45 pounds
Language
English
Type
Hardcover
EAN/UPC
9780197694695
BISAC Categories:
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About the Author
Pratinav Anil is an historian of postcolonial India, currently teaching at the University of Oxford, whose writings have appeared in The Spectator, The Indian Express and History Today. He is the co-author (with Christophe Jaffrelot) of India's First Dictatorship, and the author of Another India, both published by Hurst.
Reviews
"[This] book is particularly valuable in its treatment of Muslims as actors in their own right? . Essential reading for those who want to understand contemporary India, and for anyone concerned about the state of democracy in the world."--Literary Review"An important and ambitious study unpacking the idea of Muslim agency to make sense of the complex history of postcolonial Muslim politics." -- Hilal Ahmed, Associate Professor, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, and author of Muslim Political Discourse in Postcolonial India"Anil's powerful intervention demolishes the caricature of the Indian Muslim's voice as an essay on victimhood. This richly textured analysis restores authorship to Indian Muslims in the complex story of their engagement with what ought to constitute the priorities of the minority community." -- Pallavi Raghavan, Assistant Professor of International Relations, Ashoka University, and author of Animosity at Bay: An Alternative History of the India-Pakistan Relationship"Anil details convincingly the story of Indian Muslims before and after Partition, exploring their (unsuccessful) struggle to secure political and cultural rights as well as recovering Muslim agency in the story of postcolonial India. A must-read." -- Katharine Adeney, Professor of Comparative Politics, University of Nottingham, and author of Federalism and Ethnic Conflict Regulation in India and Pakistan"Successfully punctures the myth that the secularism of Nehru's India was a golden age for Indian Muslims." -- The Spectator''An eye-opener.'' -- The Indian Express"Another India offers a fresh perspective on India's Muslim community in the post-independence era...Another India provides valuable insights, shedding light on various aspects of their experiences, such as their engagement with identity politics, communal dynamics, and their role in shaping the socio-political landscape of India." -- Prem Singh Gill, International Journal of Asian Studies"A devastating demolition of the myth created by dominant historiography that Nehru was the "generous and magnanimous torch-bearer of secularism." -- Frontline"Anil's book raises... important questions that are worth answering." -- Open Magazine"The book offers a discussion which is as wide-ranging as it is granular. Hardly any sector escapes Anil's attention." -- Journal of the Commonwealth Lawyers' Association
"Meticulously researched, engaging and fun to read, Another India revokes the myth that Muslims were merely objects of Indian history. It is rare to come across writing brimming with this level of analytical clarity, insight and humor." -- Adeel Hussain, Assistant Professor of Legal and Political Theory, Leiden University, and author of Revenge, Politics and Blasphemy in Pakistan"This book reexamines the status of Muslims during the first three decades of independent India. Countering popular impressions of a sharp dichotomy between the current ruling Bhartiya Janata Party's Hindu nationalism and the Congress Party's secularism, Anil argues that far from being a guarantor of religious neutrality under India's secular constitution, the governments of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi neglected minority rights, marginalizing Muslim communities...That such marginalization existed during a period conventionally regarded as one of tolerance compared to today is the book's major message, which provides valuable context for understanding the current ascendance of Hindu nationalism." -- Choice
"Meticulously researched, engaging and fun to read, Another India revokes the myth that Muslims were merely objects of Indian history. It is rare to come across writing brimming with this level of analytical clarity, insight and humor." -- Adeel Hussain, Assistant Professor of Legal and Political Theory, Leiden University, and author of Revenge, Politics and Blasphemy in Pakistan"This book reexamines the status of Muslims during the first three decades of independent India. Countering popular impressions of a sharp dichotomy between the current ruling Bhartiya Janata Party's Hindu nationalism and the Congress Party's secularism, Anil argues that far from being a guarantor of religious neutrality under India's secular constitution, the governments of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi neglected minority rights, marginalizing Muslim communities...That such marginalization existed during a period conventionally regarded as one of tolerance compared to today is the book's major message, which provides valuable context for understanding the current ascendance of Hindu nationalism." -- Choice
