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Secularism and the Gujarat State: 1960–20051

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 November 2008

NIKITA SUD
NIKITA SUD*
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
*
Email: nikita.sud@qeh.ox.ac.uk
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Abstract

Secularism has been a defining norm for the modern, liberal Indian state. The constitutionally secular Gujarat state is believed to have undergone a paradigmatic shift in 2002, when it supported a massacre of Muslim citizens. This article investigates the empirical as well as normative state in situations of inter-religious violence. It traces the journey of the secular norm over a 45-year period, in the context of contests over identity, political ideology and socio-political dominance. The picture that emerges is much more nuanced than that projected by stark pronouncements of paradigm shifts and the inauguration of a Hindu rashtra.2

Type
Research Article
Information
Modern Asian Studies , Volume 42 , Issue 6 , November 2008 , pp. 1251 - 1281
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

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Footnotes

1

Dr. Edward Simpson, Dr. Rochana Bajpai and Mallarika Sinha Roy read and commented on a draft of this article. Professor Megan Vaughan was the discussant in the panel on ‘Norms, Ideologies and Identities’ at the 50th Anniversary Conference of Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford, at which the paper was presented in July 2005. I alone am responsible for any remaining inconsistencies.

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