Rs 100

VOLUME. XLII NUMBER. 3 MARCH 2018

Listening To The Song Of Singamma Shefali Jha

Interpreting ‘Doubleness’ Bewitchingly Beguiling Himadri Roy Simi Malhotra Of Urban Planning and Capitalist Transformation Raphael Susewind

Life-Telling in New Terms Anne Murphy A Roadmap For Reforms Sarthak Bagchi Efficacy of Quotas Ashwini Deshpande Enigma of Voting Patterns K K Kailash

In Search of Secularization of Civil Society and Alternative Politics Kamal Nayan Choubey

Panjab: Whetstone Of India’s Democracy Amandeep Sandhu

The Book Review /March 2018 1 2 The Book Review / March 2018 C o n t e n t s

Shefali Jha Death, Beauty, Struggle: Untouchable Women Create the World Editors by Margaret Trawick 4 Chandra Chari Uma Iyengar Mahuya Bandyopadhyay Honour Unmasked: Gender Violence, Law and Power in Pakistan Consultant Editor Adnan Farooqui by Nafisa Shah 5

Editorial Advisory Board Simi Malhotra The Witch: A History of Fear, From Ancient Times to the Present Romila Thapar by Ronald Hutton 6 Girish Karnad Navneetha Moikkil Performance and the Political: Power and Pleasure in Contemporary Kerala Ritu Menon Chitra Narayanan by Ameet Parameswaran 7 T.C.A. Srinivasa Raghavan Himadri Roy The Doubleness of Sexuality: Idioms of Same-Sex Desire in Modern India by Akhil Katyal 9 SUBSCRIPTION RATES Raphael Susewind Accumulation by Segregation: Muslim Localities in Delhi Single Issue: Rs. 100 by Ghazala Jamil 10 Annual Subscription (12 Issues) Individual: Rs. 1500 / $75 / £50 Anne Murphy Piro and the Gulabdasis: Gender, Sect and Society in Punjab Institutional: Rs. 2500 / $100 / £60 by Anshu Malhotra 11 (inclusive of bank charges and postage) Iymon Majid A Thousand Cups of Tea: Among Tea Lovers in Pakistan and Elsewhere Life Donors: Rs. 10,000 and above in the Muslim World by Jurgen Wasim Frembgen 13 Sucharita Sengupta Curried Cultures: Indian Food in the Age of Globalization Edited by Krishnendu Ray & Tulasi Srinivas 14 ADVERTISEMENT MANAGER Geeta Parameswaran Sarthak Bagchi Rethinking Public Institutions in India edited by Pratap Bhanu Mehta, [email protected] Devesh Kapur and Milan Vaishnav 16 Vikram Raghavan and Republic of Rhetoric: Free Speech and the Constitution of India by WEBSITE MANAGER Prasanta Nayak Prachi Tadsare Abhinav Chandrachud 18 [email protected] Ashwini Deshpande Social Justice Through Inclusion: The Consequences of Electoral Quotas in India by Francesca R Jensenius 20 COMPUTER INPUTS, DESIGN AND LAYOUT K K Kailash Elite Parties, Poor Voters: How Social Services Win Votes in India Marianus Kerketta by Tariq Thachil 21 [email protected] Aasim Khan Contested Knowledge: Science, Media, and Democracy in Kerala Please Address All Mail To: by Shiju Sam Varughese 23 The Book Review Literary Trust Kamal Nayan Choubey Hindutva Rising: Secular Claims, Communal Realities by Achin Vanaik 24 239, Vasant Enclave New Delhi 110 057 Akhil Katyal India Dissents: 3,000 Years of Difference, Doubt and Argument edited and with an Introduction by Ashok Vajpeyi 26 Telephone: Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay Godman to Tycoon: The Untold Story of Baba Ramdev 91-11-26141887 / 41034635 by Priyanka Pathak-Narain 27 0124- 2355362 / 9810612518 Amandeep Sandhu Master Tara Singh in Indian History: Colonialism, Nationalism and Website: the Politics of Sikh Identity by J S Grewal 29 www.thebookreviewindia.org Suhas Bhasme Ambedkar: The Attendant Details edited by Salim Yusufji 30 email: Saima Saeed Twitter and Tear Gas: The Power and Fragility of Networked Protests [email protected] by Zeynep Tufekci 31 [email protected] Arindam Banerjee State and Capital in Independent India: Institutions and Accumulation Advisory Board Founder Members K.R. Narayanan by Chirashree Das Gupta 33 S. Gopal Maya John Unmaking the Global Sweatshop: Health and Safety of the Worlds Nikhil Chakravartty edited by Rebecca Prentice and Geert De Neve 34 Raja Ramanna Meenakshi Mukherjee Jasbir Jain Aosenla’s Story by Temsula Ao 36 K.N. Raj Saba Bashir The Lucknow Cookbook by Chand Sur and Sunita Kohli 37

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The Book Review /March 2018 3 Listening To The Song Of Singamma

Shefali Jha

DEATH, BEAUTY, STRUGGLE: UNTOUCHABLE WOMEN CREATE THE WORLD By Margaret Trawick University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, 2017, pp.304, $69.95

nclosures and boundaries have a art of oppressed communities in Tamil Nadu, conflicted meaning for women. enables her to illuminate their world to us. EEnclosures are often not safe spaces This Indian world contains enormous and for them and women have to constantly resist unnecessary poverty and is marked by boundaries in order to live their lives. The exclusion. The women from these excluded book under review looks at how ‘conventional groups of Hindu society sing not only of Tamil symbols—unbroken enclosures like being barred from shops and temples, but bangles, pots, wedding halls, the kolam or also of their own promise which is allowed doorstep design—signifying auspiciousness’ to go waste. They sing that they are like (p. 104), are reinterpreted in the songs of ‘clusters and clusters of eggplants,…With Tamil Paraiyar women as signs of deprivation no one to join and embrace us, We poor girls and restriction. How do Tamil Dalit women rot with the plant’ (p. 96). Faced with gain their insights into the real meaning of constant denigration and condescension— women’s lives? Trawick tells us the origin they are poor, dirty, uneducated, rough, another example of the creative response of story of the Tamil goddess, Mariamman, a worthless—these women still create a world lower caste women to their oppression. Sevi Brahman woman named Renuka Paramesh- with their songs in which they are not mere is a married Paraiyar woman who sings about wari, who in trying to escape her husband’s objects to be looked at, but are also subjects Singamma, a young girl belonging to the command to kill her, ran into a Dalit hut who look back at those gazing at them. As community of the Kuravars. The Kuravars, and clung to the Dalit woman living there. Trawick puts it, ‘When you look at another originally forest dwellers, are now seen as Her axe wielding son beheaded both women; person, they in turn look at you…One must wandering gypsies who hunt crows, and sell when he was granted a boon for obeying his recognize that other person to be, like birds and trinkets at fairs; they are looked father, he asked for his mother back; the oneself, not just an object in the down upon even by the ‘untouchable’ Brahman woman was reborn with a Dalit environment but a maker, a builder of it, Paraiyars. Singamma of Melur was a body and the Dalit woman with a Brahman someone for whom creation may be even Narikuravar girl ‘who was gang raped when body (p. 40). Is this story trying to tell us more important than survival’ (p. 164) she went out to the market, then murdered that in patriarchal societies, all women share If the lower castes face the brunt of by her brothers to protect the honour of their a caste, irrespective of their class and actual oppression, the women of these castes can caste. Her body was cut into pieces and caste status? It is this status of domination, be seen as the most oppressed. They express buried in the floor of their hut. Singamma experienced similarly by all women, that their pain and suffering in their songs; but a returned as a ghost, demanding honour for Dalit women in Tamil Nadu lament in their song is more than a cry of pain. It presents herself as well. A shrine was built for her songs. us with layers of meanings. The ‘crying’ near the place she was killed’(p. 195) Trawick’s book seeks to make us enter songs or laments traditionally sung by In Hindu society, are Dalits and women the world of Dalit castes and Adivasi groups Paraiyar women at the death of an upper seen as leftovers, remainders to be cast away, in Tamil Nadu through the songs sung by caste person or about the mother (‘O mother not really part of the whole, things to be their women. The book describes and who bore me’, p. 78) or elder brother leaving discarded? A leftover, a remainder must be analyses the ‘crying’ songs, and the work and or abandoning the younger daughter/ kept in its place. When women forget their love songs of the Paraiyars, the stories of the younger sister. Trawick interprets these songs place, when they transgress their boundaries, Arunthathiyars, and the ‘song of Singamma’ as indirectly protesting the maltreatment of by thinking an unbidden thought or taking of the Kuravars. Many Arunthathiyars or the upper castes: ‘some nonliterate female a forbidden step, they are punished Chakkiliyars still have to work as manual rural members of the Paraiyar caste question egregiously. In both the Mariamman and scavengers, the Paraiyars are predominantly not only their status in the social hierarchy the Singamma stories, when doubts about agricultural labourers, and the Kuravars, like but some of the assumptions upon which the chastity and the purity of the women the Irulars/Villiyars belong to the Scheduled that hierarchy is based…the abandoned concerned arise, they are themselves held Tribes. Trawick argues that through their younger sister becomes metaphorically guilty of the transgression and punished songs, the illiterate women of these groups linked with the untouchable woman…’ (p. severely by death. Trawick offers us this give us knowledge not only of their world, 111) The songs that Paraiyar agricultural interpretation of the stories: ‘the Singamma but also of how our world is structured. workers sing while doing hard physical story, like other Indian tales of apotheosis, Trawick, who was trained in linguistic labour—weeding fields, lifting loads, moves through tragedy to triumph and ends anthropology, has spent more than twenty building roads—also contain an implicit with a powerful woman renouncing years doing field work in southern India (for criticism of their situation. dependency; rising from defilement, death this book, from 1975 to 1991) and in Sri Trawick uses her encounter with Sevi and corrosion, and standing at last as a deity, Lanka. Her rich ethnography of the verbal and her ‘song of Singamma’ to give us defiantly alone’ (p. 197)

4 The Book Review / March 2018 Trawick’s book seeks to make us Practice of Karo-Kari “enter the world of Dalit castes Mahuya Bandyopadhyay and Adivasi groups in Tamil Nadu HONOUR UNMASKED: GENDER VIOLENCE, LAW AND POWER IN PAKISTAN By Nafisa Shah through the songs sung by their Oxford University Press, Karachi, 2017. pp.390, PKR 1150.00 women. onour as the bedrock of family life and values is a familiar and well- For Trawick,” both Sarasvati, the Paraiyar Hresearched idea in the literature on woman who becomes a medium for the gender, family and kinship in South Asia. goddess Mariamman, as well as Singamma, Honour Unmasked, while locating itself represent a rejection by Dalit and Adivasi within this terrain makes a significant women of the ideal of perfect Tamil married contribution to the field for the following womanhood in the name of freedom. three reasons. First, it is valuable for the site Mariamman and Singamma have low caste and context of study, as ethnographic work associations, yet they are worshipped by on gender and power in Pakistani society is numerous upper caste and middle class relatively limited. It is also significant for women; is this perhaps because these figures the complex methodological terrain that the represent a critique of the patriarchal status author traverses, owing to her multiple quo? Trawick has certainly done us a service identities as she gathered information and data by collecting, writing about, and showing about honour and violence in Pakistani society, us the value of the songs sung by low caste and the inherent difficulties of researching in a women in Tamil Nadu. context that is otherwise silenced and hidden. However, to turn a figure treated with Finally, the work is particularly noteworthy for extreme injustice into a goddess, a goddess the careful and ethnographically embedded who is seen as powerful and who is ways in which it draws out connections worshipped and supplicated so that she looks between the intimate and private spheres of with favour at her believers—does Trawick people’s lives and the domain of public life in think that is a kind of compensation for how Pakistani society. women are actually treated, or that the Conceptually, the ethnographic material tradition-modernity dichotomy, unravelling turning of these persecuted women into would have benefitted from a perusal of Das’s how the traditional practice of karo-kari is goddess figures is a creative strike by Dalit notion of honour in her essay on Punjabi reshaped by forces of modernity and modern women against their actual condition? To kinship (Das 1976). Here Das argues that institutions. This also has broader implica- discover beauty and struggle in the face of honour in the family is maintained and tions for the domain of the ethnography of death—is that how one should try to escape practised by the sacrifice of the bonds created the state, to see how the state comes to be the meaninglessness of the death of through the transmission of natural bodily embedded in the everyday lives of its people. particular lower caste women, or is one to substances, namely blood and semen. While The legal system and the space of law is revealed see these songs of Tamil women from the former is transmitted through childbirth, through karo-kari as an incoherent system, full oppressed groups as part of the political the latter is passed on through copulation. of the contradictions of the workings of a protest against caste and gender based Both these implicate the ties of family and colonial legal framework, resistance to it, and injustice? These are some questions that the marriage. The sacrifice of these bonds through the interweaving of religion, custom and rich ethnography of this book leaves us with. blood and semen are often at the heart of customary law. All these appear like tectonic practices of maintaining honour. The plates, at times super-imposed, or undergoing Shefali Jha is Chairperson, Centre for Political ethnographic articulation of honour and the subduction; or colliding to create strong effects Studies, School of Social Sciences II, Jawaharlal notions of ghairat (defensive honour) would on everyday life in society. Nehru University, New Delhi. certainly gain a conceptual edge by taking into The book is divided into three parts. In account similar articulations of this notion. the first, the author describes the pheno- The book provides powerful evidence to menon of karo-kari and shows its linkages Book News Book News debunk the notion that modern societies rely to notions of honour, law and moral power. on incarceration and the penal system to Honour is strategy. Women become black Gender, Caste and the Imagination of Equality uphold the legal and moral codes of society not necessarily because of their sexual and edited by Anupama Rao is a sequel to the and to fulfil the functions of detention, social transgressions, but because of the influential volume, Gender & Caste: Issues in retribution and reform about transgressions actions of men and women who brand them Contemporary Indian Feminism (2003). It of these codes. In a thorough documentation as kari and inflict the punishment of death explores the changed terrain of discussion, of the practice of karo-kari, i.e., the sanction of or eviction on them. Honour in this and examines how religion, political and death and eviction against blackened men and strategizing and the witnessing of trans- economic relations, and debates about women—those accused of sexual transgres- gression is paradoxically, then only known sexuality and the politics of representation sions, the author shows us the intricate connec- through its aftermath. In this section, the have reshaped the caste question in tions between honour violence, law, power and author also provides the historical, colonial contemporary public life. the state in the Upper Sindh area of Pakistan. and legal context within which the Women Unlimited, 2018, pp. 350, `990.00 In doing so the author also reworks the ethnographic data is based. This is enabling

The Book Review /March 2018 5 The book provides powerful Bewitchingly Beguiling “ evidence to debunk the notion that modern societies rely on Simi Malhotra

incar-ceration and the penal THE WITCH: A HISTORY OF FEAR, FROM ANCIENT TIMES TO THE PRESENT system to uphold the legal and By Ronald Hutton Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2017, pp. xvi+ 360, $ 30.00 moral codes of society and to he historian Ronald Hutton, an fulfil the functions of acknowledged expert in British folk- detention, retribution and Tlore, and pre-Christian religions and reform about transgressions of paganism in Early Modern Britain, author of The Triumph of the Moon: A History of these codes. Modern Pagan Witchcraft (1999) and The Druids: A History (2007), offers yet another for the book, as it” articulates the shared treat to his readers. The book under review dialectical history of custom and law and The Witch: A History of Fear, From Ancient reveals the larger processes that construct and Times to the Present offers a detailed and well change custom and law, thereby shaping researched account of a wide and divergent everyday practice. In the second section, the variety of beliefs about witches and engages book deals with specific examples of karo- with studies on witchcraft from ancient kari violence and shows how these are times to early modern period, and for that embedded within the law and legal processes reason ‘the present’ in the subtitle of the and resonate with it. The collusions within book by Hutton is somewhat misleading. the family and that of the family, legal Who a witch is has been a subject matter institutions and the state are thus revealed. of much debate among scholars of different In the final section, the author is concerned hues for several decades, with some scholars with the normalization of violence in people’s examining its social and political aspects, and everyday worlds in Upper Sindh, arguing some others dealing with its more how prehistoric beliefs, such as those that justice is constituted both through anthropological and folkloric elements. embraced by pre-Christian religions and community practices and state procedure. Hutton though begins his book with a shamanism, influenced the practices of While the entire book is about expressing somewhat simple definition of a witch as ‘one European witchcraft, he doesn’t try to trace that which is silenced, the book ends with a who causes harm to others by mystical a common ancestry for all occurrences of resolute articulation of women’s trajectories means’. However, during the course of his witches and all practices of witchcraft. in karo-kari and in the contexts of marriages research Hutton not only problematizes this, While Hutton says, ‘There is little doubt of choice and elopement. but also draws upon historical and that in every inhabited continent of the Honour Unmasked is valuable as it en- ethnographic studies from the ancient to the world, the majority of human societies have compasses important methodological lessons early modern period to trace the elusive believed in, and feared, an ability by some for the study of aspects that are silenced in history of witches and witchcraft. As part of individuals to cause misfortune and injury society. How can ethnography uncover these his engagement with his research material to others by non-physical and uncanny aspects and what kinds of anthropological on witches, Hutton also traverses pre- means’, he does point to exceptions such as language can ethnographers access to voice that Christian beliefs and draws upon western the Egyptians who did not disapprove of which is silenced? While the book does well to and eastern traditions, while documenting magic, or the Celts who were fairly at home relate to anthropological traditions, unfortu- their evolution. He takes the readers through with the spirits, or the Nomads who simply nately it is unable to dwell on the complexities vast geographical tracts of Europe, Africa, relocated in response to the presence of of applying the ethnographic method to the the Middle East, South Asia, Australia, witches. In fact, Hutton’s account shows how study of honour and violence. Further, the North and South America, as he also brings witches, who have mostly been seen as ethnographer dons many hats, such as those the readers face to face with ancient lands, objects of fascination and hostility of researcher, activist and politician; and the peoples and their beliefs, such as the throughout history, are actually given an ways in which the stories of power and the Mesopotamian, Persian, Greco-Roman, affirmative assessment, especially among the workings of violence are unravelled are not bereft Germanic, Celtic, among several others. followers of paganism, Wicca, and similar of the politics of these identities and their Though Hutton seems to take a rather long practices. selective articulation. These would significantly and wide view in his book, he does full justice In the second part of the book, titled alter the tone and tenor of this work. to the painstakingly meticulous micro- ‘Continental Perspectives’, Hutton explores histories he engages with during the course the growth and development of magic and Reference: of his research. witchcraft in Europe and the Near East. He Das, V. 1976. ‘Masks and Faces: An Essay on Punjabi Kin- There are three sections in Hutton’s examines the impact of Christianity on the ship’. Contributions to Indian Sociology 100: 1-30. book. The first, called ‘Deep Perspectives’, discourse surrounding witches in medieval explores how different societies treated and early modern times, and how it led to Mahuya Bandyopadhyay teaches Sociology at witches, and how ancient and shamanic the eventual vilification of witchcraft and the School of Development Studies, Tata Institute beliefs influenced later European thought resulted in extensive witch hunts throughout of Social Sciences, Mumbai. and practices. Though Hutton demonstrates Europe. How witches got to be conceived as

6 The Book Review / March 2018 serving Satan. It is only after that, that witch The final section, called ‘British Pers- Who a witch is has been a hunts became commonplace, having got pectives’, explores how beliefs and practices “subject matter of much debate entangled with social and religious strife in of witchcraft were shaped in Britain. Hutton Europe, especially in the aftermath of the argues how witch hunting could not really among scholars of different crisis in post-Reformation Christianity. take root in Wales, Ireland and in the hues for several decades, with Witches, according to Hutton, also Highlands, because the beliefs of the people remain ‘one of the very few embodiments of there in fairies and ‘ladies of the night’, as some scholars examining its female power that traditional western fairies were thought to have been, immured social and political aspects, and culture has bequeathed to the present’ and them against witches. it is hardly a wonder that they were seen as The one drawback in Hutton’s book is some others dealing with its unruly and a threat to the community. its lack of contextualization. For instance, Witch-hunts, according to Hutton, emerged he takes anthropologists’ accounts as given, more anthropological and out of a resultant discourse that surrounded especially when dealing with the erstwhile folkloric elements. Hutton the disruptive figure of the witch, where colonies of Europe, without critically examining thousands, mostly women but also men, the entangled pasts of colonization and though begins his book with a were put to death for apparently conspiring Christianization, and the impact of the same somewhat simple definition of with the devil. The ‘harm’ invoked by on native cultures. This notwithstanding, witches was always thought to be personal, the overwhelming question that remains is: a witch as ‘one who causes often aimed towards neighbours, and has Hutton’s book brought us any closer to harm to others by mystical consequently they were suitably punished being able to define a witch? One can for it. emphatically say, it proves to be extremely means’. Hutton’s book makes one wonder though compelling and is exceedingly well if the practice of witch-hunting is based on researched and does take one closer to having rejected” God and Christian faith and some universal archetype. For instance, he understanding the beliefs and practices how they got condemned as Devil-worshippers refers to instances of witch hunts in India, surrounding witchcraft, as also of witch- is an interesting exploration that Hutton South Africa and Congo, among several other hunts. The book is certainly an unmissable takes up in this section. The outlawing of diverse spaces, in the same breath. Universal reference book on the subject. divination and magic by the Church spurred archetype or not, witches can certainly be witch hunts in Europe in early fifteenth seen to help express a whole gamut of Simi Malhotra is Professor in the Department of century, and in the late sixteenth century anxieties and fears and have for that reason English, and Director of the Centre for North East Protestants specifically targeted magic and become a ready subject matter of myriad Studies and Policy Research, Jamia Millia Islamia, helped popularize the belief of witches as myths and legends. New Delhi. Performance, Affect and Politics

Navaneetha Mokkil

PERFORMANCE AND THE POLITICAL: POWER AND PLEASURE IN CONTEMPORARY KERALA By Ameet Parameswaran Orient BlackSwan, New Delhi, 2017, pp. 248, `795.00

erformance and the Political uses five in the 1980s) to delineate the complex critical modes—vision, voice, ges- intertwining of the performative, the political P tural, machinic and animality—to and the affective. The meticulous and sustained address questions that are intimately linked attention to the dynamic workings and to our present such as: what is the political? historical specificities of a range of cultural How do we engage with performative forms is definitely one of the most impressive practices in which transgression is not feats of this book. mapped through the paradigms of agency There is an insistence in this book that and individualized resistance? Spanning the we need to look at performances as thoroughly time period from Emergency to neoliberalism, localized. Parameswaran argues that we need Ameet Parameswaran’s book focuses on a wide to examine how performances reconstitute range of performance practices such as theatre, the affective realm of the region and thereby poetry, and other popular forms such as the region itself. He handles in a nuanced based on a Bengali novel by Bimal Mitra, Kathaprasangam (this form usually involves a fashion the difficult task of conceptualizing Parameswaran draws our attention to the single storyteller narrating a story interwoven and engaging with the contours of the statement ‘Calcutta city is a sugar candy, for with songs and is performed at public regional and translating its tonalities for a me, to savour’ by Kunti Guha (the central gatherings and events) and ‘Mimics Parade’ (a wider audience. For example, in the analysis of character of the performance) who moves performance form that uses humour and Sambasivan’s highly controversial Kathaprasan- unmoored through the disjunctured spaces parody as its base and emerged as one of the gam performance during the Emergency, of the city. Parameswaran observes that Samba- most popular forms of entertainment in Kerala Irupataam Noottrandu (Twentieth Century), sivan uses the term ‘kalkandakani’ (p. 139)

The Book Review /March 2018 7 There is an insistence in this the specular domain is deployed to channel of transformation through performance the affect of terror in different ways. Similarly practices cannot be teleological—it has all “ book that we need to look at in his analysis of the voicing strategy used the risks of life itself; of violence and pleasure performances as thoroughly by theatrical performances of the Janakeeya coexisting on the same thin line. To quote Samskarika Vedi (People’s Cultural Forum) from Parameswaran’s postscript that brings localized. Parameswaran and the powerful poetry recitals by Kadam- him to the here and now of political struggles argues that we need to manitta Ramakrishnan in 1970s and 1980s in JNU: ‘the political emerges under the he interrogates the problematic of cultural condition where one is simultaneously examine how performances forms that deploy the auratic voice by caught in something on which s/he does not reconstitute the affective drawing on the domain of the ritual. He exercise any agency and yet in which s/he is points to the problem of reading the public actively (or indeed, passionately) invested’ realm of the region and recitals of Kadamanitta’s Kuratti (Tribal (p. 219). It is this passionate investment that Danseuse 1976) as stirring the listener and this book seeks to understand and that is why thereby the region itself. producing an instant collectivity purely it speaks to the predicament of our times. (sugar candy) to point towards how ordinary because of its ritualistic excess. He argues I now put forward two sets of questions objects and acts—in this case, the” cheap, that the ambiguity and power of the that can further complicate the terrains of yet lingering pleasure of sucking on rock ‘passionate voice’ does not nestle in the investigation opened up by the book: The sugar—become a gesture towards an else- affirmation of Utopic collectivity (p. 63); fifth chapter offers a gender critique by drawing where. It captures the tantalizing entan- rather the tenor and tone of the play of voices out the complex intersection between gender glement of pleasure and violence in urban activate modes of hopelessness and and the animal as played out through the body spaces. The author focuses on the process of unbelonging, dislodge voice from logos, and of the Japanese actress Mikari as an elephant translation and draws attention to how verbal cross-fertilize the tragic and the playful in in the play Sahyande Makan: The Elephant expressions can trigger embodied memories of order to register a democratic impulse. Project (2008). Parameswaran engages with how sensory acts thus casting the regional as a Thus, one of the central questions in the the kinaesthetics of this performance can be ‘performing archive’ (p. 141)—a live and book is how we conceptualize and locate the unpacked only via discourses of femininity, shifting structure of modulation of affect that impulse or potentiality of transgression. masculinity and the animal in the region. In undoes the dominant tendency in academic Parameswaran reminds us of the dangers of the discussion of John Abraham’s film Amma studies to frame the regional as a static and conceptions of unfettered resistance and an Ariyan (1986) Parameswaran observes that bounded space. absolute letting-go of the history of ‘habituated gender practices’ are evoked in the This is one of the first books in the field disciplining that does not allow us to address film ‘both for their force and their tremendous of Performance Studies in India that offers a how the subject participates in authoritarian limits’ (p. 116). It would be productive to sustained and insightful engagement with structures. Any fullness of voicing, seeing and think further about how a staging of these limits theories of affect. Parameswaran embeds the acting, such as the figure of the ideal Kerala shape the performative worlds that we reader in the body of scholarship on affect woman or the figure of the dangerous encounter in all these cultural practices in theory and develops this field in new Naxalite, which accentuates a singular affect, which the authorial function rests primarily directions. We encounter the affective here becomes an instrument for identification on men even though the performing bodies as multivalent; it is not in any way that contributes to regional and national are often feminine. How and why is gender intrinsically harnessed to modes of resistance. projects of consolidation. In sharp contrast central to this project of affective politics? Do The author interrogates the relationship to this, performances that embody the these practices dislodge structures of gender between affect and power and demonstrates democratic impulse straddle the risky terrain even as they operate via available registers of how power works by inducing and of disjuncture and failure. gender? modulating affect rather than by regulating All the chapters in the book make us What is the position of the scholar or it. This in turn troubles the paradigms of aware of the fragility and persistence of the intellectual in this public world of affect, visibility and voicing—the political cannot visions of another order. We are dislodged performance and politics? What are the links be understood within the binary paradigms from the familiar edifices of agency and between the political, the affective and of speech and silence, visibility and resistance through figurations that move academic writing? In academic writing, invisibility. Rather, he suggests that we need between possibility and impossibility, failure instead of aiming for full exposure and to pay close attention to the ways in which and hope, and presence and absence. The clarity, how do we retain the capacity to stay vision and voice are orchestrated for differing power of the book lies in the care and with staggered processes of becoming? ends. In chapter 2 he analyses how in the attention with which Parameswaran traces this ‘corporeal, frantic movement’ (p. 54). Navneetha Moikkil is Assistant Professor at the statist framing of Naxalites the spectacular Center for Women’s Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru is used as a way of producing clarity—for Resistance does not appear here as a straight University, New Delhi. example, the photograph of a handprint in line of progression or a traceable arc; rather blood is linked to the young Naxalite Ajitha it is the gag in language and the failed acts Book News Book News in 1968 to expose and concretize her as a (for example, a tragic act that turns comic) Evil in the Mahabharata by Meena Arora terrifying figure. In the face of this statist that point to possibilities of disruption that Nayak analyses how the values espoused in ordering of terror via the field of vision, may not get reified. The gestural mode the Mahabharata came to be distorted into Parameswaran analyses how poetry, speech- becomes an important site of the political meagre archetypes, creating customary laws acts and theatre that question this totalitarian in this book because of ‘the centrality of that injure society even today. regime compel us to ‘see’ through the mediality in gesture, wherein one can go spectacular. Thus his analysis is not fixated beyond the binary of means and ends’(p. Oxford University Press, 2018, pp. 376, on what is shown or revealed but on how 101). The act of bringing alive the possibility `650.00

8 The Book Review / March 2018 Interpreting ‘Doubleness’

Himadri Roy

THE DOUBLENESS OF SEXUALITY: IDIOMS OF SAME-SEX DESIRE IN MODERN INDIA By Akhil Katyal New Text Publication, New Delhi, 2016, pp. 294, `450.00

khil Katyal deals with a subject that The following chapter explains the has been researched upon recently. paradigmatic structure of sexual hierarchical ABringing socio-psychological identi- patriarchy. The freedom of being man and ties and religious identities together in the choosing to be sexually active has been same research needs courage, especially in critiqued through this chapter. His explana- the contemporary political ambience in the tion of the power structure of sex is well- country. The blurb hints at certain exciting defined and critically analysed. Katyal uses debates, Katyal unveils much more than that. illustrations to validate his point of view on The book not only encompasses laundebaazi, which he explains as a socio- ‘doubleness’ of socio-cultural phenomenon, cultural norm of playing amongst boys and but also political activism about same-sex their acceptability is widely considered as population that queer people envelope normative. His reference to Cohen’s philo- themselves into. He furthermore extends it sophy correlates with his own argument of to political activism with his own queer contemporary scenario as a socio-political theories of interpretation of ‘doubleness’. culture of masti, where the duality is The Introduction describes the inter- explicitly through the subtlety of ‘intimacy sectionality of socio-psychological, socio- and rape, hierarchy and equality, violence examples of Agha Shahid Ali, Hoshang cultural and socio-political identities. The and consent, dependency and freedom’. Merchant, Gyansingh Shatir and Vikram historicity of terminologies for same-sex Male friendship is described as harsh as the Seth. He further critically analyses the banal identities has been explained well, with infliction of sadism either with force or with crudity of the politics of publishing houses reference to several theorists. Interestingly, willingness, and bromance seems more avid as a ‘marketing gamble’. Katyal uses his own idiomatic terms to amidst emotional intimacy. According to The concluding chapter is based on the specify subtle differences of same-sex desires, Katyal, it has been reduced to effeminacy terminology and doubleness of ideological for example, a few explicit sexual idioms, a and anal penetration and thus, recites the politicking of the queer collectives. Katyal few ‘civil’ idioms, legal idioms, and virtual historicity of gays as gaandu and chhakka, elucidates how the mere abbreviation usage idioms. He intersects these idioms with the thus, establishing the scenario of same-sex of same-sex population changed to today’s prevailing trends and contemporary queer desires. form of queer. He lays out the history of activism. The intersections are filled with The chapter that follows analyses the terminology of LGBTHIK to LGBT to literary authors to social scientists, critiques activism of same-sex men in this democratic queer. Critiquing this whole idea of idiomatic to activists, for instance, Chugtai to Chevers, independent country. At the beginning of development as doubleness of queer politics, Maya Sharma to Dave, he includes them all. the chapter, there is an emphasis on Katyal justifies the title of his book as apt The contribution of queer collective, ‘the explanation of sexuality from theorists, and deciphers each of the words of the title Nigah’ has also been mentioned in detail. mainly Bristow. The chapter builds on the through detailed descriptions and analysis historiography of policy and plans on AIDS in every page of every chapter. and the germination of activism. The widespread upsurge to eradicate AIDS under Himadri Roy is with the School of Gender and the national policy and the participation of The book not only en- Development Studies, Indira Gandhi National society through the facilitators and Open University, New Delhi. “compasses ‘doubleness’ of moderators, and queer activists, for awareness socio-cultural phenomenon, and sensitization. This phenomenon changes the idioms for same-sex desires at a different Book News Book News but also political activism about level. Katyal doesn’t hesitate to term this kind same-sex population that of activism as political and ‘doubleness in Pan-Islamic Connection: South Asia and the action’. Gulf edited by Christophe Jaffrelot and queer people envelope The following chapter is focused mainly Laurence Louer is an absorbing comparison themselves into. Katyal on gay writings from India, regarding same- of 'the Islams' of Arabia and South Asia and sex population. Katyal critiques the whole how they interact through the vectors of furthermore extends it to notion that gay writings can only be by gay trade, politics and migration. Edited by two political activism with his own writers. leading scholars on South Asia and the Arab Katyal questions the duality of this world the book gathers together some of the queer theories of inter- creative genre of expression, where the best specialists on the subject in one volume. pretation of ‘doubleness’. autoethnographical characteristics are more Pengin/Viking, Delhi, 2017, pp. 303, ” vehement than just a creative art; taking `699.00 The Book Review /March 2018 9 Of Urban Planning and Capitalist Transformation

Raphael Susewind

ACCUMULATION BY SEGREGATION: MUSLIM LOCALITIES IN DELHI By Ghazala Jamil Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2017, pp. 244, R750.00

uslim life in urban India has assuming that the Sachar Report’s bleak outlook attracted fresh attention since the applies equally everywhere, and without Mpublication of the Sachar Report assuming that all and everything can be a good decade ago. The subsequent debate explained by communal violence. has gone through three distinct stages. With Accumulation by Segregation, Initial scholarship, including the report Ghazala Jamil sets the next milestone. Her itself, outlined and quantified the extent of book builds upon the first two stages in the Muslim disadvantage with a broad brush. It debate—and then transcends them. Jamil demonstrated violent exclusion over decades; looks at five different Muslim localities within the associated deprivation in health, Delhi—Shahjahanabad, Seelampur, Jamia employment, housing, and other material Nagar, Nizamuddin and Taj Enclave—but indicators of development; and the symbolic her book, unlike the work of Gayer and recognize is itself a product of, and contri- marginalization of Muslims in the emerging Jaffrelot, is not a typology. butes to, wider capitalist processes. This is middle-class narrative of ‘Shining India’. Instead, Jamil moves the analysis one step not simply a story of difference and nuance Roughly five years later, Laurent Gayer further by embedding all five localities in —it is a story of difference and nuance and Christophe Jaffrelot published Muslims wider debates on urban planning and embedded in a wider critical and radical in Indian Cities, a groundbreaking volume capitalist transformation. Her book has three analysis of the political economy of ‘Shining that added a decidedly spatial dimension to broad sections of two main chapters each. India’. Rarely can one find an academic book the debate and at the same time unpacked The first section recounts the previous two whose title so aptly captures its argument: the generic post-Sachar picture into multiple stages of the debate outlined above: the story ‘accumulation by segregation’ indeed. distinct trajectories of marginalization. Not of exclusion that came out of the Sachar In the end, Ghazala Jamil thus manages every segregated Muslim space in urban India report, and the story of diversity that to highlight both the internal differentiation is a ‘ghetto’, not every demographic concen- followed the publication of Muslims in among Muslims in Delhi—including their tration is the outcome of communal Indian Cities. In these chapters, Jamil already uneven ability to make choices about where violence, and the story of former princely consciously avoids simply following either and how to live—and the fact that even the seats of power like Lucknow or Bhopal can take, though, emphasizing nuance but choices of those with more choice are be quite different from that of declining resisting the temptation to simply typo- embedded in wider structures of discrimi- working class cities like Ahmedabad or logize. She also sets out her theoretical nation, as is of course the whole liberal langu- Bombay—or so the argument went. framework, inspired by the Critical Theory age of ‘choice’. Importantly, highlighting Subsequent literature continued to open of the Frankfurt variety. people’s choices as well as the political and up a panorama of diversity among Muslim The second section develops her core economic constraints within which they Indians that has long been overlooked. Younger argument, demonstrating how all types of make them is not a question of ‘balance’ for authors like Raheel Dhattiwala, Sanderien segregation—from the depressed ‘slum’ her. She does not present one example of Verstappen or myself took the opportunity to through to the privileged ‘enclave’—feed on upper-class self-segregation for every example analyse Muslim residential clustering from the same wider processes of capitalist of violent relegation. Such balancing acts are alternative vantage points, without necessarily globalization, material in essence but all too common in writings about Muslim mediated and made powerful through Indians but rarely generate nuanced insight, What sets Jamil’s analysis discourse. Reconfigured labour markets—a leaving us instead with an unclear muddle, key driver of segregation in ‘slums’—are not academically as well as politically. Rather, “apart, and what makes it such the same as real estate markets—of essence Accumulation by Segregation forcefully argues in ‘enclaves’. The lived realities in these both sides of the coin, exposing wider an important contribution to different spaces is also clearly different, as is structures of oppression while equally the literature on Muslim the ability of residents to make choices, to forcefully analysing the distribution of be secure, to prosper and progress—some- privilege within. It presents us with a segregation in India, is that she thing that becomes very obvious in the last dialectic, not with balance. Ghazala Jamil demonstrates how the internal section of her book, as well as the hopeful learned this lesson from the Critical Theory (against all odds) conclusion. and the Frankfurt school. We can learn it differentiation that we What sets Jamil’s analysis apart, and from her. increasingly recognize is itself what makes it such an important contribu- tion to the literature on Muslim segregation Raphael Susewind is a Lecturer in Social Anthro- a product of, and contributes in India, is that she demonstrates how the pology & Developement, Department of Interna- to, wider capitalist processes. internal differentiation that we increasingly tional Developement, King’s College, London.

10 The Book Review / March 2018 ” Life-Telling in New Terms

Anne Murphy

PIRO AND THE GULABDASIS: GENDER, SECT AND SOCIETY IN PUNJAB By Anshu Malhotra Oxford University Press, 2017, pp. 408, R995.00

his masterly new work by Delhi Malhotra explores in her first chapter University historian Anshu Malhotra the two different representations of Guru Tenlivens the study of religion, gender, Gulabdas that prevail: as a visionary and and caste in late colonial Punjab, with literary savant 'steeped in the best traditions compelling explorations of post-Partition of Vedantic thought and bhakti ideas’ (p. religious and cultural forms. The centre of 47), as well as Sufi ideas (p. 51)and as a her study is Piro (d. 1872), a female devotee rebellious and unconventional leader of a of a nineteenth century guru named small, dissenting religious community. The Gulabdas (1809-1873), who led a sect that same combination of elements is visible in came to be known by his name: the the works of Piro herself (p.135), represen- Gulabdasis. The work which will be ting a quest for the ‘theological equivalences’ accessible to and valued by scholars in that undergird questions of religious self- associated with figures such as Hir of the colonial history, postcolonial studies, formation (p.157 ff. and elsewhere). famous tale Hir-Ranjha, Sita, and bhakti religious studies, and gender studies, as well Malhotra provides a compelling account figures, in general and in specific, such as as far beyond these. It provides both a of advaita ideas and their circulation, a crucial Kabir and Mira (p.xxxviii, p. xliii, p.73, p.84 detailed and textured account of Piro and element of early modern and early colonial ff., p.127 ff., p.140 ff.). These can be seen her work in the context of the Gulabdasi modern religiosity that as a whole invites further as part of the way ‘Piro “fixes” her story with community (chapters 1-5) as well as a multi- exploration (p.10 ff.), providing an ‘on the people, places and topographical indicators faceted exploration of the significance and ground view’ of advaita religiosity that is all in some sort of reality’ (p. 66), as well as a legacy of the community in various contexts too often lacking in our understanding of complex form of agency, as explored in both within the colonial period (through an religious philosophies and their ‘popular’ lives chapter 5, through the invocation of prior account of the Lahore Singh Sabha Sikh (p.11, pp.19-20, p.39 ff., elsewhere). She also forms (p. 187ff.). The agency of the guru reformer Giani Ditt Singh, formerly called provides a sense of literary production at the must also be factored into this, as Malhotra Sant Ditta Ram as a follower of Gulabdas) cusp of the emergence of the dynamic print shows. In this way, and many others, she and accounts of both modern literary accounts culture we associate with the late nineteenth invites us to consider in new ways how the of Piro's life and the ongoing community century, allowing a fuller understanding, in autobiographical functions, and how a life formations of the Gulabdas community, in comparative terms, of the transformations story comes to function within and out of chapters 7 and 8 respectively. More broadly, associated with this period (p.12). multiple registers. Distinctively premodern it provides a prolonged meditation on the As she shows, we face in our under- in ‘form, language, and rhetorical make-up’ writing of history itself, with a capacious standing of Gulabdas the problem of how (p.71), Malhotra convincingly argues, Piro's embrace of literary and anthropological people then, and today, came to terms with work in the nineteenth century offers an approaches and practices to enhance and the sexual mores associated with him, invaluable opportunity to understand life- deepen the historical project. particularly through his association with a telling in new terms. Chapter 3 also invites The fine Introduction lays out the former sex worker (pp. 29-34). While citing consideration of the thorny question of groundwork for the book as a whole, addressing the parallel case of Wazir Singh, Malhotra religious identity and conversion, exploring what was at stake in this account of a woman's notes that ‘it was the social challenge that the ways Piro both ‘plays up the Hindu/ life, at the end of the nineteenth century, and radical caste-denying sects, with their praxis Muslim imbroglio and telling her story’ her place in a larger religious community that that probably attempted to reframe gender while simultaneously rejecting ‘formalist continues into the present. As a former sex relations as well... which rankled among the Hindu/Muslim religious identity, clearly worker turned devotee, and then further partner orthodox and the custodians of the status stating that her guru is above the limits set to a guru, Piro represented in many ways a quo, that led to their denunciation’(p. 35). by such identities’(p. 96). We return to dramatically unconventional life. At the same One can see a similar tension around caste. important questions around religious time, Malhotra shows us, she reveals much Second to fifth chapters provide a richly identity in the final substantial chapter of about conventional roles and expectations for textured close reading of Piro's compositions, the book when the author considers the women, and the kinds of possibilities offered considering the form of autobiography as a Gulabdasi community today. by religious subjectivities in this period of whole and the ways that narrativization Most importantly, the book represents great social change. Also revealing of both functions to shape the unfolding of the an extended meditation on gender, that time and ours is the trouble that people autobiographical process. Malhotra details demanding that we consider, ‘What did it have had in the past and in the present in the techniques Piro used to assert her voice, mean to be a prostitute, a possible concu- coming to terms with this exceptional, and taking on the experience of other women bine, and a vulnerable woman who had little yet normal, woman, and her role in the devotees and heros (and the models bhakti control over her life, whose sexual favours Gulabdasi sect (p. xviii). provides), and the narrative emplotment and access to her person could be bought?’

The Book Review /March 2018 11 (p.112). This returns us to the discussion of Pakistan). The telling of the story of Gulabdas, Virender Das's communities. This was even conversion, as Malhotra shows us how the as well as Piro (as also shown in chapter 7), more so in the past.2 As I have described ‘theatrical power of conversion’ (p.121) within this ongoing communitarian context elsewhere in a volume Anshu Malhotra co- might have allowed Piro a kind of autonomy, takes on an altogether different form from the edited we can see in eighteenth century within a cultural logic where ‘it is in spiritual more literary renditions examined in chapter Punjabi Braj texts that express Sikh com- seeking that a degree of individualism is 7. munitarian perspectives that Sikhs were conceded, at least to men’ (p. 94), and There is so much of value in this book, contained within a sense of ‘Hindu’ in broad perhaps (she shows), also for women. Indeed, in some ways one is wishful for even more: contrastive terms, at the same time that Sikh she notes, Piro asserts that ‘women could not each chapter is so rich that it almost functions positions were representing a separate be Muslim (or Hindu) and, therefore, were independently; one feels the author could tradition alongside others that were por- outside the control of men of these religions, in just a few steps develop each chapter into trayed as similarly distinct (some of which and so autonomous’ (p. 108). a single monograph, such as on the are now included under the umbrella term The third part of the book, comprising Gulabdasis as a sect today, and their uses of ‘Hindu’).3 The term, in such texts, seems to chapters six, seven and eight, extends this the past in the building of the present. But function akin to the term 'gentile' in the exploration of Gulabdas, Piro and their world there is wisdom to the decision to put this West, indicating what one is not, not what to explore their broader implications and together, compiling such richness in a single one is.4 Do we therefore need to think of later iterations. The chapter on Giani Ditt work; doing so provides a prism-like, multi- Gulabdas and the Gulabdasis as ‘Hindu’, at Singh is particularly deep and evocative, perspectival view on Piro and the Gulabdasi all? Or, are they positioned, in their own drawing out the complicated ideas and tradition. One place where one does terms, as something else, Hindu perhaps practices that shaped this later (after his time particularly want to know more is with only if a term is needed to say what they are as a Gulabdasi) important Singh Sabha regard to the caste formations of the not, but not what they are? As the author thinker and activist. Malhotra describes Gulabdasi community in the present; as Ajay notes in her exploration of Gulabdas's ideas, Singh's (to use his later appellation) ‘marked Bhardwaj's film Kite Mil ve Mahi (2005) ‘he was inspired by, or perhaps even in touch ambivalence on caste’ (p. 202), where he shows so beautifully, the eclectic ‘syncretism’ with, a radical stream of thought that existed maintains the frame of it at the same time identified by Malhotra at the tomb of in Punjab, which across the divides of Hindu that he undermines it. She describes how Muhammad Shah, a disciple of Gulabdas, and Muslim communities agreed on the Ditt Singh became involved ‘with the Arya is very normal, indicative of a capacious significance and the location of god/holy Samaj and the new politics that came in its lower caste religiosity at the intersection of within the self’ (p. 49).5 Malhotra's work wake’ (p. 214), perhaps because of the numerous traditions (pp. 312-3). We see has given us the ability to think critically increasing marginalization of the Gulabdasis some discussion of this, but this tantalizing about such intersections, and ask them in and their practices and rhetoric of inclusion bit makes one desire for more (p. 318). The new ways; for this alongside everything else, in a more religiously agonistic public sphere utilization of the very terms sought to be is a masterly work. (p. 217); her discussion of Ditt Singh reveals demolished by Piro (and by Ditt Singh, too) his strong resonances with his contemporary, —castelessness through caste—is to be Bhai Vir Singh: he was comfortable ‘with expected: a system of power imposes itself, 2 It was not until the formulation of the Gurdwara Act of the literary and pluralistic cultures of and even rejection of it must be framed 1925 and subsequent legislation that the term Dera, for example, came to designate non-Sikh sites; prior to that, precolonial Punjab’ (p. 222) even as he within its terms (p.134). the term was used far more broadly. See Anne Murphy sought clear definitions, with a strong One question that remains in one's The Materiality of the Past: History and Representation in attachment to the miraculous resonances of mind, after reading the work, is the question Sikh Traditions (NY: Oxford University Press, 2012). initiation into the Khalsa (pp. 231-3). of ‘Hindu’ identity itself, which is discussed 3 Anne Murphy ‘The gurbilas literature and the idea of The ways that caste was reworked in this throughout (from p.xxviii to the end). This, “religion”’ in Punjab Reconsidered: History, Culture, and Practice, edited by Anshu Malhotra and Farina Mir (New context have much to tell us about the too, brings a host of questions for further York and New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2012), persistent need to think through caste, to thought. What is Virinder Das's relationship 93-115. We do not to see this as a ‘capacious Hindu’ think beyond it. The following chapter with explicitly Hinduizing regimes operative identity, but instead an entirely different notion of ‘Hindu’ explores modern theatrical renditions of in the last two decades in India, and how from what we know of today, that is not a religious identity at all, but an indication of a contrast. Piro's stories, allowing us to see how Piro does his formation of an openness to caste 4 We can see this elsewhere, even though its significance has both been appropriated, valorized, and difference interact with such forces? If the is not entirely acknowledged: Lorenzen’s Who Invented transformed, her story taking shape in goal is to understand, as Malhotra argues, Hinduism?’, pp. 639-640. different ways in the hands of different ‘Hinduism as its adherents believe it is’ (p. 5 I have explored a similar set of ideas, regarding the authors. Here the author grapples with 315), one wonders if ‘popular Hinduism’ meeting points that should be our focus rather than the overarching categories that are contravened by these questions of historical truth, and the ways makes sense at all, as a category, at the com- meeting points, in a forthcoming essay, ‘Sufis, Jogis, and in which the writing of any biography shapes fortable intersection of so many traditions, the question of religious difference: Individualization in the ‘story’ of a life to a logic other than its as is visible in the comparable reigious sites early modern Punjab through Waris Shah's Hir’ for a own (knowing that, as she has established Bhardwaj highlights at the intersection of multi-volume edited work that compiles research con- 1 ducted in a multi-year project on religious individualiza- earlier in the book, autobiography too has Dalit and Sufi practice. Cosmopolitan tion at the Max-Weber-Kolleg Centre for Advanced its own logic that is created as a thing, and eclecticism seems integral to the Dalit Cultural and Social Studies, Universität Erfurt (forth- cannot be seen as innocent or unconstructed). experience of religiosity in Punjab today, coming). In the final chapter, the author provides a suggesting possible fruitful comparison with powerful entry into the Gulabdasi community Anne Murphy is Associate Professor, Asian Stud- today, revealing the complexity of its ies and Co-Director, Centre for India and South 1 Indeed, as Malhotra notes, speaking of Gulabdas, some- formations in India (away from the original times it is ‘difficult to disaggregate the varied sources of Asia Research, University of British Columbia, centre of the community, which now lies in his thoughts’(p.43). Canada.

12 The Book Review / March 2018 but to compensate it with the sound sha Symbolizing A Relationship deriving from the 13th alphabet of the Arabic language shin. The English word tea is itself a derivative of the Southeast dialect of Iymon Majid Chinese language te or tay. In Egypt, people drink Karkadeh with its fruit-like taste and every cup brewed A THOUSAND CUPS OF TEA: AMONG TEA LOVERS IN PAKISTAN AND ELSEWHERE IN THE MUSLIM WORLD separately. However, the tea culture of Egypt By Jurgen Wasim Frembgen is incomplete without the numerous tea and Translated from the original German by Jane Ripken coffee houses—familiar meeting places for Oxford University Press, Karachi, 2017, pp. 108, politically active people. But then once upon PAK R1295.00 a time these cafés were popular places for listening to music, reciting epics or folk tales aking tea is an art and making a from Arab mythology or stories from Alif perfect cup—hold on, is there a Laila—the celebrated Arabic masterpiece A Muniversally accepted way of Thousand and One Nights. Or they simply brewing tea? There is, if we believe, the acted as private literary salons for poets, wri- International Standard Organization; but ters and other artists. Even women, Frembgen who cares! George Orwell liked it without notes, were ‘permitted to take part in the sugar, Maulana Azad liked it without milk debates and listen to the poetry readings’. —he thought adding milk is a British Frembgen provides a sketch about how these innovation. Hamid Dabashi likes it only in cafés or teahouses are (were) sites for transparent cups. Gandhi didn’t like it all. displaying ‘Western hedonism’ and enjoying Kashmiris prefer it with salt and Tibetans the Orient; thus popular with western like it with Yak butter. tourists or colonizers. But that also means There are a thousand ways of preparing one is preparing it, is both hot and cold. that they have come under attack from tea and every preparation is heavily Black tea is hot (with milk ‘hotter’) whereas Islamists. influenced by local culture and customs. green tea is cold. For Afghans, drinking green The café culture dots much of the Arab How one prepares and drinks tea is an tea in summer keeps them cool whereas World. Now acting as places for political and identity marker in an increasingly globalized Indians or Pakistanis drink black tea in religious discussions, at some cafés world or this is what Jurgen Wasim Frembgen summer for the same purpose. ‘As the occasionally a professional storyteller is suggesting in his travelogue A Thousand idiomatic saying goes, garmi garmi ko marti (Hakawati) will appear. For women these Cups of Tea. He takes us through a journey hai’—Heat kills the heat. cafés have become places where they enjoy in which he presents the meaning of tea. Even if this is mere folklore, anthro- their little freedoms in a strict patriarchal Not just as a beverage but as a way of living pologists have studied how the medicinal society. from Morocco to Pakistan to India. Tea value of tea sustained the Industrial Revolu- In the subcontinental literary and symbolizes a relationship. tion at least in Britain and Japan. With the artistic milieu, there is a prominent place Having studied the Muslim societies of industrial revolution urban centers began to for India Tea House of the colonial era. Some the Indian subcontinent, West Asia and develop and soon turned crowded with of the finest writers are associated with it in North Africa for over 35 years, Frembgen appalling living conditions. Historically, as both the countries but the book notes that offers an intimate portrait of these regions. people congregated in large numbers they due to the change in the social environment, Sometimes the detail is so personal and died of diseases and epidemics born out of the Tea House in Pakistan had to be closed unique that it is impossible to ignore polluted water and land. This restrained the for financial reasons. Any revival has led to Frembgen’s approach towards the people and size of the cities but with the introduction fears of commercialization of the place but cultures he is studying. Consider this: of tea in Britain, cities began to grow. The that has not stopped artists from finding new Frembgen provides an important insight on reason: people were drinking boiled water places—indeed on the internet. the medicinal folklore linked to food in with a unique herb that had anti-bacterial For the common people in the Eastern societies (he insists on Muslim and anti-inflammatory qualities. subcontinent, Dhaba is the perfect place to societies). According to this folklore, every Coming back to the book, it explores the nourish themselves with cups of tea. It is food item is basically ‘hot’ or ‘cold.’ various ways in which tea is prepared, drunk here that the book charts a new territory— Understandably, these terms do not refer to and cherished and introduces the multiple tea nothing fascinates a reader more than detail. temperatures but on the nutritional value cultures inadvertently shaped by the lifestyle In the early pages, the author shows how of the item. However, this is a nuanced of these people. In Morocco, the author tells tea is prepared in these little shops (or in generalization as some foods can be regarded us that locals prefer nana-shay—a sweet some places Dhabas, that look like high-end as hot even if they are low on calorie. Perhaps fragrant mint flavoured beverage—which is restaurants, for example, the ones in Murthal, the right way to detect the ‘quality’ is to see ‘more or less considered a staple food’ in the Haryana) to the way it is served and the trivia its usage in a particular culture and how it region. Shay is the Arabic word for tea. A associated with these places. In urban spaces, affects the metabolism. fleeting look at the word and one recognizes the author notes that there are just ‘tea shops’. ‘The human body must maintain a vital that it is a derivative of Chai, the subcontinent Chai is either served in glass cups or in clay balance between these qualities’, is the equivalent of the standard Chinese (Mandarin) cups with or without spices. thumb rule of this folklore. Tea, according word for tea Ch’a. As Arabic script lacks the Adding spices is ubiquitous throughout to this folklore and depending upon where sound cha, Arabs had no other alternative South Asia and the Arab world but it is the

The Book Review /March 2018 13 Afghans who take it to a ‘high’ level by dissolving opium cubes into it. ‘Special A Social History of Food teahouses, called saqikhanas, are dedicated exclusively to the consumption of these Sucharita Sengupta drugs.’ Saqi, perhaps the most used expression in Urdu poetry, means wine- CURRIED CULTURES: INDIAN FOOD IN THE AGE OF GLOBALIZATION provider. As one observer noted, ‘Wine with Edited by Krishnendu Ray & Tulasi Srinivas all its associations in Persian and Urdu ghazal Aleph Book Company, New Delhi, 2017, pp. 316, `499.00 poetry stands for the intoxicatedness that confronts and neutralizes the distractions recent revival in the unearthing reach. Similar research has been conducted generated by too much of rationality.’ And culinary histories of India has for cuisines, mostly from the developed Saqi is that companion (beloved or even God) brought forth some marvellous world. These foods are truly global due to who helps you to achieve this tranquility. A writing. The study of food has been serious their relatively easy availability in large parts For the Sufis of Konya—the place of Rumi— business in certain parts of the world for quite of the world. There is an additional mysticism means to taste the sweetness of some time, with university departments characteristic—food from the western world tea by adding sugar, a foretaste of paradise. dedicated to the subject. However, India has is seen to be a desirable cuisine, much more As a rule tea is also associated with lagged behind in this respect. This gap is than several others. Hence, it becomes a sort hospitality throughout the East. While slowly being filled, both through academic of a standard in evaluating the ‘global-ness’ visiting different places Frembgen points out and popular writing. of cuisines. Any keen observer will under- the different ways in which people in these Popular publications have had a stand that such markers, far from being inno- regions extend their hospitality to the guest. tradition of carrying written recipes, mostly cent, signify power relations among cultures. This is no surprise for in this part of the to benefit the home maker in infusing variety Curried Cultures marks a break from this world god comes in the form of a guest. The in daily cooking. Subsequently, with the Eurocentric gaze. Akhil Gupta’s essay sets book also displays tea cultures through the opening up of the Indian economy, attention the tone by highlighting the movements of photos taken by the author or by other turned to international cuisine and crops and therefore cuisines. When pro- photographers. These images serve like ingredients available in Indian restaurants ponents of globalization studies focus on ‘documents of fact’ without ever over- and departmental stores. Simultaneously, the ‘McDonalisation’, it implies a one-way flow of emphasizing their role as aesthetical images interest in regional and hyperlocal cuisine, culture. However, pepper, a spice that is to appeal to the senses. Some are poorly thus far relegated to home kitchens, made indispensable to western cuisine, and several composed but then the subject in them their mark as saleable products. These others, travelled to Europe from South and enthralls with her gaze or smile. developments coincided with a spurt of South East Asia. The larger point is to establish One notices from reading the text and food-related shows on television channels. parity in the historical flows of globalization. seeing the photographs that Frembgen sees The internet contributed to the fetishization The colonial encounter shaped South Asian the whole phenomenon from a vantage of food via an incessant stream of what is cuisine in multiple ways. The book looks at point; it is unclear if it is because he is not a colloquially referred to as ‘food porn’— two interesting aspects. The first is an essay on native or he deliberately liked the idea of photographs of food on social media such as how the queens of the royal families of India being a guest. In both cases, Frembgen does Facebook and Instagram. were quick to adapt to food preferred by the not miss the point that tea offers the best Somewhere in between the flurry of colonizers within their own kitchens. They did interpretation of how a global exchange of trends, what is evolving is the social history this while preserving their own cuisines, and cultures, ideas and goods is possible in the of food. Research into developments related would frequently infuse elements of two most sublime of ways and the West, even to ingredients and cuisines tell us as much distinct cuisines and develop new dishes. Far when they delight in the idea of tea, have about human societies as they do about food from being stuck in some haughty traditional much to learn especially in the art of itself. Our interest here is not merely one of rut, the ladies of royal households were brewing. the gourmand, though perhaps that goes with responsible for normalizing the serving of the territory, but of a deeper understanding European food in India. A second aspect deals of how food has impacted societies, and in with a more defensive response to the References: turn been impacted by it. The volume under introduction of an alien food. British colonizers ‘Saaqi:Its Various Meanings in Urdu Poetry’, Rekhta, September 20, 2013, https:// review, Curried Cultures: Indian Food in the pejoratively classified Bengali men as weak and rekhtablog.wordpress.com/2013/09/20/saaqi-its- Age of Globalisation, wonderfully collated by effeminate, and blamed a good deal on the various-meanings-in-urdu-poetry/. editors Krishnendu Ray and Tulasi Srinivas, cuisine. The Bengali gent asserted the Cole, Teju. ‘The History of Photography is a History of is particularly interesting in this respect. superiority of his diet, and reacted with a special Shattered Glass’, The New York Times Magazine, Ray and Srinivas are interested, not so emphasis on vegetarianism. This was further November 15, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/ 2017/11/15/magazine/the-history-of-photography- much in focusing on South Asian food tied to the superiority of the nation itself. is-a-history-of-shattered-glass.html. cultures for the sake of recovering historical In a country with caste taboos and strong Dabashi, Hamid. ‘How British Colonialism Ruined a trajectories alone, but in exploring its notions of purity, eating out sounds counter- Perfect Cup of Tea’, Al Jazeera, September 18, 2017, linkages with processes of globalization. The intuitive. Among several sections, eating http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/british- colonialism-ruined-perfect-cup-tea- introductory chapter serves as a crash course outside the homestead was looked down upon 170918113331476.html. in the finest theoretical literature available because one was always in danger of breaking on the subject. This serves as the platform caste codes. The chain of Udupi hotels for viewing subcontinental food outside the managed to pull off a feat where it brought Iymon Majid is a PhD student in the Department limiting pale of regional cuisine, and as what was temple cuisine, with assurances of of Political Science, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. distinctly global in both provenance and being cooked by Brahmins, to the public

14 The Book Review / March 2018 place of Indian food in the United Kingdom. A few items from North Indian cuisine became staples of the British food scene. The British populace reviled the smells of spices emanating from the homes of South Asian migrants, to the point of using it as markers of differentiation, and shifting out of localities once they came to be inhabited by people from the subcontinent. Yet, they would make an event out of eating food served at Indian restaurants, usually with decor reminiscent of an odd mix of flimsy Mughal and colonial nostalgia, as a badge of their multicultural credentials. The immigrants too negotiate the alien terrain as best as they can through food. A Pakistani restaurant owner drew clear lines between his cuisine as a marketable commodity to the British, cooked by him and other trained underlings, and the food that fed his soul, cooked by his wife, back home in Pakistan. Globalization space of a restaurant, where caste could be does not always succeed in blurring the lines lost simply by intermingling. Udupi hotels between home and the world, and in fact, now span across the globe, and its cuisine is may contribute towards sharpening it. now available as pre-packaged food. In fact, a One of the most fascinating essays is well-known Indian brand was recently brought about the history of the oldest Indian grocery out by a Norwegian company, but it is a fact store in Berkeley, California—Vik’s. From a little known to customers. If the expectation small establishment, its span increased and was that globalization would break down caste it acquired a certain fame in the area. barriers, then it has been belied. Caste, with Subsequently, it started a ‘chaat café’—where its vice-like grip, has adapted itself to Indian snacks and fast food were served. The globalization while losing nothing of its chat cafe catered to both the Indian diaspora rigidity. Class barriers have not broken down missing the flavours of home, and also too greatly either, as upper crust restaurants introduced Americans to a wider range of pride themselves on catering to the discerning Indian food. By bifurcating its operations, customer, and teaching people how to eat. it was able to continue as a trendy Indian Where does tradition stand in this state food joint as well as a comforting source of of flux? Much of Indian cooking, as done by supply for Indian groceries. trained chefs or the layperson at home, prides Culinary Cultures has uncovered itself on the idea of tradition. Tradition, along processes of globalization through the route with the notion of ‘authenticity’ are often of food. All the contradictions that are the selling points of Indian cuisine available to other issues when analysed worldwide. One tradition, that of dum pukht, through the lens of globalization seem to has been celebrated in the country and across apply in this case too. However, it places the world. One of the most startling essays Indian food rightfully as not merely a that embarked upon a journey to trace the recipient but also a catalyst and active user origins of dum pukht, asserts that it is a of the transactions and flows of globalization. ‘pseudo-historical’ cuisine. During her It sheers away from notions that peddle research, Holly Schaffer finds a host of Indian food as exotica, inscrutable, cocooned different explanations for the origins of dum in its limited geography, mystical and pukht, both as a technique, and as a cuisine. repulsive, all at the same time. Through its Towards the end of the chapter, the author cuisine, as through its politics and economy, concludes with questions about attempting the Indian subcontinent has always been an to ‘fix’ points of origins and genealogies. The integral part of historical globalization. To ossification of techniques and cultures often view it as anything less is unacceptable not arises from a bid to search for authenticity, only because of Eurocentrism, but also whereas it is free proliferation, with much because it injures the cause of furthering the addition and subtraction, which is the understanding of globalization itself. process that can keep a tradition alive. The book examines Indian cuisine in Sucharita Sengupta is Assistant Professor in the settings outside of place of origin. The Department of Political Science, Jamia Millia chapter on British ‘curry houses’ traces the Islamia, New Delhi.

The Book Review /March 2018 15 A Roadmap For Reforms

Sarthak Bagchi

RETHINKING PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS IN INDIA Edited by Pratap Bhanu Mehta, Devesh Kapur and Milan Vaishnav Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2017, pp. 527, `995.00

he recently concluded Assembly institution of presidency. He argues that— elections in Himachal Pradesh had because post-1980 changes inevitably Ta very interesting moment when a required presidents to intervene more often 101 years old voter pushed the button at —people in India must adjust their attitudes his polling booth in the remote Kalpa village to what constitutes appropriate behaviour by in Kinnaur district of the State. Shyam Saran presidents. Drawing on rich observations Negi, would have been passed on for any from the past presidents and those who aware and conscious senior citizen who occupied the office in contemporary times, believes in exercising his duty of citizenship Manor stresses that presidents have not just by voting, had he not been India’s first voter. the option but a responsibility to raise moral Negi, who cast Independent India’s first vote and constitutional concerns. Describing the on 23rd October, 1951, has been voting in changing role and expectations from the office almost every election ever since including of president since 1989, Manor prescribes a the recently held one. This footnote in the change in the mindset of the Indian people, questions from the Opposition. He also history of Indian democracy is a telling fact who he thinks should be more tolerating and suggests more transparency measures to be as it represents the relative youth of India as accepting towards presidential activism incorporated into the functioning of various a nation. It is fairly impossible to find any during the period of government formation. parliamentary committees and to incorporate other established democracy, which will still M R Madhavan analyses the structure, more research and referral staff for such have its first voter going out to the polling role and effectiveness of the most prolific committees in order to add more teeth to booth in contemporary times. And despite institution of the Indian Republic, its their functioning. this relatively young age, India’s public Parliament. He highlights that many impor- Madhav Khosla and Ananth Padmana- institutions have been performing fasti- tant characteristics like number of women bhan analyse the Supreme Court of India, diously for the last seven decades to connect representatives, standard of educational which is found to be playing two crucial roles different levels of the State with its citizens profile of the representatives and the average of that as a legal institute—with appellate like Shyam Saran Negi. The book under age of representatives has gone up over the and constitutional powers—and that as a review takes an accurate stock of the perfor- years in the Parliament. However, he also public institution that is required to engage mances and limitations of these different points out that there has been a downward with, respond to, and negotiate the political public institutions in India and is aptly titled trend in the number of sitting days of the pressures and social expectations that Rethinking Public Institutions in India. In Parliament between the 1950s till 2012. A surround it. The Supreme Court, to quote organizing the scheme of the chapters for similar negative trend has also been noticed Mehta, is facing a ‘judicialization of politics this book, the editors, Mehta Kapur and in the quality of questions raised and and politicization of the judiciary’, making Vaishnav have taken a brave attempt of answered in the Parliament. This can be it a fixture in the daily rituals and drama of including a vast array of institutions, each of linked to the loss of time that has increased democratic life. Through their extensive which is worthy of having a book on its own. in the days when the Parliament is in session. analysis of the various aspects of the Supreme The editors tie these public institutions to Like Manor, Madhavan also observes the Court, the authors point out that it has been each other through various themes like impact of the rise of coalition politics and over-burdening itself with a large number internal and external accountability, political the fragmentation of political power to have of appellate cases which has resulted in a interference, personnel failures, legal affected the functioning of Parliament, significant backlog on its limited reserve of ambiguity and coordination dilemmas. undermining its critical deliberative role in staff (31 judges). As the Court has begun to Through the chapters in this volume the a functioning democracy. According to the spread itself thin over a massive backlog of authors and the editors try to capture the author, the Indian Parliament has much to cases, the role of the constitution bench has transition of Indian public institutions from be proud of as a key institution of the Indian also diluted. Separation of appellate and ‘old order’ institutions to ‘new order’ institu- Republic. While the Parliament has provided constitutional work, they think, will enable tions. The analysis provided is robust, a channel for negotiating competing interests the Court to cement its identity as a strong comprehensive and rich in its balance of and holding the country together, there are legal institution. The authors also highlight highlighting both the negative aspects and still ways and methods to make Parliament the exemplary improvements undertaken by positive achievements of India’s public more responsive to the increasing needs of the Court by resorting to the use of institutions. The book is highly recommended transparency that dictates the rules of technology for improving its registry, e-filing for scholars and students of public policy, engagement in modern democratic societies. of petitions, maintenance of an exhaustive public administration, formal institutions, As a remedy, the author suggests more website and online accessibility to daily governmental agencies, administrators and role of the Opposition in deciding the orders and judgements. All these improve- policy practitioners. agenda of discussions and pre-determination ments have made this institution more James Manor analyses the model of the of a schedule of sessions every year to make accessible to the public—even though its ‘working president’ in his analysis of the the government more accountable to the geographic location still remains out of reach

16 The Book Review / March 2018 for a vast majority of common citizens. regulatory bodies, where politicians reward at the civil services and trace its effectiveness Errol D’Souza looks at the Reserve Bank compliant officers by handing them prized since Independence as well as offer sug- of India tracing its history both as a banker postings, for taking ‘favourable’ policy gestions to make it more effective. They find to the government and to design monetary decisions are the biggest hurdles in this that the average age of candidates at intake policy so as to maintain price stability and pursuit of making public institutions more has risen significantly over the years. The ensure adequate supply of credit for economic accountable. authors suggest that the civil service has done growth. The chapter critically analyses R Sridharan looks at the important well in preserving the overall constitutional India’s top financial institution’s role in institutions of the Comptroller Auditor order but performed poorly in impartially designing monetary and financial policies, General (CAG), Central Bureau of implementing laws and policies at the management of public debt and in the Investigation (CBI) and Central Vigilance individual level. They find the biggest single management of foreign exchange reserves of Commission (CVC) in his analysis of the weakness of the civil service to be the the country. In these crucial roles in a institutions of internal accountability. His rampant political interference through a developing and yet a giant-sized economy analysis draws heavily from the previous work combination of wielding a carrot (as plum like that of India, the RBI has emerged as a on these institutions by S K Das in the earlier postings) and a stick (as transfers). In their highly credible voice on issues of monetary book on public institutions by Mehta and detailed analysis, the authors also highlight policy, banking and finance. This is despite Kapur, published in 2005. Das found the the abysmal record of recruitments in the the constant tension over the role and CAG’s impact to be of marginal effect, CVC civil service where just among the IAS officers, influence between the Governor and the to be ineffective as an anti-corruption there is a vacancy of as high as 29 percent of Deputy Governor of RBI and the Ministry institution and the CBI to be too close to its entire cadre strength in 2012. They also of Finance, including in the current NDA political executive for independent and non- point to the over-representation of officers Government. The author thus recommends partisan performance. More than 10 years from the smaller and better governed States the need for independence from political later, Sridharan, by studying the same in the central deputation as compared to the influence and interference as that of primary institutions concludes that those conclusions officers from bigger States. According to importance for the continuation of its rich still hold true. The author shows that if the them this impacts the policy preferences legacy as an exemplar public institution in legislature chooses to ignore reports from the being set at the central level. Coupled with India. According to the author, as per CAG, the latter has very little recourse. the poor quality of State public service Keynes’s recommendations during the Similarly, the CVC is unable to pursue commissions and staff associations, this leads setting up of the RBI, the geographic investigations if the implicated officers or to a policy paralysis in poorer States like Uttar distance between the RBI, headquartered in bureaucrats have not left an official paper Pradesh and Bihar, which have been Mumbai and the Ministry of Finance, trail of their wrong doing. It has very little historically marginalized. The authors also headquartered in Delhi, would be sufficient investigative powers and depends heavily on link the productivity and effectiveness of civil to keep them at a safe distance. However, CBI, which in turn is still seen as a services to the successful implementation of given the changing time, and the increasing handmaiden of the government used often important institutions like democratic compliance of the present Governor with the by incumbent governments, both overtly decentralization and the Right to political leadership, this geographic distance and covertly to threaten political opponents. Information Act, which have become key is not proving to be enough for maintaining Focusing on the financial accountability instruments in taking the government to the a policy of non-interference. aspect of public institutions, Amitabh population and in making government In his chapter on public expenditure Mukhopadhyay provides a detailed analysis authorities more transparent and account- governance, Nirvikar Singh shows that of two of the most important institutions able. In this regard, they claim that the fragmentation in ministerial decision-making involved in securing accountability, CAG, importance of an efficient civil services process complicated both policy formulation Comptroller Auditor General and PAC, becomes even more vital. as well as implementation. The overt reliance Parliamentary Accounts Committee. In his E Sreedharan and Milan Vaishnav analyse on ministers is an impediment in consensus exhaustive analysis of both these institutions one of the most celebrated public institutions, building during the decision-making process beginning from their historic and constitu- the Election Commission of India. Much like for important policies. As a solution in this tional groundings to their contemporary other public institutions, the ECI has also decision-making logjam and to initiative functioning, the author finds these institu-tions undergone a transformation in its operations, more accountability and effectiveness, Singh to be lacking in terms of transparency in its influence and effectiveness in the transition recommends a more effective decentali- operations. While others like the Supreme from the Congress era to the coalition politics zation, as an additional external account- Court and local governance bodies have era, when there were as many as four general ability created by decentralizing power can, significantly increased their outreach by elections in a matter of nine years. The boost levels of internal accountability. improving their websites into more user- authors point out how the democratic Looking at the important new regulatory friendly interface, CAG has a long way to go deepening in India posed serious challenges institutions in infrastructure in crucial in that direction. Similarly, like Madhavan, to the conduct of elections as the Commission sectors of electricity, telecom, petroleum and who looked at Parliament, Mukhopadhyay too had to protect the democratic rights of the natural gas and coal, Navroz K Dubash finds recommends media coverage for PAC sessions newly mobilized communities, while that establishing guidelines to enhance and hearings so as to make its operations more guarding against clashes rising due to accountability and transparency ‘may be transparent. Social Audits, especially those of competing social identities. Drawing on one among the most significant contributions of the MGNREGA have proved to be effective in of the common themes attempted by some regulatory agencies to the challenges of detecting irregulari-ties, but they appear to of the other authors in this volume, the infrastructure governance’. Dubash also have limited deterrent effect due to lack of authors of this chapter have also highlighted indicates the prevalent opportunities of information on public officials. the importance and influence that one person dispensing political patronage through K P Krishnan and T V Somanathan look can come to bear on the entire identity of a

The Book Review /March 2018 17 The volume tries to capture the Freedom of Expression And The “transition of Indian public Indian Constitution institutions from ‘old order’ institutions to ‘new order’ Vikram Raghavan and Prachi Tadsare

institutions. REPUBLIC OF RHETORIC: FREE SPEECH AND THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA By Abhinav Chandrachud public institution. The period of T N Seshan Penguin Books, 2017, pp. 304, `599.00 as the Chief Election” Commissioner is still a fond memory for policy practitioners in New urulia is a town in Bengal’s western Delhi as well as common voters in remote periphery. Under British rule, it was rural Bihar, as someone who impacted the Pthe headquarters of the sprawling way in which elections were monitored and Manbhum district. At Independence, the managed. Although Seshan initiated striding entire district was allocated to Bihar. But its reforms in the operations of the ECI, two of substantial Bengali population actively resisted the staggering challenges in the conduct of what they perceived to be Hindi imposition. free and fair elections in India faced by the Demonstrations soon became a daily occur- ECI are the problems of money and muscle in rence as the State administration strove to Indian elections. According to the authors, like contain the language agitation. much of the malaise plaguing other public Amidst this surcharged atmosphere, the institutions in India, the solution to these authorities in Manbhum seized a lengthy challenges also lies with the political will, in Bengali pamphlet calling for a violent and this instance opening up political party funding bloody revolution. The rambling pamphlet to the ambit of RTI. darkly hinted that those who brought Bengali In his chapter on democratic decentrali- ‘into disgrace’ would die. Although its zation, T R Raghunadan traces the trajectory author was not identified, its publication was of the evolution of the local government traced to the Bharati Press in Purulia. system in different Indian States. The author Invoking the Press Act, the government touches upon the decentralization experience ordered Shaila Bala Devi, Bharati Press’s in various States like Kerala which em- ‘keeper’, to deposit 2000 rupees with powered and strengthened the village Manbhum’s Deputy Commissioner ostensibly panchayats to Madhya Pradesh which vested to deter such publications in the future. power in communitarian sub-committees to Moving the Patna High Court, Shaila escape the stranglehold of entrenched chiefs Bala Devi challenged the government’s order the book’s hardbound version is pleasing to (sarpanch) to Bihar, which was the first State and the relevant provision of the Press Act behold. It has an eye-catching cover (more to reserve 50 per cent of elected panchayat under which it was issued. She claimed that on that later) and is set in bold font. A positions for women. The chapter while her freedom of speech protected by Article talented writer, Chandrachud does not overload charting the evolution of various panchayati 19 (1) (a) of the newly enacted Constitution the text. Rather, he anchors his sentences with raj institutions and their role in providing a had been infringed. The matter was heard bountiful and aesthetically precise endnotes. credible local self-governance structure in the by a three-judge bench that included Justice These notes are crammed with rare gems from remotest of locations in India, also highlights JG Shearer, an Englishman who remained legal history, reflecting the author’s meticulous the various technological innovations that in Patna after Independence. Shearer wanted research. Few other legal scholars have consulted have been incorporated into the functioning to dismiss Devi’s petition. But his two as much primary and archival material as of these local governance bodies across Indian Indian colleagues declared the Press Act pro- Chandrachud. States. This chapter provides an ideal reading vision at issue unconstitutional. In the book’s opening chapters, for scholars and researchers in public policy In his judgment, Justice Sarjoo Prasad Chandrachud recounts how draftsmen like and public administration. observed that freedom of speech was so Macaulay framed speech-restrictive laws for While the editors have laid out a very conceivably wide under Article 19 (1) (a) that India by borrowing heavily, although coherent and comprehensive thematic it could even include verbal or written sometimes sharply diverging, from English mapping of all the various institutions incitements to murder. This startling jurisprudence. As the national movement analysed in this exhaustive volume, a observation was a stray remark. It wasn’t the gained steam, these laws were used to conclusion summarizing these manifold deciding factor in Prasad’s opinion. Even so, as prosecute political activists for speaking out observations and a combined roadmap ahead Abhinav Chandrachud tells us in his enticing against colonial rule. Not unsurprisingly, for the growth and effective functioning of new book, Prasad’s words were ‘almost single- therefore, when the Constituent Assembly these institutions would have been a value handedly responsible for the First Amendment’. convened, many members reflexively addition to such a hard toiled and insightful A practising lawyer in the Bombay High supported the inclusion of a fundamental academic endeavour. Court, Chandrachud has produced with right to free speech. But this exuberance was astonishing regularity a number of books on quickly tempered by Partition’s genocidal Sarthak Bagchi is a Phd Candidate at the Leiden Indian constitutional law and history. mayhem. Deeply disturbed by the commu- University Institute for Area Studies, Leiden, The Republic of Rhetoric is the latest addition to nal madness, Alladi Krishnaswami Ayyar Netherlands. his impressive line-up. As a physical object, insisted that free speech could never be an

18 The Book Review / March 2018 absolute right under the Constitution. His editors are rising at an alarming rate across consequences. Indeed, the very existence of position ultimately prevailed over dissenting the country. Many of these actions are simply Article 19 forces the state to defend speech- backbenchers. intended to harass and intimidate dissenters restricting laws and actions as consistent with The Assembly gave free speech and and political opponents. This depressing that touchstone’s requirements. expression the first place in Article 19’s list state of affairs leads Chandrachud to Third, Chandrachud’s disenchantment of six fundamental freedoms. But it shackled despondently conclude that Article 19 has with Article 19 seems puzzling given his this freedom by authorizing future done little to protect free speech and extensive discussion of successive Supreme governments to impose restrictions on a expression today. We are no better off now, Court decisions upholding press freedom. variety of grounds. Even so, as the book tells he insists, than we were under British rule. Article 19 was the constitutional cornerstone us, Prime Minister Nehru and Home Chandrachud does not make this for every one of those decisions. The outcome Minister Patel seemed privately convinced controversial claim lightly. Indeed, he began of those cases may have well been different that Article 19 impeded the government’s the groundwork for it in his book about the without the fundamental freedom to speech ability to control vitriolic communal passion. Bombay High Court. In that book, he reveals and expression. The Article also underpins And Sarjoo Prasad’s opinion gave them just how judges like MC Chagla openly resolved other landmark decisions, notably the the excuse they needed to remedy that to continue administering ‘British justice’ after judgment which declared that citizens have shortcoming. Independence. Like other reviewers, we find a right to information and the one that By portraying Prasad’s views as reflecting that Chandrachud’s thesis well researched and ended government monopoly in broadcast the judiciary’s overall attitude, Nehru had persuasively reasoned. But we think it is frequencies. And beyond lawyers and courts, the provisional parliament swiftly enact the somewhat overstated for several reasons. citizen activists and social movements First Amendment. This amendment First, the claim that Article 19 has made expressly invoke Article 19 when challenging authorized even more restrictions on freedom no difference glosses over the fact that there government policies or demanding political of speech than the Assembly had originally is a lot more speech in India today than at reforms. included in Article 19. Things only went any time before in its history. This change is Fourth, freedom of speech and downhill thereafter. especially dramatic since the Constitution expression in Article 19 cannot be evaluated On the book’s front flap, Chandrachud was adopted. In 1950, the proverbial ‘market in isolation. That is because it coexists and summarizes his central thesis. He claims that place’ for ideas and expression, which Article intersects with other freedoms in that article, the Constitution, particularly Article 19, did 19 sought to protect, was dominated by a including the right to assemble peaceably, not make a significant difference to free finite number of political leaders and move freely throughout India, or practice speech in modern India. activists, All India Radio, a small number of any profession or trade. Freedom of speech This claim is underscored by the book’s established newspapers and journals, and under Article 19 is also closely related to title: Republic of Rhetoric. It suggests that the pamphleteers like Shaila Bala Devi. the fundamental right to practice, profess, Republic’s founding led only to rhetorical Seventy-plus years later, that market and propagate any religion in Article 25. We changes to the underlying body politic. This place has gigantically expanded in scope, also cannot neglect the growing interplay point is vividly made on the arresting book content, and diversity. Today, an abundance between freedom of speech and the right to jacket. Thick black lines run horizontally of newspapers and magazines are published life and personal liberty in Article 21 that across the cover completely obscuring in print and online in many languages. The now also includes the right to privacy. sentences of indecipherable text. majority of Indians now rely on privately owned Fifth, Chandrachud seems to imply that In contemporary India, Chandrachud broadcasting channels, rather than govern- the Constitution through Article 19 breaks tells us, free speech has been severely ment sources, for news and entertainment. no new ground because there was an existing curtailed. It is stifled by sweeping restrictions Millions exchange information and peddle common law right to free speech in British that successive governments recklessly rumours through social media and electronic India. He offers no direct citation or authority impose and courts obligingly uphold. He messaging services. In fact, any Indian with for this remarkable claim. Assuming there bunches these restrictions into a few broad access to Facebook, Twitter, or even Whats- was indeed such a right, it would have offered categories: obscenity; contempt of court; App can reach a much greater audience than little solace to the subjects of Princely States criminal defamation; hate speech; and insults any of Bharati Press’s pamphlets. where the writ of British Indian common to national symbols. He devotes a separate Accordingly, in assessing the Constitu- law ran, at best, unevenly. Furthermore, chapter to each category. In each chapter, tion’s overall record on free speech, the troub- Parliament and the State legislatures could he insightfully reviews the relevant statutory ling increase in speech restrictions and have freely modified or restricted such a provisions and the applicable case law. prosecutions must be fairly juxtaposed common law right if it wasn’t entrenched in Chandrachud explains that many free- against the huge expansion of the market the Constitution. speech restrictions presently in force in India place for ideas, speech, and expression, which Despite these reservations, Republic of today were influenced by, or imported from, have erupted under the shadow, or despite Rhetoric is a lucidly written and intensely England during the Raj. Surprisingly, the existence, of Article 19. engaging book. It is an encyclopedic resource however, our courts have been reluctant to Second, Chandrachud overlooks the not just for lawyers but also for ordinary hold that these restrictions infringe freedom normative impact from the fact that speech citizens. Besides its controversial thesis about of speech under the Constitution. Emboldened is a guaranteed fundamental right under the Article 19, the book makes distinct contribu- by this judicial reluctance, governments have Constitution even if it can also be extensively tions to our understanding of Indian free not just retained most colonial-era abridged by restrictions. As Kenneth Roth speech law. restrictions. They have significantly expanded argues, the mere codification of a right in a Chandrachud documents how exten- several of them. human rights charter or foundational sively Sarjoo Prasad’s words were used to It is common knowledge that prose- document can generate public awareness, ensure the First Amendment’s swift enact- cutions targeting activists, writers, and which, in turn, could have real and tangible ment. Commentators had previously

The Book Review /March 2018 19 assumed that the Supreme Court’s decisions in the Romesh Thapar and Brij Bhushan Cases Efficacy of Quotas resulted in this amendment. Chandrachud also revisits the neglected, yet controversial, Ashwini Deshpande Sixteenth Amendment, which inserted the phrase ‘sovereignty and integrity of India’ into every oath of a constitutional office. SOCIAL JUSTICE THROUGH INCLUSION: THE CONSEQUENCES OF ELECTORAL QUOTAS IN INDIA Throughout the book, Chandrachud By Francesca R Jensenius shines a light on the legal system’s paternalism. Oxford University Press, New York, 2017, pp. xvii+228, `408.00 Oral sedition was specifically made a crime (Part of the ‘Modern South Asia’ Series; Series editor: Ashutosh Varshney) in British India on account of the country’s ‘ignorant, and therefore the dangerous, classes’. Relics of that sentiment survive even today when judges reason that the Indian aste-based quotas, whether in The challenges in this track of research public is ‘ignorant and illiterate’ and easily education, jobs, or electoral posi- are considerable. For one thing, because of capable of being misled. tions, are routinely vilified for the pre-Independence history of quotas, Chandrachud catalogues the growing C lowering the quality of the space they are there is no clear-cut and unambiguous case law on India’s national iconography: the applied to, because of the belief that those ‘before-and-after’ data, which would allow anthem, flag, and state emblems. Forced chosen through quotas are inherently inferior neat identification of the incremental effect displays of constitutional patriotism, he to those selected on open, or non-quota, of quotas, after accounting for other changes suggests, can seriously jeopardize the positions. This widespread belief transcends that would have occurred in the interim. Constitution’s deeper commitment to free the boundaries between academic arguments Second, because quotas are applicable to speech and expression. and popular perceptions. government (or electoral) positions, access Finally, Chandrachud critically explores The only way to assess the validity of to administrative data are needed, which are how contempt-of-court proceedings chill free the ‘lowering-merit’ argument would be to often not easy to come by (as I discovered expression. He disassembles the leading cases analyse it empirically, in a rigorous manner. when, for my 2014 study, I was collating on the subject. He does so clinically, yet Collect data on the outcomes of interest data to assess the productivity effect of quotas respectfully. He also tackles the mysterious (e.g., productivity of enterprises where a part in the Indian Railways, the largest public sub-judice rule at some length. But that of the workforce is selected through quotas, sector employer in India. After running from rule’s impact on investigative journalism and or various educational indicators for colleges pillar to post, I finally, rather fortuitously, sting operations behoves more analysis in a etc.), and assess if quotas have resulted in found the data in a disaggregated form in next edition. lowering the average (or shifted the annual zonal reports, which I then compiled Returning to where we began, Bihar distribution) for the particular outcome into measurable indicators.) Many research- appealed the High Court’s verdict in Shaila being assessed. ers are employing innovative and novel ways Bala Devi’s case. Speaking for the Supreme This is easier said than done, even when of using existing large data to produce the Court, Justice Mahajan upheld the Press there is inclination on the part of the badly needed evidence on the effect of caste Act’s provision under which the government researchers. Most researchers (what to speak quotas. The volume under review, based on demanded a security deposit. He pointedly of journalists or lay persons) take the the author’s PhD. dissertation, is a very admonished Sarjoo Prasad for systematically ‘lowering-merit’ argument at its face value, welcome and important addition to this misreading the Court’s previous judgments and as not worth researching. If something branch of enquiry. The author uses publicly on free speech. Yet, Mahajan also chided the is as obvious as daylight, why spend time available data (combining detailed data from Patna judges for taking the pamphlet a bit and effort investigating it? Thus, for instance, the 1971-2001 censuses of India, with too seriously. It was full of bombastic nonsense the spate of articles or commentaries reservation status), and a clever empirical and it should have been simply ignored. produced by well-known academics in the strategy to produce a nuanced, in-depth and Mahajan’s colleague, Justice Mukherjea, a native aftermath of the Mandal Commission solid treatise on the effect of electoral quotas Bengali speaker agreed that the pamphlet was announcement in 1991 took this for at the constituency level over three decades. full of meaningless words. granted, and deplored the quota mentality, What adds value to her work is the fact that This anti-climactic end to Shaila Bala equating it with vote-bank politics, i.e., she supplements her study with more than Devi’s litigation came too late to save the politics of appeasement, where quotas were 100 in-depth interviews with Indian Assembly’s original formulation on free merely one more instrument to secure more politicians, civil servants, activists and voters speech in Article 19. By the time the votes, and nothing good could possibly come from four Indian States (Delhi, Himachal Supreme Court decided on the appeal, the out of them. Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka) as a First Amendment had long been adopted Fortunately, that tide has started to turn part of her qualitative fieldwork in order to and was being enforced across the country. over the last decade and more, certainly understand the mechanisms that produce To find out what happened thereafter, we among academics. There is now a fair the results that her data reveal. recommend that you read Republic of Rhetoric! amount of empirically grounded, quanti- As Jensenius shows, politicians in India tative and methodologically rigorous spend most of their time in their consti- Vikram Raghavan and Prachi Tadsare studied research, a great deal of this from economists, tuencies, with a very small amount of their law in India. This article is written entirely in their but also from quantitatively-inclined political time taken up by Assembly meetings. If personal capacity. It does not represent the views scientists and sociologists, which evaluates Scheduled Caste (SC) politicians are ‘weak’ of any institution to which they may be profes- the efficiency effects of reservations, or or ‘inefficient’, we should expect to see less sionally affiliated. affirmative action, in India. overall development in constituencies

20 The Book Review / March 2018 SCs in reserved constituencies than in contributed to reduction in caste-based comparable general (non-reserved) discrimination in reserved constituencies. constituencies. These findings are very valuable and Jensenius examines both—changes in indicate, in line with other empirical the overall level of development, as well as literature that estimates the impact of quotas, the distribution of resources between SCs that fears of increasing inefficiency are not and others—in each constituency. Her data backed by empirical claims. set includes estimates of development The author is a political scientist, from indicators for more than 3,100 State a discipline that in India has not transi- Assembly constituencies from the 15 largest tioned into quantitative analysis so far. Thus, Indian States between 1971 and 2001, my suspicion is that the methodology making it possible to examine development outlined in this research is more likely to be patterns in reserved and general accessible (in India) to economists, and not constituencies over a 30-year period. She as much to sociologists and political finds no negative developmental effects of scientists, the two broad disciplines that electoral quotas, i.e., development indicators would benefit very much from the insights are no worse in reserved constituencies, of this comprehensive research. But I hope compared to non-reserved constituencies, that the results of the study, summarized controlling for other factors. Additionally, clearly and simply, will be accessible, and there have been several positive outcomes as more importantly, would help in battling a result of quotas, going beyond standard pre-conceived and incorrect notions about development indicators. She finds that quotas the presumed detrimental effects of caste have contributed to breaking social quotas. boundaries by bringing a marginalized and reserved for SCs. Also, if SC politicians stigmatized community into positions of systematically try to benefit the SC power—a group that most likely would have community within their constituencies, we been elected in smaller numbers had it not Ashwini Deshpande is Professor in the Depart- should expect to see more redistribution to been for these quotas. This has also ment of Economics, University of Delhi, Delhi.

Enigma of Voting Patterns resources nor is there a quid pro quo relationship as in vote buying. Thachil’s study impairs the dominant clientelistic K K Kailash understanding which assumes that all electorally motivated goods and service provisioning are based on the feeling of ELITE PARTIES, POOR VOTERS: HOW SOCIAL SERVICES WIN VOTES IN INDIA reciprocity ignoring the possibility of By Tariq Thachil Cambridge University Press, New Delhi, 2015, (South Asia Edition), pp.352, $32.99 ‘voluntary gratitude’ as well as service provision without discrimination. The book contributes to at least three sub-fields of political science. First, it adds a ariq Thachil’s Elite Parties, Poor not travel well outside the wealthy West. He new dimension to understand the success of Voters: How Social Services Win instead proposes that private provisioning the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The three TVotes in India revolves around the of local public goods by organizations linked explanations we currently have include the empirical puzzle as to why poor people to elite parties allows them to get close to step-down thesis by Heath (1999) which support political parties that do not promote the poor without hurting their core base. explains BJP’s geographical expansion as well their material interests. While this puzzle This politically motivated service-based as social expansion to the lower castes in the has received considerable attention in strategy is financed by the party and its 1990s; the polarization thesis of Wilkinson wealthy western democracies, it has been supporters and has no connection with (2004) which underlined how a polarization ignored in the non-western world. Thachil public funds and personnel. At the same between Hindus and Muslims allowed the attempts to plug this gap, when he examines time, these privately provided services are BJP to consolidate Hindu votes across the how the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which almost universally available and are not caste hierarchy and the bridging-alliances is identified with the more privileged targeted to specific groups or individuals. strategy by Sridharan (2005) which examines sections of society has managed to attract This service delivery based strategy is how strategic electoral alliances helped the the support of the least advantaged. neglected in the literature since most BJP to expand its geographical footprint. Previous scholarship on the rich-poor analyses are only looking for programmatic Thachil’s service-based strategy adds paradox points to three alternative strategies and clientelist relationships between parties another dimension to understand the rise available to elite parties. These include, and voters. He argues that since they are not and spread of the BJP. Second, it enriches redistributive programmatic shifts, patron- part of party promises during elections they the comparative study of party organization age and ‘distracting’ appeals to a voter’s do not establish programmatic linkages. At and strategy in multiple ways. moral values or social identity (p.5). Thachil the same time, they do not count as patron- Thachil’s main point is that the findings argues that these explanatory frameworks do age as they are neither financed from public in the party studies literature based on the

The Book Review /March 2018 21 experience of the West are unhelpful in other including archival research, content analysis areas. For instance, he shows that when and elite interviews. The elements of political parties attempt to mobilize sections qualitative research gives the study depth of society with diverse interests, parties and allows Thachil to unravel the complex cannot rely on a ‘single linkage strategy’ as multi-dimensional process through which is often simplistically assumed to be true the service-based strategy converts everyday about non-western political parties. Thachil contact with the non-elites into electoral finds that parties innovate and deploy returns without alienating the entrenched ‘separate tactics for specific social elites. The quantitative analysis of national constituencies’ (p.140). This innovation in and local survey data not only gives the study his study simultaneously appeases the greater depth but also allows him to contradictory demands of two sections of ‘eliminate alternative explanations for society who are otherwise suspicious of each subaltern support for the BJP’ and de- other. At the same time, the dual appease- monstrate the existence of a ‘broad division ment strategy does not rock the boat. On of labour’ between the ‘party and movement’ one hand, low cost service provisioning (p. 33). While Chhattisgarh is the primary benefits the beneficiaries who otherwise do area of research, the study also tests the not have access to quality health and explanatory framework in the States of Kerala education services. On the other hand, it and Uttar Pradesh. controls the pace and direction of social Kerala and Uttar Pradesh allow Thachil transformation, without compromising to demonstrate that the potency of any upper caste interests. strategy depends on what it is pitted against. Thachil clearly does not share the The service-based strategy is unlikely to be dominant pessimistic view of the decline of the winning formula when rival parties either party organizations either. He shows that use a programmatic appeal to woo poor voters compared to its southern counterparts. organization still plays an important part in or when there is vertical mobilization of the Consequently, there was a demand for the both mobilization and recruitment. He also poor by an ethnic party. Thus while it wor- services provided by the Hindu nationalist joins the debate on whether parties minimize ked in Chhattisgarh it did not sell in Kerala organizations. The service-based strategy it risks by rewarding their core supporters or where there appears to be a programmatic appears works best in regions marked by maximize their vote share by focusing on new linkage between parties and the voter and relatively low social development and where voters. The study finds that this is not an the governments have implemented robust elite-patronage has held sway. Therefore, either or choice, but instead, as noted above, social policies. In Chhattisgarh, the main while it works in Karnataka it did not find parties balance the demands of the old and challenger party, the Congress, relied on much purchase in Tamil Nadu. the new to remain electorally competitive. vertical linkages with elite patronage without In his conclusion, Thachil acknowledges Furthermore, most studies have hitherto incorporating subaltern groups. This strategy the challenges of sustaining a service based focused largely on the advantage incumbent was inefficient in the transfer of benefits since strategy. The challenges notwithstanding, parties have because of their sustained access it relied on a host of intermediaries and did Elite Parties, Poor Voters I believe is not about to government resources (p.141). Thachil’s not allow for direct linkages (p.180). This electoral strategy alone. If we read it in adds non-state actors and a service-based lack of organizational grounding created conjunction with findings from psychology, strategy to the repertoire of mechanisms space for the BJP and consequently, its Thachil actually draws the broad contours available to opposition parties to both recruit embedded service-based approach was of the long term agenda of the Hindu and retain voter support. Finally, Thachil’s unchallenged. nationalists. While most parties and even comparison of religiously oriented elite At the same time the service-based analysts focus on electoral victories, the parties also underlines the limitations of strategy does not work well in Uttar Pradesh Hindu nationalists and its affiliated current scholarship. His study shows that because the Bahujan Samaj Party drew sharp organizations it appears are thinking ahead, the relationship between ideological and lines between different social groups. Despite preparing for the long haul. electoral goals of political parties merits closer the poor material conditions of the subaltern The service-delivery based mobilization examination. sections, this sharp polarization left little is a prolonged and arduous process and does This study also enhances our under- space for service-based organizations. not have any obvious connection with the standing of non-state actors and welfare Thachil has also examined the cause of Hindu nationalism. Yet the strategy provisioning. Thachil adds outsourcing by relationship between service delivery and the allows the Hindu nationalist agenda to not political parties to the basket of reasons as BJP expansion in other States. He found that only get close to people, who would to when and why non-state actors appear in Tamil Nadu, like Kerala and Uttar otherwise have nothing to do with the cause and find space. Traditionally this basket Pradesh, the space for a service-based strategy but also capture their minds. The embedded- included state and market failure, decentrali- was closed. Not only were the backward ness of service-delivery providers makes it zation, neo-liberal reforms and so on. By castes and Dalits already politicized but easier to sell their preferred frame that can providing welfare, non-state organizations Tamil Nadu also ranked high on the human be used to make sense of events and more linked to political parties not only build development index in the country. On the importantly politics. Thus building trust goodwill for the party but also carry out contrary, in Karnataka, the main challenger and capturing minds through routinized recruitment and mobilization tasks. parties followed the ‘vertical patronage interaction builds deep as well as long-term The study combines a variety of research network’ (p. 269) strategy and the State’s roots for the cause. strategies over twenty months of fieldwork record in service-delivery was relatively poor The success of this strategy of capturing

22 The Book Review / March 2018 Elite Parties, Poor Voters I Democratization of Science “believe is not about electoral Aasim Khan strategy alone. If we read it in CONTESTED KNOWLEDGE: SCIENCE, MEDIA, conjunction with findings from AND DEMOCRACY IN KERALA psychology, Thachil actually By Shiju Sam Varughese Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2016, draws the broad contours of pp. 308, `995.00

the long-term agenda of the hat counts as scientific knowledge Hindu nationalists. is often a subject of popular Wcontroversies and yet science is commonly understood as being too complex minds becomes clear when” one looks at for public engagement. In his book Contested Madhya Pradesh. Researched studies show Knowledge about risk controversies in Kerala, that backward castes in the State, unlike in Shiju Sam Varughese contends with this other northern States, identify themselves particular paradox. The book explores the with the Hindu sense of an organic social dynamics that transform the nature community rather than to any particular and substance of scientific truths and in turn caste. highlights the central role that the media Consequently, the pattern of social now plays in the making and unmaking of transformation in Madhya Pradesh has both expert knowledge. In particular the book closed the space for social justice parties and maps the mediation, or ‘medialisation’ as the imagine through any other means. And in is moulded to suit the Hindu nationalist author calls it, of day-to-day interactions turn science, and scientists, drew a lot from vision of a national community. between ordinary readers, journalists and Indian society and much of it rested on the Elite Parties, Poor Voters is not therefore scientific institutions to demonstrate the goodwill and trust of the ordinary citizen. simply about how an elite party balances presence, and an ever growing influence, of a Science symbolized in modern India a demands from contradictory pressures and ‘scientific public sphere’ in the South Indian social contract of modernity which was so succeeds to get the votes of the poor. A State. Rich in empirical details and crisply appealing because it removed the other service-based strategy is much more than an edited, Contested Knowledge shows how the worldliness from the equation. The promise electoral strategy. The short run results of Malayalam press has emerged both as a site for of the sciences as an ideal worked because it an embedded organizational network pales establishing expert hierarchies as well as an offered an alternative that combined this in significance to the long-term conse- arena for negotiations among the various worldliness with principles of human dignity quences of acquiring control over the thought stakeholders in the scientific domain in Kerala. and equality. In its attempt to locate science process of large sections of society. But for all its insightfulness, the book as just another realm for enhancing public falls short of answering a very important participation, the thesis in Contested References: question, one that is clearly alluded to even Knowledge thus limits itself to specific events in the sub-title of the book ‘Science, Media and controversies and falls short of exploring Heath, Oliver. 1999. ‘Anatomy of BJP's Rise to Power: Social, Regional and Political Expansion in 1990s’. and Democracy in Kerala’. The idea that no how, if at all, the substance and consequence Economic and Political Weekly. 34 (34/35): 2511- matter however much it becomes an object of this opening is serving the universal 2517. of popular attention, that in itself need not promises of peace and progress which made Sridharan, E. 2005. ‘Coalition Strategies and the BJP's be read as a sign of democratization of science. science so appealing in the first instance. Expansion, 1989-2004’. Commonwealth & Com- parative Politics. 43 (2): 194-221. It is almost disappointing that in a book that The reason for such complacency is Wilkinson, Steven. 2004. Votes and Violence: Electoral gives access to such detailed descriptions and actually not very hard to pin down, after all Competition and Ethnic Riots in India. New York: carries such linguistic nuance, the idea of Kerala is home to such a rich intellectual Cambridge University Press. democracy should be used so casually. Barring culture and journalistic sphere that there is a very late course correction, in the concluding always a chance of missing the woods for chapter, the idea of democracy and in turn of the trees. The theoretical framing used here K K Kailash is with the Department of Political the subaltern and marginal participation hardly to explain the richness of scientific debates Science, University of Hyderabad, Telangana. features in the discussion elsewhere. While such could very well be deployed to explore any an omission would have been less galling in other domain of human activity. After all Book News Book News the context of any other sphere of human the Southern Indian State’s contemporary activity, it is simply impossible to overlook it social and cultural milieu provides us with Gandhi and Liberalism: Satyagraha and the in the context of science which is a frontier an astonishing array of public controversies Conquest of Evil by Vinit Haksar provides an domain of the modernist promise of democracy; that the theorists of public sphere would illuminating analysis of coercion, non-co-op- science’s promise is of civilizational and ethical never run out of cases studies. And in each eration, civil disobedience and necessary evil, advancement and nothing less. instance the role of the press and mass media comparing Gandhi’s ideas with that of some Secular democracies like in India, nur- would seem more central than perhaps of the leading western moral, legal and po- tured science precisely for this worldly ideal anywhere else in the world. litical philosophers. it promises; the possibility of peace and To demonstrate this point, let’s take the Routledge India, 2017, pp. 292, GBP 95.00 social justice that was simply impossible to domain of faith for instance, which is often

The Book Review /March 2018 23 subject to routine and increasingly mediated parts of Kerala soon after an earthquake hit brings forward the conjectural, strategic and controversies. From the question of Salafism another State of the country. elite aspects of mediation of scientific among young educated Muslim youth, to A third case study develops the argu- knowledge. While this gives us a tantalizing the issue of entry of women in sacred Hindu ment that media is central to the evolution glimpse of how marginal groups like Dalits shrines debates, themes of religious of scientific authority using the episodes of and women often end up as subjects of elite moralities appear to be part of its public mysterious red-rains which were reported discourse, there is certainly scope to develop culture in the State. Consider for instance from many parts of the State in early 2000s this approach further and use it to rethink the controversy surrounding Dan Brown’s and debated widely in the press. the selection and nature of public fantasy novel The Da Vinci Code. Not only While empirically meticulous, Varughese contestations around science and its politics did the religious authorities engage with the does an excellent job of giving the reader a in a modern secular republic, as it should press and mass media in a way that is blow by blow account in each case, the be and as it really is. unheard of elsewhere, it was indeed quite throw-away references to democracy could unique that Kerala’s Christian religious perhaps have been rendered better through Aasim Khan is Assistant Professor, Digital Politics leadership relied on professional emissaries a clearer theoretical and analytical focus on and Political Communication, IIIT-Delhi. to argue their case in the public arena. history of ideas and politics of identity which Amidst the litigations and public agitations has grown rapidly in the neoliberal era. The In Search of Secularization surrounding The Da Vinci Code, the church focus on seemingly spectacular cases seems of Civil Society and also deployed its own ‘Media Commission’ a bit jarring too, this reviewer found it to be to campaign against the ‘unholy combi- a case of circularity where events like red- Alternative Politics nation of fact and fiction’ against the novel rains and tremors become news, but of (The Hindu, 27 May, 2007). course, while something more mundane gets Kamal Nayan Choubey The argument, one that the thesis should under-reported and in turn never getting have addressed more empathically, is that debated with similar vehemence. Had the HINDUTVA RISING: SECULAR CLAIMS, COMMUNAL mediation or mass mediation to be precise, underlying conceptual and theoretical REALITIES is central to any public issue in Kerala and framework been more focussed, perhaps this By Achin Vanaik that it might not be considered to be a sign selection could have been more justifiable. Tulika Books, Delhi, 2017, pp. x + 458, `1200.00 of democracy in every instance. Be it in the After all, this book-length monograph sciences, politics, the arts or even faith for about the democratization of science has here is no doubt that Hindutva that matter, the polysemy within each come at precisely a time when science, and politics has established its dominance domain in Kerala’s public culture makes it more broadly modernity’s universal claim to Tin the vast terrain of Indian politics, ready fodder for media consumption and this-worldly progress, are increasingly under particularly post-2014 general elections. Its diverse opinion is bound to be amplified by pressure from anti-secularists. It is surprising dominance is not just limited to the political the presence of a steadily rising number of that in a book about democratization there victories, but the Sangh Parivar has created new media channels. Contested Science should is not a single reference to religion, caste, acceptability and respectability in different tell us why all this constitutes an advance- gender or any other sociological frame to give social spheres. In the book under review, ment and progress of democracy, and why the reader a sense of the socio-political make- Hindutva Rising: Secular Claims, Communal this is not simply a case of cultural up of the civil society in contemporary Realities, the author Achin Vanaik has embeddedness of science like any other Kerala. Are the mediated debates more or presented an insightful analysis of the sphere of human creativity. Without placing less inclusive of marginal and minority different facets of Hindutva politics and the story of science within the wider history voices, how does caste and class intersect in dilemmas associated with the theory and of secularism in India this isn’t possible. the making of news reports about scientific practice of the concept of secularism, secular Hence Contested Knowledge should controversies, and to what extent does literacy, state and secularization. Vanaik not only reconsider the theoretical framework to put and more broadly education, reinforce and persuasively argues for an alternative Left politics questions of marginality and inequality as reproduce the barriers faced by members of to counter communal politics and neoliberal its central concern. Is it not possible that socially and economically marginal groups? policies, he also discerns many complex issues the elites who engage in the public In short, the question this book should have like Marxist analysis of religion, fascist elements controversies are moved not so much because asked, and answered, is that if there is a in Sangh politics and the shallowness of they care about democratic ideals but mediated public sphere for science related Congress politics against communalism. perhaps for their own material and personal debates, who are its counter publics? Indeed this book is an extension of benefit? This needs to be considered even in All this apart, the best part of the book Vanaik’s earlier work The Furies of Indian the selection of the cases, something that is comes in the course of a brief discussion Communalism (1997). The author has not not fully explained except for the fact that about ‘the backstage’, where using Goffman’s only followed the same framework presented they all take place at a particular period in theatre analogy, the author discusses the in the earlier book, but has also revised many time. The first controversy under study in social and literal dimensions of science news chapters and added a new chapter to explore the book relates to the case of randomized and identifies the framing strategies adopted the events related to the emergence of the trials of cancer vaccines that were carried out by different outlets. Finally, we hear the Right Wing in the second decade of the in Kerala by a scientific institution in voices of the journalists and activists, and twenty-first century. This book is divided partnership with international academic the incisiveness of the discussion shows the into three parts, after the Introduction, Part collaborators in the late 1990s. The second high quality of field work which is otherwise One contains Chapter 1, which outlines the case study covers a wider debate, one that did casually referenced in all other chapters. The communalization of the Indian polity not need a conflict among the scientific bodies interlacing of the theoretical concerns about between Independence and the 2014 general to become an object of public attention and democracy and civic participation with the election. Part Two (Chapter 2 and 3) contestation; the occurrence of tremors in many themes of sociology in the Conclusion again constitutes the theoretical heart of the book.

24 The Book Review / March 2018 In Part Three, Chapter 4 addresses how not tively confront the BJP/Sangh Parivar’ (p. 6). to perceive the forces of Hindu communalism, Vanaik has also presented a critical and deals with the perspective of the Indian analysis of Marxist understanding of religion Left and the Indian Marxist about the nature as ideology. He, however, clarifies that he of Hindu communal Right, while Chapter 5 had not felt particularly beholden to that discusses how to situate it within the overall tradition in his effort to ‘understand religion’. context of economic, political, and social Religion always has an ideological function, changes in India. and it has thus become something of a The book provides a capsule survey of Marxist convention to invoke Gramsci’s the Sangh Parivar’s parent body the Rashtriya remarkable insights into ‘hegemony’ and Swayamsevak Sangh or RSS, and of some of ‘ideological domination’. According to its major affiliates. Vanaik underlines that Vanaik, the strength of the Marxist approach Sangh Parivar has spread the idea of a is also its weakness. Religion has an homogenous Brahmanical version of ideological function, but it goes far beyond Hinduism, which has certainly prepared the that (p. 7). He argues that in the religion- ground for mass receptivity. Following culture-society relationship, culture is the Independence, the Sangh Parivar culturally pivot. Vanaik emphasizes that ‘Cultural implanted itself among sections of Dalits and essentials is a basic assumption of those who Adivasiss, despite its upper caste doctrinal would contrast the value of secularization basis. The foundational ideology of the and secularism for India, and must be Sangh has been based on the exclusion and opposed and refuted’ (p. 8). Indeed Vanaik demonization of Islam and Muslims. The goes beyond the traditional Marxist identification of Islam and Muslims with understanding of the question of religion by terrorism has strongly reinforced their his acceptance of differences between propaganda against Muslims. The Sangh spirituality and religiosity. He accepts that controlled Hindutvaized polity... There is Parivar focuses on a distinct idea of nationalism, it is even more difficult to theorize the no need to restrict or eliminate electoral which is based on Hindu identity and hostility spiritual than to theorize the religious or the process’ (p. 424). to the Muslim ‘other’ and their exclusion. religious experience. Vanaik asserts that it is Vanaik challenges this common under- Vanaik, however, also asserts that ‘the danger not for Marxists to deny the existence of the standing that if a state is following the policy represented by the Hindu Right is not just spiritual experience, but only to point out of toleration for all religious communities and cultural or directed only against Muslims or that its sources can be, and are, many; and if there is mutual tolerance among religious other religious minorities, but mobilized that a positive and healthy modernity communities, there would be no danger of politically against the majority of ordinary enhances the sources and possibilities of the majoritarian domination and violence. He Hindus themselves’ (p. 16). spiritual. He accepts that ‘It (Spirituality) persuasively argues that even in such a Even though the book does not investi- can be experienced in a religious form, so a situation a simultaneous and ever-widening gate the colonial period, Vanaik stresses the fully Marxist Utopia is neither necessary nor process of secularization of social life is fact that the Congress’s struggle for Inde- desirable’ (p. 25). important for the long-term struggle against pendence under the leadership of Mahatma Vanaik has made an attempt to de- communalism and fundamentalism. Indeed Gandhi had a Hindu nationalist dimension construct and evaluate the work on secu- the electoral success of the BJP and the of considerable weight, even as it also had a larism by Bhikhu Parekh, T N Madan, Ashis growing influence of the Sangh Parivar only secular dynamic. In his analysis of post- Nandy and Partha Chatterjee. He criticizes underlines the weakness of the secularization Independent India, Vanaik accepts that the pre-modernist indigenisms and post- process in civil society. There are contending advance of political ‘Hindutva’ had been modernist arguments and underlines that notions of the secularization. Vanaik has relatively slow, its acceleration started from the way to counter the false claims of both of sought to defend the classical notion of the mid-1980s, and in the 1990s—following them cannot be a simple argument in favour secularization—relative decline in religious the ‘Ram Janambhoomi’ movement, it of an unproblematic modernity. It has to be influence—as a fact in modernity everywhere. emerged as the central force in Indian ‘the defence of a critical and modest He strongly feels that secularization’s politics. Vanaik shows brilliantly that the modernity, in which a critical and modest deepening in societies like India is a definite consolidation of Hindu communalism was Marxism assuredly has a place’(p. 10). possibility, but one that would have to be not simply an outgrowth of the rise of the It is also important to note that Vanaik fought for. Bhartiya Janata Party and its allies, but was strongly questions the dominant view within Vanaik presents a critical analysis of the significantly fuelled by the ‘secular’ Indian the Indian Left and among the Indian BJP win of 2014 general election and many National Congress. ‘Though the Congress Marxists which claims that in the Hindu other State Legislative Assembly elections was in power for ten years, from 2004 to communal Right, we have been witnessing after it. He presents the idea of shorter term 2014, it made little progress on the matter the rise and growing danger of an Indian and longer term goal in the fight against the of communalism. Neglect and indifference fascism. It can hardly be denied that the communal politics of the BJP/RSS. The are what have most marked the attitude of Hindu Right has certain fascist charac- shorter term goal is to halt and reverse the the Congress-led UPA governments’ (pp. 87- teristics, but it would be a theoretical fortunes of the BJP/Sangh Parivar in the arena 88). He strongly criticizes the Congress blunder to say that actually India is of electoral politics. The longer term goal is politics related to secularism and underlines witnessing its own version of fascism. ‘The to counter it (the wider transformative that, ‘it is the futility of placing any hope in spectre that now haunts India is not the project of installing a Hindu Rashtra) by the prospect that the Congress—in large part prospect of anything like a fascist dictator- the invocation of an opposing transformative responsible for Hindutva’s rise—might effec- ship, but of a much more authoritarian and project and vision.

The Book Review /March 2018 25 There is, however, an inherent confusion Dissent In The Time Of The Cow in Vanaik’s treatment of the issue of minority communalism. On the one hand, he claims that no practical perspective for combating Akhil Katyal majority communalism can be complete without insisting simultaneously on INDIA DISSENTS: 3,000 YEARS OF DIFFERENCE, combating minority communalism, parti- DOUBT AND ARGUMENT Edited and with an Introduction by Ashok Vajpeyi cularly Muslim communalism (p. 4). Speaking Tiger, 2017, pp.560, `499.00 However, on the other hand, he does not present any deep analysis of this issue and ast year, when PM Modi launched the indeed he underlines that he is leaving ‘aside by now infamous Goods and Services the unnecessarily defensive attempt to LTax at an expensive event in Delhi, he establish appropriately liberal credentials’ was invited to the podium by an over- and adds that ‘by “balancing” my preoccupa- enthusiastic compere, who welcomed him with tion with majority communalism with a these words: ‘GST yaani ek rashtra, ek kar, ek study (and condemnation) of minority bazaar, (GST as in one nation, one tax, one communalism... India cannot become an market) yahi hai ek bharat, shreshtha bharat (this Islamic state; it can certainly become a alone is one India, great India), rashtra Hindu state’ (p. 3). swabhimaan ke upaasak (the worshipper of Again it seems that Vanaik is not clear national self-respect), mananiya pradhanmantri in his views regarding the relationship se ham sab vinamra anunay karte hain ki [we between religiosity and spirituality. On the humbly request our respected Prime Minister one hand he accepts that religion could be to’ etc., He came out waving to the crowds. an important component of spirituality and It is one thing to sell an unbaked govern- on the other he criticizes figures like Viveka- ment fiscal policy under some PR gloss. It is throughout Indian history, one which has nanda and Gandhi by arguing that while another to aggressively push the dubious and time and again resisted its totalizing, ‘such figures (Vivekananda and Gandhi) fairly dangerous symbolism of one nation. Brahmanizing forces. Its central argument, never subscribed to Hindutva’s full chain of Across government fora, hoardings and according to its editor the Hindi poet Ashok reasoning, they did implicitly or explicitly websites, you can find this slogan of one Vajpeyi, is that there has always been ‘a strong endorse some links in that longer chain’ (p. nation repeated ad nauseam. This is more and multi-layered tradition of disagreement 194). Indeed there is need to present a more than some whimsical patriotic fluff to oversell and debate in the fields of thought, conduct, comprehensive account of spirituality and an unthought through tax regime. It is knowledge and morality’ in pre-modern and clarity about its relation with religion, but misguided and portentous. modern India and that this dissenting Vanaik does not present any such analysis. Ever since 2014, the BJP government has tradition is resilient even in our times in For Vanaik the most important thing is been criticized for imposing its own narrow which it is threatened. In a nutshell, the the creation of an alternative politics against social, political and cultural vision on various dissenters aren’t going anywhere. They’ve the communal mobilization of the Sangh. unsuspecting entities, whether they be always been around, they’ll survive this too. Thus he argues that ‘a beginning has to be dissenting university students or the non-BJP Here is 3,000 years of them. made to construct a broader anti-neoliberal ruled States, whether they be dissident caste As is evident from the ambitious sweep of front or platform for which a newly and tribal groups or bodies of intellectuals. its title, the book brings together the examples rejuvenated left needs to emerge as one of Whoever is seen strongly disagreeing with of dissenting voices from the three millennia its most consistent elements’ (p. 438). This the government have been termed ‘anti- from our part of the world. The anthology work has underlined that to counter national’ pariahs. Reminiscent of the proposes that dissent has always been a communal politics it is necessary to mobilize anxieties of the Indira Gandhi’s Emergency liberating social-political force. That it loosens the masses on the issues related to social regime, the BJP regularly voices concerns orthodoxy, questions brute force, makes the justice and protection of civil rights; about a mythical ‘destructive conspiracy’ to world liveable. That dissent is crucial to make nationalism should also be used with divide the nation whenever a strong opposi- the world liveable, across millennia, from emphasis on the point that there are different tion to its policies gains traction. Buddha to Ambedkar, from Lal Ded to Ismat ways of being and feeling Indian; and there The present government has been Chughtai, from Bhagat Singh to Soni Sori. The must be a concerted campaign and mobili- condemned for imposing its totalizing book creates an elaborate tapestry of Indian zation to show that the neoliberal policy vision—which is overwhelmingly upper- thought and politics across centuries, in which framework has been a comprehensive failure caste, Hindutva-driven, peculiarly North no one tradition can claim supremacy, or on economic, social, political and ecological Indian and conservative-jingoist—onto those remain uncontested when it does so. The book grounds. who do not subscribe to it. But the symbol is done with the one, and how. Undoubtedly, this book is essential is beginning to fray. People have started to Consider an example. In the winter of reading to understand the complex issues see the plan behind the PR, have started 2016, the Indian Parliament was log- related to the dominance of Right Wing questioning it. Buying into one is beginning jammed over what is at heart a question of politics and dilemmas of secular discourse to feel like bad business. plurality vs. singularity of tradition. Of what in India. Against this backdrop, comes this we consider to be the story. The then HRD timely book. India Dissents: 3,000 Years of Minister Smriti Irani, in responding to the Kamal Nayan Choubey teaches Political Science Difference, Doubt and Argument which notes criticism of her government’s abysmal in Dyal Singh College, University of Delhi, Delhi. plurality to be the defining framework response to the ‘institutional murder’ of the

26 The Book Review / March 2018 Dalit student-leader Rohith Vemula and the the wounds that they reveal. Mixing Business With crackdown on Delhi’s JNU students over a For instance, the book includes some of cooked-up ‘sedition’ controversy, found the Constituent Assembly Debates which Patriotic Veneer herself quoting a pamphlet on the resulted in drafting the Constitution of India ‘Mahishasura Martyrdom Day’ issued two in the late 1940s. Reading those debates, it Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay years earlier in JNU by ST, SC, OBC and becomes clear that the fabric of this nation other minority students. Her lips trembled has to acknowledge differences to ensure its GODMAN TO TYCOON: THE UNTOLD STORY OF as she read the words, her anger soared as well-being, not follow the trumpet sound BABA RAMDEV the stringent Brahmanical scaffolding of of any one man or any one story. Jaipal Singh By Priyanka Pathak-Narain Hindu mythology came crashing down in Munda (1903-1907), for example, fiercely Juggernaut, 2017, pp.236, `299.00 the face of tribal counter-narratives. She was represented the Adivasis of India during incredulous as she read. ‘And may my god these debates, and when the Gandhians hree bearded men, between them, forgive me for reading this’, she said, and threatened that Prohibition be added to the occupy a major part of air time on then quoted the pamphlet—‘Durga Puja is list of Directive Principles, Munda made a TIndian television. The first gets on the most controversial racial festival, where persuasive case against it (included in this TV mainly because he often generates the a fair skinned beautiful goddess Durga is book) by arguing that such an act would 'news' of the day and also because his face is depicted brutally killing a dark-skinned encroach on the life-practices and rituals of used for hard-selling government programmes native called Mahishasura...a brave self- the Adivasis. Speaking ‘on behalf of the —recycled or re-invented, feasible and un- respecting leader, tricked into marriage by millions of unknown hordes’, Munda turned achievable, successes or failures. Aryans...Durga, who enticed Mahishasura the worlds of some of his contemporary Yet these go on air because there is no into marriage and killed him after nine nights Brahmanical Congressmen upside down one to question why. The second adds to his of honeymooning, during sleep.’ The BJP when he said, ‘I am proud to be a Jungli...Sir, coffers with every image telecast, save those cabinet minister called it ‘depraved if there is any group of Indian people that which are required to promote the image of mentality’, questioned the students’ has been shabbily treated it is my people. a philanthropist, necessary to retain existing ‘freedom of speech’ and threateningly They have been disgracefully treated, political ties and build new ones. He models proposed, ‘who wants to have this discussion neglected for the last 6,000 years. The for every conceivable product—from the in the streets of Kolkata? I want to know.’ history of the Indus Valley Civilization, a proverbial all-purpose pins to luxury homes. A book like India Dissents should be child of which I am, shows quite clearly that Unlike the first two, the third has a shaggy compulsory reading for the BJP Cabinet. It it is the newcomers—most of you here are unkempt flowing beard but matches the two would calm them down. It would ask them intruders as far as I am concerned—who have in megalomania. Not much is known about to hold their horses. It would say that your driven away my people from the Indus Valley him save routine news reports of his various story—whether about Durga or about cow- to the jungle.’ Smriti Irani and her Party activities. He is also brand ambassador, of worship, whether about the dubious Vaman members would have done a somersault. The an extremely wide range of products— Jayanti (Amit Shah’s name for Kerala’s story she was decrying turns out to be an old, ranging from FMCGs to beauty products Onam) or about that one Ramayana—is only resilient one of a people refusing to be silenced. and of course, medicines, all of which is one of the many stories that exist. What Irani This is the power of this book. It does produce from his kingdom. I will leave the had vilified in Parliament is the story held not let you comfortably settle into a singular, identity of the first two for readers to dear by many Indian citizens. Eastern India’s orthodox vision for this bumbling new nation decipher though it is certain that there will Asur tribe, in present-day Jharkhand and of ours. It keeps the debates alive at a time be little trouble in the exercise. The third West Bengal, denoted as a ‘Particularly when they’re most threatened. It forces you man, Baba Ramdev, has an unchanging Vulnerable Tribal Group’ claim lineage from to consider whether a leader like Bhagat image of a person draped in saffron robes Mahishasura himself and consider him their Singh, for instance, who is appropriated so but is also eternalized as one who abandons hero. For them, Mahishasura was a wronged spectacularly by political parties of every hue followers when faced with a moment of crisis tribal king. 'The devas are the culprits. Our and colour, would have survived today and that too in the clothes of a woman. But, king was a true warrior from the earth who without a sedition case being slapped on him what is Ramdev—is he a smart Yoga Guru, defeated Indra, the king of the devas, and every weekend. He is someone who in an a business tycoon, someone who lives in the drove them out of heaven. They were jealous essay ‘Why I Am an Atheist’, included in nether world of business, politics and of our dynasty and our forefathers', says this book, could call the tenets of Hindu spirituality, a person who has often got on Dahru Asur, a worker in the Majher Dabri Brahmin scriptures ‘unutterable trash’, or the wrong side of law but has immunity tea estate in Alipurduar and a staunch believer B R Ambedkar, also included in this volume, because of his influential friends and of the ancestral myth (in Jacob: 2013). This who asked us to ‘destroy [our] belief in the followers, or a bit of all these and maybe, too is the story of Mahishasura. sanctity of the Shastras’. Imagine the fate of much more? Priyanka Pathak-Narain A book like India Dissents would argue these figures in our times. Imagine their provides a gripping tale—captivating, that these fundamental differences in our Facebook time-lines or their Twitter feeds, sordid, worrisome—and weaves together a iconic stories is not a cause of concern, it and god, their trolls. Imagine what charges portrait of a man who is anything but should not be flattened out, instead, it they would have been put under. India inspiring for those not in his sway. should be actively celebrated. That the arc Dissents is a clarion call to save the promise Pathak-Narain, being a journalist whose of justice would emerge only from a healthy of this nation and its Constitution. We 'beat' allowed access to Ramdev, his followers debate between differing stories. That our would do well to heed it. and people who worked at different points ability as a nation to be a source of justice to at varying levels in his empire, provided its citizens depends on taking into account Akhil Katyal is a poet, and teaches creative writ- opportunities to track how his empire grew these differences and working actively to heal ing at Ambedkar University(AUD), Delhi. phenomenally, enabled a sound under-

The Book Review /March 2018 27 democratic spirit and rule of law. time on Sanskar TV in 2002 and later when It is not difficult to comprehend which he realized the power of the media, took over portions would have worried Ramdev the the channel and thereafter the Aastha most. Three chapters, unambiguously channel too, which together control almost titled—Mystery 1: The Ally's Murder, the entire spiritual sector in broadcasting. Mystery 2: The Guru's Disappearance and This stream has its share of smartness and Mystery 3: The Mentor's Sudden Death, treachery about how Ramdev eased out though not fresh investigation, recapitulate existing promoters at times by use of grisly episodes in the rise of Ramdev and questionable means and this makes for that investigations are still underway in the absorbing, also off-putting reading. This just cases, is indication that there is a seamier goes to demonstrate that Ramdev is anything side to his rise. The author makes several but a spiritual guru. points, the narratives of which run parallel Like it happens in the case of most people to each other. One stream of the making of with a larger than life image, including one of Ramdev is political and in that there is both the other bearded men mentioned earlier, story and analysis: how he mixed, and stories about childhood are often more mythical continues to do so, business with nationalism than factual and Ramdev is no exception. But —or how his business is wrapped in a veneer more important is the author's narration which of patriotism. Most TV or radio commercials establishes how Ramdev's medical empire is of Patanjali products, in direct competition built on deceit and by circumventing law. His standing of the tactics he used; background with those of other FMCG companies, make trusted aide, Balkrishna, who owns most of information that came in handy when she the point that by patronizing Patanjali the shares, Ramdev does not hold a single share decided to write a book as a non-hagiographic products, consumers will safeguard the because he is a sanyasi (sic), maybe managing biography was the need of the hour. Coupled ‘economic independence’ of the country. By the affairs of a massive medical empire, but he with information that the author already purchasing Ramdev's products, people are does not possess a single ayurveda degree. possessed, she used tools that come naturally told, they would contribute their two-bit The growth of Patanjali Ayurveda is never to scribes—securing access to more people to the nation's or Bharat Mata's cause! On complete without details of the episode when with inside information and convincing them the story side is a simple narration of the Brinda Karat levelled serious allegations and of the need to part, at times in anonymity sequence of events since the last years of the burnt her fingers because of the political and on other occasions being attributed. The previous decade when Ramdev first hob- clout he already wielded. The author people interviewed do not just retell stories nobbed with the Congress Party and later provides details of this in ample measure. with a twist but are even those who remain with the Anna Hazare movement and There are shocking revelations—for Ramdev's admirers. Laced with adequate eventually the Bharatiya Janata Party and instance 'cow ghee' being sold is actually made sourcing, the book provides not just a Prime Minister Narendra Modi. From a from white butter acquired from farmers and credible account of a man who has built a nobody, Ramdev's rise to a stature when he this is turn is made from the milk of various career and fortune by being a crony to can secure the presence of the Prime Minister animals: cow, buffalo and even goat! Ramdev influential players, but also provides evidence to launch one of his projects and / or in fact, has mastered like other companies, of the extent to which laws can be played products, is no mean feat. But this is no the expertise of repackaging products—honey around with if one has the 'right connections’. achievement, the author suggests, without for instance—manufac-tured by smaller It is not difficult to imagine why the book resorting to use of 'campaign tools'. companies and marketing these after just must have angered Ramdev and his The success of the book lies in its being affixing the Patanjali label. The extent of quality confederates, but it is impossible to fathom a stickler to facts and by steadfastly avoiding check is dubious. Despite use of such 'dubious' why the judiciary should become a party to affixing of labels. This is not a book that can methods, questionable because pretence of this and pronounce an ex-parte order restraining in any manner be considered academic or 'purity' is an essential part of Ramdev's business immediate distribution and sale of the book. scholarly but besides being a window to model, his empire does not run transparently In August 2017, a Delhi court res- contemporary India, it is a splendid reference and the bulk of decisions are taken opaquely. A trained publication and distribution of the manual. Another stream in the Ramdev former CEO, a top-gun in the corporate world book on the basis of a complaint alleging story is his business growth and how he set joined and left because his insistence on ushering defamation filed on behalf of Ramdev up the enterprise and began growing by corporate transparency was resisted. without hearing either the publisher or the leaps and bounds: by 2010-11 he had a Among other issues, workers’ rights author of the book. This raises serious issues turnover of Rs. 317 crore and this had risen continue to be squashed and questioning the as ex-parte orders go against the principles to Rs 5000 crore in 2015-16 and Rs 10,000 management is dealt with a vindictive hand. of natural justice and these codes include crore till May 2017. The author makes two It is a travesty that this book has been pro- the right to be heard and the right to an valid points that is proof that this is a book as scribed and remains unavailable to readers. unbiased referee. The Supreme Court has balanced as one can be with the subject. Firstly, The story still remains 'untold'. Clearly, time and recognizes the importance of these she says Ramdev brought in a new category of Ramdev is scared of 'facts' and probably he rights not being encroached in the process consumers and secondly, he forced other has more skeletons in his cupboard than those of examining issues in a judicial manner but companies and even the world to sit up and the book points to. the lower courts routinely pass such verdicts. take notice of Ayurveda, both for its therapeutic Over the past several years, numerous instances capacity and business potential. Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, a Delhi-based writer have surfaced when similar gag orders have been The third stream of Ramdev's rise is as and journalist, is the author of Narendra Modi: issued against books and media reports and that of a media tycoon, how he began The Man and The Times and Sikhs: The Untold such incidents point to the rising threat to the presenting a yoga programme after buying Agony of 1984.

28 The Book Review / March 2018 Panjab: Whetstone Of India’s Democracy

Amandeep Sandhu

MASTER TARA SINGH IN INDIAN HISTORY : COLONIALISM, NATIONALISM AND THE POLITICS OF SIKH IDENTITY By J S Grewal Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2017, pp.776, R2595.00

or half a century (from the 1920s to about the person as it is a history of Panjab, the 1960s), like a colossus, Master Tara the land and people, and Indian politics. FSingh straddled the region, the society, As I pored over the pages, aware of what the community we call Panjab. His life had has happened to Panjab and India fifty years immense highs and lows and his role in the after Master Tara Singh’s death, what stands making of modern Panjab and the history of out both in terms of understanding Panjab’s Sikh politics elicit diverse opinions. For a unique position in history and Master Tara long time now there has been a need for a Singh’s role in the making of the history is comprehensive book that portrays his life and that: Panjab and the Sikhs are the whetstone times. Given this background, eminent of Indian democracy. In a democratic system scholar, historian, J S Grewal, under the aegis the hardest aspect is how the idea of equality, of Punjabi University, Patiala, has finally even uniform nationhood, deals with those offered us a study of his life: Master Tara who are minuscule in terms of numbers, by Sikhs were a minority to Muslim dominated Singh in Indian History: Colonialism, those who stand for themselves and have not Panjab. Nationalism and the Politics of Sikh Identity. joined the majority and minority camps. The Before Independence, Master Tara Singh For a personality so much larger than life, position of the Sikhs in Panjab is one such opposed the creation of Pakistan. When for a book almost equally large in size, it is test even before the nation’s modern Pakistan seemed like an eventuality, he raised impossible to do justice or even summarize inception: at 13 percent, the Sikhs were a the demand for Sikh homeland. The in a short review. At best, I can offer a few minority in every single district of the larger Congress ignored it. The book shows that impressions. pre-Partition Panjab. There was no way they more than any other national leader The biography is four lakh words, 700 could get representative power. Without including Gandhi, Nehru, Patel, Azad, who plus double column pages. It has a foreword, representation, how would the nation were stunned by the mayhem of Partition, a preface, and introduction detailing the address the concerns of the Sikhs? Master Tara Singh was acutely aware of methodology, twenty-six almost equal sized Grewal’s tome highlights two important Panjab’s reality. All his life he remained chapters, one conclusion and ten appendices, facts: first, the Congress started as a people’s steadfast in projecting the Sikhs as a religious forty photographs and three maps. Grewal movement against the British which mutated but nationalistic people. Yet, the Congress puts together a comprehensive portrait of into a political party. While doing so, the leadership misjudged, maligned, and vilified Master Tara Singh’s life, at many places even Congress sought to be the sole voice of the him. Post Independence, Sikhs formed 35 day-to-day records, from hundreds if not diverse people of the subcontinent. Pre- percent of East Panjab and were still a minority. thousands of sources. He sketches out the Independence, the Party’s response to the Master Tara Singh raised the voice for Azad period in which Master Tara Singh was born, Sikh demand for representation was a Panjab which meant neither Sikhs nor his childhood experiences, his switch from a prototype of what the Right Wing in the Hindus dominate the representation from sehajdhari family to becoming a keshdhari country now employs: either you are with the region. It did not mean that Panjab or Sikh, his becoming an Akali leader who us or you are anti-national. Second, the the Sikhs wanted to break away from India. participated in the Gurdwara Reform national leaders, both before and after India’s At best, given the unique Sikh identity, it Movement, how he shaped the Sikh vis-à- Independence, harboured a misinformed was a demand for a semi-autonomous region vis the Congress stance during the freedom view: Sikhs are a part of the Hindus. In the within the nation. The central leadership, struggle, witnessed the mayhem of Partition later part of the 19th century, during Master which had earlier even considered banning of India and Pakistan through Panjab (and Tara Singh’s childhood, the revivalist the Akali Dal, kept viewing Master Tara Bengal), raised the voice for Azad Panjab, Hindutva organization the Arya Samaj Singh’s demand as communal. Ironically, it how it translated into the struggle for Panjabi projected this view and even Mahatma is when the Congress in alliance with the Suba—a recognition the Centre, paranoid Gandhi bought into it in spite of supporting Akali Dal, tried implementing the Regional about the Sikh minority, kept denying until the Gurdwara Reform Movement (1920- Formula (1956) that it discovered it was 1966. When finally Panjab was trifurcated 25). The Nehru Report (1928, Motilal) did opposed by Hindus who were raising the and became a State, it inherited issues such not recognize the Sikhs as a separate identity pitch for 'Save Hindi'. as Chandigarh and the river waters which and provide separate electorates for them. Master Tara Singh’s eloquent discourse still stand unsolved. Grewal has penned a The point to note is that the Sikh demand on the merits of Panjabi language is non-hagiographic biography that humanizes was the same as the Muslim demand. Like fascinating in both its rootedness and scope. Master Tara Singh and the book is as much the Muslims were a minority to Hindus, the His theorization of the Sikh nonviolence

The Book Review /March 2018 29 Grewal has penned a non- This is a selective reading of history. During the Gurdwara Reform Movement, Pandit The Little Known “hagiographic biography that Madan Mohan Malaviya came to Amritsar Ambedkar humanizes Master Tara Singh in support of the Akalis. He brought C F Andrews who relayed the news of the struggle and the book is as much about to the world. Malaviya was close to the Suhas Bhasme the person as it is a history of Mahasabha, founded by Lala Lajpat Rai, which in a few elections represented the AMBEDKAR: THE ATTENDANT DETAILS Panjab, the land and people, Hindus of Panjab. At times, Master Tara Edited by Salim Yusufji and Indian politics. Singh and the Mahasabha even aligned to Navayana Publication, 2017, pp .192, `295.00 oppose the Congress. After all, Master Tara India is still par excellence the land of idolatry. Singh was not opposed to the Hindus or to There is idolatry in religion; there is idolatry based on the martyrdom of” Guru Arjan and the Muslims. All he sought was recognition in politics. Heroes and hero-worship are a of the Sikh identity and representation in Guru Tegh Bahadur is a step ahead of hard if unfortunate, fact in India’s political the democratic setup. To blame Master Tara Mahatma Gandhi’s nonviolence. The Akalis life. even effectively employed nonviolence Singh is to deny ourselves the acceptance —Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Writing and during the Gurdwara Reforms to Panjabi that the Sikhs have failed in carving a space Speeches—Vol-I Suba to Emergency. The pathos of the Sikhs for themselves not only during the is that, despite Master Tara Singh’s efforts, Independence movement, but also when the mbedkar’s observation made about the Congress and the majority leadership Akali Dal presented the Anandpur Sahib India almost decades ago applies equ- kept viewing the Sikhs through the prism of Resolution in the 1970s, and even through ally even now to modern democratic the armed militant Sikh separatism which A prejudice—trapped in the image of being globalized India. The unfortunate part is that militant warriors owing to their past caused even greater damage to Panjab. That over the period Ambedkar himself could not heroism. Master Tara Singh’s boldest move is why Panjab is a whetstone to India’s stand indifferent to the practice. Today, a could have been the Dalits under the democratic discourse. Unless India solves diverse section of people cutting across caste, leadership of B R Ambedkar accepting the Panjab, democracy has not arrived. Other class and ideological backgrounds appreciate Sikh religion. It would have benefitted both: such tests are Dalits who traditionally have Ambedkar for his ideas. Over the period the Sikhs in numbers, the Dalits in social not wielded power; women silenced through Ambedkar followers and now joined by dignity. The plans fell through in part feudal patriarchy; extreme religious Ambedkar’s traditional critics consisting of because of the assurance of reserved seats in minorities such as the Christians, the Parsis; Hindutva groups have raised his stature to provincial legislatures through the Poona Pact or those whom the nation has colonized, who the status of a divine figure. and also due to the reluctance of Mahatma do not buy into the models of development— The process of apotheosis of Ambedkar Gandhi and other leaders to agree to the the tribals. That seventy years after has a political explanation: for the margi- move towards conversions. Independence we still fight elections over nalized section the entire process of the The critique against Master Tara Singh drains and roads, our politics is still about celebration of Ambedkar (Birth and Death is that he had secret negotiations with the identity politics, about caste and religion, is Centenary) is part of claiming their existence Congress, particularly Nehru, and he a sign that our nation has been found in public spaces that as usual discriminates betrayed the Sikhs. The motive: he was a wanting in all these tests. This is why the against them; and for the Hindutva brigade born Hindu who had converted to the Sikh questions Master Tara Singh raised through its way of co-opting Ambedkar and inter- religion. Grewal’s book devotes six chapters his life remain important. Through Grewal’s preting his ideas narrowly to justify their to the pre-Independence period when efforts, Master Tara Singh will now occupy communal agenda against the religious Master Tara Singh was negotiating for the a dominant space on the bookshelves and, I minorities. The former is the outcome of Sikhs. Yes, his moves failed, but to ascribe a hope, in the imagination of every scholar sociological condition and the latter is the motive as birth to him is, in my opinion, interested in Panjab, India and democracy. political necessity for the Hindutva brigade. not fair. In fact, it is playing into the hands However, both acts by followers and opponents of the Congress. Through his speeches, Amandeep Sandhu is working on a book on diverse in their origin might lead to a similar writings, publications, the coverage in news Panjab. fate of eventual and slow death of Ambedkar's of his times it is amply clear that he tried ideas. At this precarious situation, we need to his very best, but could not surmount not save Ambedkar, particularly his revolutionary only the wall of apathy the Congress had Book News Book News ideas for transforming our society. built but its intent to discredit him like when Ambedkar: The Attendant Details edited he called off his fast and the Congress went by Salim Yusufji appears at this critical back on its word. Master Tara Singh Born to be Hanged: Political Biography of juncture of our time. As claimed by the dominated the religious-political landscape Zulfikar Ali Bhutto by Syeda Saiyidain editor, it is an attempt at intimacy with B R for five decades. If we believe in conspiracy Hameed delves deep into the politics of Ambedkar by aiming to attend ‘the ephemera theories, the question is: why could the Sikhs Pakistan, meeting Bhutto’s contemporaries, that attended Ambedkar’s life and died with not come up with an alternative leadership? mining information from archives and letters him’. The book reveals the other side of Most other born Sikh leaders colluded with to write about a rich yet disturbing life, Ambedkar where he enjoys a collection of the Congress and benefitted through about the tumultuous years of his accession books, played the violin, saw the humorous positions, ministries, and personal fortunes. to power culminating in what today is best side of the situation and laughed with his The other criticism is that Master Tara described as regicide. admirers, questioned his own thesis and Singh was close to the Hindu Mahasabha. Rupa Publications, 2017, pp. 270, R500.00 discarded it, engaged in discussions with his

30 The Book Review / March 2018 fellows while modestly meetings to the ones who had attempted to shape an alternative world. admitting the limitations of been close to him and served Ambedkar as a staunch supporter of women’s his understanding of certain him. The spatial proximity education believed that the hand that rocks issues. The book is a reveals the lasting emotional the cradle rules the world. His influence lies compilation of extracts from bonding that people shared not only in shaping the minds of the young some popular autobio- with Ambedkar and shaped ones but also building their confidence to graphies in Dalit literature their lives. believe in their worldview and not to be sharing the diverse sides of The book consists of 23 fearful of expressing it. Ambedkar was a Ambedkar’s personality. It chapters with an foreword by revolutionary in introducing the Contra- draws on ten published works Urmila Pawar and a Preface ception Bill in 1938 and defending the idea for its material: five of them by the editor Salim Yusufji. of family planning when it was a social taboo by companions and inmates The introduction by Bama for the leadership including Mahatma of Ambedkar’s household sets the tone of the book by Gandhi. Although the book aims to provide (Nanak Chand Rattu, Devi laying the intention and an alternative side of Ambedkar’s personal Dayal, Shankaranand Shastri, objective of the book. Bama life, it nonetheless also provides his political Bhagwan Das, and Namdeo in the intro-duction rightly position that answers our issues of nationa- Nimgade); two by Vasant points out the necessity to lism, emerging urban middle class to mob Moon, his biographer and compiler of the unpack the politics of putting up a particular lynching in the name of religion. first sixteen volumes of Dr. Babasaheb figure of Ambedkar with a coat, tie and a book The book does its job quite well. Ambedkar:Writings and Speeches; the (presumably the Constitution), a common However, I believe it would have been better autobiographies of Urmila Pawar, Daya sight across India. Of all the interesting if the editor, himself coming from a Pawar, Shantabai Krishnaji Kamble and Baby chapters, the notable ones are by the household marginalized group, had shared his own Kondiba Kamble; an interview between intimates of Ambedkar for it reveals a side of experiences and tried to engage with the Ambedkar and the writer Mulk Raj Anand; him unknown to most of his readers and ideas of Ambedkar, theoretically or at least and the reminiscences of a variety of people followers. related it to the larger experience of the who had the chance to interact with him. The book depicts Ambedkar as a very Muslim community. The exercise would Additionally, Waiting for a Visa, the only emotional individual with deep love and have given a universal appeal to the book extended text of remini-scences that sympathy for the poor, an individual affected among the marginalized communities—not Ambedkar wrote in his lifetime, is reprinted by his personal sorrows, at certain points that the book completely misses out on the here. The material is presented in the manner disappointed with himself, his followers and universal dimension. of spatial proximity the individuals share even his own people. His emotional with Ambedkar beginning from those who sensitivity contributed towards building a Suhas Bhasme is Postdoctoral Fellow at Indian had merely heard about him, or seen him in strong personality that dreamt and School of Business, Hyderabad.

Networking Dissent especially, the social media and their ability to of digitally mediated communication with inspire, organize, share, disseminate and archive alacrity adding a scholarly dimension to her Saima Saeed protests calls, messages and videos which work. She applies these concepts to the governments find increasingly difficult to narrative to study how they impact the

TWITTER AND TEAR GAS: THE POWER AND control in the transnational world of the web. success or failure of social movements. For FRAGILITY OF NETWORKED PROTESTS Tufekci springs no surprise when she example, in her insightful description of what By Zeynep Tufekci argues that leaderless revolutions find success she calls ‘an algorithmic spiral of silence’ Yale University Press, 2017, pp.361, $ 26.00 as they reach out to people through Twitter attributable to the opaque, proprietary and mentions and pings. However, the strength personalized nature of algorithmic control witter and Tear Gas: The Power and of her propositions lies in their substantia- on the web, she enunciates how it is difficult Fragility of Networked Protests by tion. Participant observations and conversa- for activists to ascertain what drives visibility T Zeynep Tufekci is a brilliant account tions with employees from Facebook, like on the web. Therefore, they can never figure of the organization, mobilization and spread with Richard Allan on the ban of Kurdish out whether it is their cause that is not of dissent in a digital age. The over 275- content by the social media giant add layers finding traction with the public or the page description of protests in the ‘networked of meaning to the text—the logic behind algorithmic filtering that is suppressing the public sphere’(p. 19) is a riveting account Facebook’s design of its algorithms and the story. This ‘algorithmic governance’ (p.162) of the role of the internet in movements fact that users were unaware that an is the ‘new overlord that social movements ranging from the Zapatista uprisings in algorithm was determining what they saw must grapple with’, the author sums up. Mexico, the Arab Spring and the Occupy or read. It this approach and methodology Tufecki enumerates the affordances of movement in New York. ‘Thick descriptions’ that distinguishes Twitter and Tear Gas from Facebook and Twitter for political organi- of protests and ethnographic details of somewhat similar arguments made by her zation, drawing on the strengths and informal communities of friends and predecessors, like the much acclaimed weakness arising out of their specific design connected protestors from varied locations: Transnational Protest and Global Activism: and architecture. Minute details of how Gezi Park in Turkey, Tahrir Square in Egypt People, Passions and Power edited by @TahrirSupplies created by four young and New York’s Zuccotti Park create a Donatella della Porta and Sidney Tarrow people, acquired more than ten thousand narrative which presents a convincing (2005). In her conversational and easy-to- followers in one night, generating supplies argument about the power of the internet, follow style, Tufekci introduces key concepts worth ten field hospitals, go a long way into

The Book Review /March 2018 31 from applying a range of concepts from the speech remains a central motif against which literature on social movements making it a online platforms are judged in terms of the compelling commentary on the politics of quality of deliberations they permit in the protests in a world of tablets and smart- face of rampant trolling, abuse and organized phones. The motley examples of—Occupy harassment especially on pseudonymous protestors in Oakland, California chanting platforms. The case of ‘Amina’ is presented an Arabic slogan; Zuccotti Park’s library as more than a cruel hoax; it underscores resembling those in the Plaza del Sol protests the judgment which most internet studies in Madrid and the digital solidarity and seem to agree with, namely, that there is no connectivity of Hong Kong’s democracy 100 percent perfect, trustworthy, credible, protests, evade national contexts and cultures neutral, ethical and impartial online making the canvas of the work large. platform for social movements. Moreover, it proves to be a significant It depends on their designs, algorithms documentation of networked protests and and policies. Another major concern with their democratization and proliferation Tufekci is how regimes and governments try among disparate online communities of to wrestle back power using surveillance and users. Further, it brings together all censorship which online communities manage stakeholders—governments, corporations, to circumvent. However, it doesn’t end there mass media, NGOs, political activists, as she draws up a comparison between a past dissenters, women and minorities. when there was too little information and very What adds to this work is its parti- few means to broadcast it, to a present, when cularly engaging humanistic appeal and the there is too much information but few means author’s own unwavering faith in the power to test its verifiability, especially, given that making the narrative convincing and sharper. of participatory practices and democratic information can be suppressed under a surfeit Not only does Tufecki examine protests from processes. This is why the key terms that of ‘ever-bigger glut of mashed-up truth and varied perspectives—political, social and she uses to depict the digital movement falsehood to foment confusion and distraction’. organizational, she is a part of most, sharing cultures are participation, horizontalism, ad- This, one would think, is an important books, cupcakes, coffee and even the tear gas hoc organization, leaderlessness which are conclusion that opens up questions for critical suffocation; blurring the boundary between described as the hallmark of the ‘global inquiry in the future. an activist and a scholar, between an involved antiauthoritarian protest culture’ (p. 83). participant and objective observer. However, Besides using concepts like ‘signaling’ Saima Saeed teaches at the Centre for Culture, this journalistic on-the-ground reportage of and ‘movement capacity’ to analyse social Media and Governance, Jamia Millia Islamia, New protests across locations does not prevent her movements and their impact; freedom of Delhi and is the University’s Media Coordinator.

32 The Book Review / March 2018 Political Economy of Capital Accumulation

Arindam Banerjee

STATE AND CAPITAL IN INDEPENDENT INDIA: INSTITUTIONS AND ACCUMULATION By Chirashree Das Gupta Cambridge University Press, New Delhi, 2017, pp. 315, `795.00

he book under review undertakes and is subsequently used to mould the relation- accomplishes the daunting task of ship of Indian business with the state is Tlaying bare the relationship between succinctly delved with and critiqued in the the capitalist class and the state in book. Independent India and its consequences for High corporate tax rates after the specific trajectory of capital accumulation Independence, planning and licensing policy that emerged. The task is challenging as the and stringent labour laws preventing the state-capital relationship is often made expansion of business are three important invisible through laws and customs and narratives that have dominated the main- obfuscated with the aid of faulty or irrelevant stream economic analysis of India’s economic logic. Adam Smith wrote in The development trajectory after 1947. The corporate sector. This was buttressed by a Wealth of Nations as early as in 1776: We author draws attention to the fact that the systematic narrowing of the definition of a rarely hear [...] of the combinations of post-tax earning ratios in India in the early ‘worker’, thereby excluding significant masters, though frequently of those of sixties were higher compared to developed sections of the working class from the ambit workmen. But whoever imagines [...] that countries (except for New Zealand) in spite of labour rights. This allowed a long-term masters rarely combine, is as ignorant of the of such high tax rates. On the other hand, cheapening of labour within the Indian world as of the subject. (Smith, 1976: p. the author demonstrates how ‘indicative economy, no less helped by the lack of land 84) planning’ was a consensus within the Indian reforms in rural areas. The latter prevented Smith’s concern was that while the capitalist class at the time of Independence. any substantial relaxing of the ‘agrarian labour unions were conspicuous in newly The latter envisioned the planning process constraint’, perpetuating the large masses of industrializing Britain, the associations of as a tool of establishing and entrenching the underemployed population, inherited from capitalist employers and their machinations power of capital within the Indian economy. the colonial period. in collusion with the authorities often With no agrarian reforms and furthering of The combination of the above policies received inadequate attention within the labour rights, the plan process expectedly and processes were crucial for Indian capital traditions of political economy. Nearly two ran into contradictions, could not fulfill the to strengthen their foothold within the centuries later in newly Independent India, purpose of rapid capital accumulation and economy immediately after Independence the story is unsurprisingly similar. The is thence undermined since the late sixties. and enhance their ‘class power’, which went dominant economic analysis highlights On the third narrative, which is also the on to serve enormously the cause of capitalist industrial labour militancy and militant most vociferous under the contemporary neo- accumulation in the subsequent period. The movement for land reforms by rural labour liberal order, the fallacy could not be more deep analysis of constitutional debates, and heavily exploited tenant farmers (the glaring. With labour costs forming a policy documents and speeches of various other component of the under-classes). miniscule percentage of value-added in political leaders illuminate these processes. When it comes to the policy regimes against manufacturing and large-scale informalization The book identifies the fundamental which such protests were occurring, the role where labour laws do not apply, high costs departures that occurred from the spirit of of the ruling classes are not so much of hiring leading to restriction of capital the anti-colonial struggle in the interests of highlighted. Rather those economic policies accumulation hardly seems to be a plausible the capitalist class. Needless to say, the are justified by ‘good economics’, or argument. The book has critically examined myriad and complex political processes sometimes by ‘good customs and traditions’. the validity of such common economic including the populism of the 1970s, does Das Gupta in this book follows an narratives that cascade the real political not make these developments obvious to the alternative tradition of economic thought, economy processes facilitating capital researcher. The excellent application of the embedded in Marxian political economy, to accumulation. With comparable rigour, the Marxist method of inquiry and presentation investigate the political economy of capital author unveils the evolving state-capital by the author however reveals the systematic accumulation in Independent India. relationships in Independent India. march of Indian capital, no doubt mediated Focusing largely on the first three decades The property rights regime installed by by conflicts with labour. after Independence, the author documents the Congress government after Independence The political economy analysis is further and analyses the major strategies of Indian served as an assurance to the capitalist class. supported by an empirical analysis of Indian business houses and associations to facilitate But more importantly, the author argues that economic growth after Independence. The the entrenchment of capital, and subsequent institutions like the HUF tax entity, justified period of stagnation in the seventies and the accumulation, in the Indian economy. In by religious customs and traditions, acted subsequent growth in the eighties led by the this, the economic narrative that emerges and as an effective vehicle for tax evasion for the growth of the tertiary sectors has been linked

The Book Review /March 2018 33 through the identification of the continuities with regard to the regimes of capital. The Insights Into Global Supply Chains very early movements towards diluting monopoly regulations and foreign capital controls in the late seventies aided the faster Maya John growth of capital accumulation in the eighties. UNMAKING THE GLOBAL SWEATSHOP: HEALTH AND SAFETY OF THE WORLD’S The eighties though were more complex GARMENT WORKERS in the Indian growth story. With regard to Edited by Rebecca Prentice and Geert De Neve agriculture, the author noted the University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, 2017, pp.304, `6,699.00 contribution of the GR and the consequent enrichment of capitalist landlords and rich peasants. While this is a correct analysis of nmaking the Global Sweatshop is a the trend of the agrarian question, it is not volume that brings together a rich always reflected by agricultural growth collection of ethnographic studies figures. The high agricultural growth of the U which focus on the deplorable safety late sixties were more of a recovery from the conditions at work and the poor status of earlier agrarian crisis and less due to the new health and well-being of workers employed technology and institutional arrangements within current garment production regimes. of the GR. The overarching context of each of these The GR, which started with serious studies is the interesting conjuncture of crop-bias (towards wheat) and resource-bias increasing corporate self-regulation and (towards big farmers) continued with those enforcement of newly formulated voluntary biases well into the 1970s. The 1980s labour codes defined by the ‘first world’ for provided a structural break for agriculture, ‘third world’ garment sweatshops. In this given that the GR effects went into new regard, two such codes that are critically regions and penetrated the Indian peasantry discussed by several of the contributors are more deeply. The eighties therefore had the the ‘Accord on Fire and Building Safety on highest agricultural growth rates in Bangladesh’ and the ‘Alliance for Bangladesh Independent India with a drastic reduction Worker Safety’ of 2013. The collection in the variation across regions. These represents a much needed and well timed developments in the agricultural sector are intervention in the ensuing debate about the significant for increasing growth experience perils of the current form of globalization by the Indian economy in the eighties. The and the spread of highly NGO-ized trans- embodied in the Bangladesh Accord against signing of the WTO subsequently and national activism. the background of a stymied Bangladeshi adopting export-oriented agriculture By mapping garment workers’ health on labour movement. Florence Palpacuer’s metamorphosed this process substantially. a quotidian level, as well as fleshing out the chapter in this section provides an insightful This re-interpretation of the agricultural aftermath of large-scale factory disasters on view on the emergence of the model of growth process though does not alter or affect workers’ well-being, the contributors corporate self-regulation in the garment the central arguments made by the author successfully highlight that the poor condi- industry, and the spread of the hegemonic with regard to capital accumulation and the tions of garment workers is the systemic discourse of human rights over the past three evolving state-capital relationship. result of outsourcing and subcontracting that decades. Palpacuer notes that lobbying by One must note however that wrong and produce conditions for intense physical work the European anti-sweatshop movement and missing references, missing words and un- for long hours, continuous compromising International Labour Organization (ILO) on finished sentences have reduced the publi- of workers’ safety in order to meet produc- the issue of multinational corporations cation quality and militated against the tion deadlines, and competitive cost-cutting safeguarding human rights has consciously reader’s engagement with the subject. which depresses wages. sidelined the essential question of individual Nonetheless, this book is a brilliant acade- The first section of the volume comprises states safeguarding labour rights of their mic exposition of the journey of Indian three articles that provide a detailed sketch working population. Caitrin Lynch's and capital and its negotiation with the state and of changing labour standards in an Ingrid Hagen-Keith’s chapter provides an is must-read for any researcher trying to increasingly ‘global’ garment industry. A interesting micro-level analysis of parallel comprehend Indian capitalism today or in dense review of the historical context of initiatives by smaller brands to enforce the future. regulation in the garment industry following ‘ethical’ garment production norms, and early twentieth-century factory disasters and how the imperatives of the capitalist market References: workers’ struggles is provided in Jennifer Bair, system dominated by giant corporations Smith, Adam. 1976. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes Mark Anner and Jeremy Blasi’s chapter. The curtail such initiatives. of The Wealth of Nations. Oxford University Press. chapter examines the regulatory regime and The need to address structural causal stability that jobbers’ agreements created in processes and to comprehend the dynamics the American garment industry post the of multi-layered networks of different actors Arindam Banerjee is Associate Professor in Eco- Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire in New York in the garment industry is discussed in the nomics, School of Liberal Studies, Ambedkar Uni- City in 1911, and proceeds to contrast it second section of the volume. There are three versity (AUD), New Delhi. with the limitations of the regulation articles in this section, titled ‘From Structures

34 The Book Review / March 2018 transnational activism that has bred the now the complicit role of the transnational system The collection represents a hegemonic discourse and regime of of garment production and buying practices compensation in a context where labour of multinational brands in the over- “much needed and well timed discontent begs for other forms of action exploitation of garment workers. He also intervention in the ensuing revolving around class-based solidarity and shows how the exclusive focus of the Accord collective demands for recognizing liability and the Alliance on safe factory buildings debate about the perils of the and accountability. leaves out many of health and safety aspects current form of globalization… The third section of the volume, titled engrained in the garment production ‘Rethinking Health as Well-Being at Work process. and Home’, brings together three articles By highlighting the systemic asymmetries to Actors, and Back’. Patrick Neveling’s piece” that offer rich details of the everyday nurtured by the neoliberal conjuncture of offers a grand survey of how export processing management of health on the shop floor, as capitalism, this volume presents a detailed zones (EPZs) have developed across the well as workers’ own perception of their and convincing picture of the routine health world. It is particularly resourceful with deteriorating well-being. Apart from provi- and safety hazards inculcated by the trans- respect to the assessment it offers of the role ding an important assessment of another hub national garment industry. It also shows the played by interlocking interests of nation- of garment production in South Asia, i.e., inadequacy of the solutions enforced by, states and big capital in the development of Sri Lanka, this section offers an expansive both, local and transnational actors. In fact, voluntary self-regulation models. In their meaning of health and well-being, as well as many of the contributors emphasize the chapter, Muhamudul H Sumon and other an approach to health-related concerns strong tendency within given ‘corrective’ colleagues of Activist Anthropologist which extends the field of study from the measures and strategies to de-politicize a highlight that far from a problem bred by shop floor to the realm of the ‘home’. terrain that is simmering with labour local factors, the current conditions in Kanchana N Ruwunpura’s chapter traces the discontent. Bangladesh’s garment industry are the difficulty with which workers access health In her Afterword, Dina M Siddiqi observes culmination of global production networks services inside factories despite Sri Lanka’s that the book provides prescriptive insights that actively shape work regimes in local noteworthy record on health and safety. In on the challenges before garment workers. garment production sites. Their chapter her close study of two large factories, she However, the critique presented in this reveals the complex interface between local uncovers how workers’ agency unfolds on the volume appears restricted by the empiric or and global actors on the question of solutions ground, particularly in terms of workers given conjuncture. Focusing on the or improvement of labour standards. The negotiating visits to hospitals that can enable hardships of fighting apathetic states, local actions of north-based NGOs and inter- their absence from work. Nevertheless, the businessmen, and transnational actors who national unions to make brands, retailers and entrenched helplessness of the predomi- are hell-bent on corporate self-regulation and first world consumers responsible for existing nantly female workforce in resisting on promoting a class-sanitized politics of supply chains through a complex web of strenuous work rhythms and the disciplining workers’ survival, the contributors offer at private initiatives are shown as contradicting surveillance of line supervisors and best an external, scholastic critique of what as well as counteracting the efforts of local production managers is well exposed. seems like a very volatile labour situation activists and sections of workers to make local Sandya Hewamanne’s chapter revolves brimming with multiple possibilities. The manufacturers and the state responsible for around the issue of everyday aspects of well- writings do not adequately draw out the violation of labour rights. Transnational being of Sri Lanka’s women garment workers latent critique of over-exploitation reflected activism, thus, sidesteps the importance of employed at Katunayake Free Trade Zone in garment workers’ actions that transgress class conscious unionization of workers and (FTZ). She shows that the workers’ well- the limitations of existing workers’ collectives the need for enhanced state intervention for being is continuously undermined by and the set paradigm of workers’ politics. In fixing criminal liability and preventing prevailing discourses of their disposability, South Asia, such as in India’s manufacturing overexploitation in the first place. Their and the persistent stigmatization and and service industries, we are often witnessing comments on the burgeoning of a new brand material devaluation of their work. Her iconic instances of workers’ resistance that of Bangladeshi trade unionism funded and ethnographic lens provides a powerful have sent ripples across the capital-state (mis)directed by the corporate social critique of the pervasive practice in the combine. Inspite of their momentariness, responsibility policies and offices of apparel industry of denying women garment these instances are bearers of an imminent international corporations represent a critical workers a living wage and of imposing rules (internal) critique of a highly exploitative appraisal of a brimming crisis within the and regulations that clash with given gender labour market, the state-capital nexus and labour movement. norms, cultural traditions and the living ossified trade unionism that critical In this section, Alessandra Mezzadri’s environment which adversely affect workers’ scholarship must retrieve. overview of garment production is a welcome everyday lives. To fully comprehend the Inclusion of more contributions offering addition to the studies on India’s garment magnitude of the problems the women such insights on local trade union initiatives industry. Her argument that employers workers face, her study not only focuses on and workers’ mobilizations would have externalize/transfer the cost of social spaces beyond the factory (rented tenements pumped some dialectics into what otherwise reproduction of workers and of health where workers reside, villages, etc.), but also appears as a freezed structure of oppression, concerns from factories and workshops to brings out the resulting complications of the so as to indicate tendencies that can lead to individual workers and households is well workers’ post-employment life. The chapter possibilities beyond the given conjuncture. taken. All in all, this section of the volume by Hasan Ashraf makes the essential point amply exposes the limits of existing policy that the piecemeal and ‘technocratic’ interventions. Correspondingly, it offers a approach to ‘improve’ factory buildings in Maya John teaches in Jesus and Mary College, sharp critique of the current form of Bangladesh is part of the effort to conceal University of Delhi, Delhi.

The Book Review /March 2018 35 Travelling Through Spaces

Jasbir Jain

AOSENLA’S STORY By Temsula Ao Zubaan, 2017, pp. 203, `495.00

emsula Ao, a poet and a short story throughout the first half of the novel the writer, is the recipient of several imposition of the big house—Aosenla’s in- Tawards, among them the Padmashri laws’ house—persists, intervening in their and the Sahitya Akademi Award. Her works lives at every critical juncture but gradually include These Hills Called Home, a collection it falls into decline as the ‘little house’ carves of stories and Laburnum for My Head, her its own life with all its daily battles and memoir, about her growing up years. And display of power. A part of it is also the battle now Zubaan has brought us this refreshing over the conflict between love and sexuality. novel. It is one of those very rare unput- Is the human being divided—into body downable books, primarily because every which yields as a counter of power and a experience finds a response in the reader— mind which observes it with despair? The and I include men also in the category of strategic use of space is also present in the readers for Ao has much in this which corresponding change in the emotional compels the male reader to introspect. On transformations of the characters as the power the face of it, it is the story of a young girl struggle that began on the bamboo platform weighed and expands itself into visual who is unwillingly pressurized into a where a meeting between the groom— images. marriage which ends all her own dreams of Bendang—and the bride-to-be—Asen was Ao’s novel travels through many spaces— further education. But in reality it goes much contrived by her scheming grandmother. tribal, emotional,moral—towards the beyond an individual life with all its The epigraph (from Toni Morrison’s Beloved) impossibility of recovering a fully indepen- psychological probing into a young woman’s placed right at the beginning indicates the dent self. And even as it deals with several mind and later her constant struggle with real direction in which the narrative is gender issues, it nowhere gives one a sense the pulls of tradition as well as critiquing of engaged in unfolding itself, ‘Freeing oneself of loaded victimization; instead it is an indi- patriarchy and the compulsive changes it is was one thing: claiming ownership of the vidual’s journey of desire, rebellion and partial forced into in response to a number of freed self was another.’ Thus physical spaces victory. A simple narrative, honestly told. things—modernity, relationships and need of rooms, hospital, landscapes form a for the male to step out of paternal consistent pattern in the work as illnesses, Jasbir Jain is the Honorary Director of the Insti- domination. The writer’s understanding of accidents, mending of bones and minds goes tute for Research in Interdisciplinary Studies (IRIS), both the security and the bondage of clan on, as the past revisits to remind one of moral Jaipur. She was Sahitya Akademi Writer-in-Resi- traditions is very sensitively and subtly lapses and the burden of setting things right dence (2009) and Emeritus Fellow (2001-2003), interrogated, dominatingly traced in the falls on others. both at the University of Rajasthan and recipient manner in which the family manoeuvres to An interesting aspect is also of the spirit of several awards. push Aosenla into a space from where she of charity and of personal integrity, which cannot escape. the doctor, Kilang, has in plenty, the role Book News Book News Space is another factor that is woven into the church and other sponsors play in the telling with its multiple meanings. The supporting the home which he runs for The Guru Who Came Down from the novel begins at midpoint with a woman lost children. A healer in more than one way, a Mountain: A Novel by Roshen Dalal is a in thought sitting all alone by herself of an time comes when Kilang and Asen are on gripping psychological interplay of murder, evening, ‘Amidst the gathering interplay of the brink of a relationship, an attraction each sex, and drugs, of exploitation and conflict, fading light and threatening darkness, a first- has to resist on his/her own. Aesonla’s Story is and yet of friendship and empathy. time visitor could make out the outlines of a in some measure a three-generation novel as Speaking Tiger, 2018, pp. 286, `399.00 big estate, which appeared gradually to be one traces the narrative from Asen’s cowardly coming to life. The two houses within were mother, afraid to fight for her daughter, Asen Fraterhouse by Bhaskar Ghose is a novel about still visible: the big one with its imposing who manages to retain some sense of a college originally for men but now co- façade and the smaller one, almost demure, independence, and then her daughter educational, founded in the 1880s by a in the country–cottage sereneness’. And Chubala, who goes on to complete her group of scholars from a monastic order studies and find her own husband. Bendang’s based in Oxford. In Independent India the Ao’s novel travels through real transformation becomes evident in this links with Oxford inevitably grew more “many spaces—tribal, emotional, connection. But towards the end the novel tenuous. As the seasons that make up a year moves a little too rapidly, refusing to dwell change, so do the stories of the persons moral—towards the impossi- in detail on sensitive moments, unwilling linked to Fraterhouse; some end, but are bility of recovering a fully to subtract from Asen’s story or dilute its renewed in other forms, like the seasons. poetic quality, a little reminiscent of Virginia Only the college endures. independent self.” Woolf, in the manner that each world is Notion Press, 2017, pp. 374, `395.00 36 The Book Review / March 2018 rotis and parathas to meetha and puddings Travels and Trails of Lucknow Cooking and finally to coffee, high tea, chutneys, pickles and murabbas. However, some dishes Saba Bashir and recipes seem too mundane to feature in a book. On the other hand, there are some

THE LUCKNOW COOKBOOK recipes which sound so exotic that one By Chand Sur and Sunita Kohli wonders if they are really related to Lucknow Aleph Book Company, 2017, pp. 252, `499.00 in general. With the travels that Sur and Kohli have done, these specific dishes might here is a change in the manner in be common in their homes but does one which cookbooks are being written really find them in other Lucknow homes? Tnow. Earlier, they were mere recipes. That is a tricky question! As one can see, the The transformation that has come about is title of the book is misleading. The dishes that a related history about the dish, or about go beyond Lucknow and are more about the concerned region, from where the recipes what the family has picked up during their have been chosen are now added. Of late, travels and trails. there has been an upsurge of recipe books of The recipes are largely easy to follow with various kinds. If there have been books from ingredients commonly available.The love for royal households, there have also been books the dishes, of the mother and daughter comes from the kitchen of popular film stars and through, not only in the choice of dishes to be other famous personalities. Cookbooks from included in the cookbook, but also in a strange chefs have an unending list. So, when you boarding school (as her father was in the nostalgia which seems to brim through the lay your hand on yet another similar book, Indian Railways, and always on the move). book—nostalgia for the places they have lived the first reaction is to see how different it is Due to this travel, and many others, there in, visited, and brought back with them. from the others available. are recipes which have also travelled from On this parameter, The Lucknow different parts of the world, and the history Saba Mahmood Bashir, poet, author and a trans- Cookbook is fascinating as the authors, the of these dishes are briefly mentioned. For lator, is the author of a collection of poems, mother daughter duo—Chand Sur and instance, the different recipes trace the Memory Past (Writers’ Workshop 2006) and I Swal- Sunita Kohli, have chosen dishes which have interesting history as the ‘dahi ka shorba’, lowed the Moon: The Poetry of Gulzar travelled with them from different parts of the yogurt soup has its roots in Istanbul, (HarperCollins 2013), her PhD thesis (IIT Delhi). the world. Chand Sur, with her husband, the use of pomegranates and dried fruit in She has translated Gulzar’s screenplays of Inder Sur, came from Lahore to settle in Lucknow has come from Afghanistan, and Premchand’s Godaan and Nirmala and Other Sto- Lucknow after the Partition. She was from the original kebabs have come from Persia. ries (Roli Books 2016) along with a short story Balochistan, though her family was originally The other part of the book is the vast ‘Fear’ which came out in the anthology Pigeons of from Multan but had settled in Quetta. range of recipes, from kebabs to soups to the Dome (2015). Her forthcoming book is by From the young age of eight, she had come potatoes to vegetables to mutton and HarperCollins which is an analysis of the 1975 to Mussoorie to study in the Wynberg Allen chicken and fish to biryanis and pulaos to film, Aandhi. Book News Book News Book News serving as the inspiration for Girish Karnad’s highly acclaimed film Utsav. Padmini Rajappa’s lucid translation revitalizes this iconic play for contemporary readers while also shedding light on its unique place in the Sanskrit canon as well as the mystery shrouding the identity of its author. Penguin Classics, 2018, pp. 281, `399.00

Suragi by U R Anantamurthy, an auto- biography, translated from the original Kannada by S R Ramakrishna, is a simple and straightforward telling of his life and times. It brings alive his childhood in an orthodox family in a little central Karnataka village, his academic life in Mysuru and Poonachi Or The Story Of A Black Goat by The Clay Toy-Cart: Mrchchakatikam by Birmingham, his role in shaping premier Perumal Murugan, translated by N Kalyan Shudraka, translated from the Sanskrit by literary institutions such as the Sahitya Raman, is set in the arid Kongu landscape of Padmini Rajappa, a gripping satire of Akademi and National Book Trust and his rural Tamil Nadu, these tales illuminate romance, betrayal and intrigue set in ancient distinguished tenure as the Vice-Chancellor the extraordinary acts that make up everyday India, remains one of the foundational works of Mahatma Gandhi University. lives. of Sanskrit drama, having been performed Oxford University Press, 2017, pp. 392, Juggernaut Books, 2017, pp. 240, `399.00 numerous times around the world and even `650.00

The Book Review /March 2018 37 38 The Book Review / March 2018 The Book Review /March 2018 39 Posting Date: 10th & 11th of every month at N.D. Postal Registration No DL-SW-01/4079/2018-20 PSO Publishing Date: 8th of every month R.N.I.No. 28686/76 ISSN: No. 0970-4175

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