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Articles by Pralay KanungoSubscribe to Pralay Kanungo

Odisha’s Transformation under the Naveen Patnaik Regime

Vol. 56, Issue No. 8, 20 Feb, 2021
Pralay Kanungo, Sitaram Kumbhar

A recent national survey on governance and performance in the pandemic times, has ranked Odisha’s Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at the top in the popularity index among his counterparts. Taking over the battered, backward state in the aftermath of the 1999 supercyclone, Patnaik has transformed Odisha by erecting and ensuring a people-centric governance model. This welfare model has not only prepared Odisha to confront any disaster, including the current pandemic, but also improved governance in the state.

 

Shift from Syncretism to Communalism

Vol. 49, Issue No. 14, 05 Apr, 2014
Pralay Kanungo

Attempting to analyse how and why Odisha has gradually become hostage to the politics of Hindutva, this paper traces the evolution of the state's syncretic tradition, which, despite occasional outbursts of communal antagonism, ensured peaceful coexistence. It points out that Hindutva's systematic expansion, which also made use of Christianity's contentious legacy in the state, has communalised the everyday syncretic space. In recent years, the state's social and caste hierarchy, conservative elites, middle class, civil society, media, and neo-liberal political class have overtly and covertly reinforced Hindu majoritarian politics.

Hindutva's Fury against Christians in Orissa

Vol. 43, Issue No. 37, 13 Sep, 2008
Pralay Kanungo

The anti-Christian violence in Orissa, orchestrated by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and its allies, has unleashed the fury of Hindu kandhas against dalit pana Christians. The former is resentful of the latter's attempts to get scheduled tribe status. The new-found assertiveness of the previously untouchable panas has added to the tension. The Hindutva organisations, engaged in converting tribals to Hinduism, accuse Christian missionaries of "forcing" the dalits to convert. They conveniently ignore the continuing oppressive casteist order that forces the dalits to do so.

Co-opting Dalits into the Hindutva Fold

Vol. 42, Issue No. 20, 19 May, 2007
Pralay Kanungo

Hindutva and Dalits: Perspectives for Understanding Communal Praxis edited by Anand Teltumbde

Uttar Pradesh in the 1990s

Vol. 40, Issue No. 21, 21 May, 2005
Pradeep Sharma, Pralay Kanungo, Rahul Mukherji, Sudha Pai

Not only because of its size but also for historical reasons, Uttar Pradesh has always been a key state in the Indian union. Major political movements in independent India, including backward caste and dalit politics and the rise of Hindutva have largely developed here or have significantly impinged on it. Economic backwardness and political populism are among the factors intertwined with the recent history of Uttar Pradesh. Perspectives on many of these issues were explored in a recent seminar in Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Hindutva's Entry into a 'Hindu Province'

Vol. 38, Issue No. 31, 02 Aug, 2003
Pralay Kanungo

Orissa retains some unique features of Hinduism manifested in particular in the Jagannath cult. Structures of pre-colonial legitimacy were reinvented by colonialism, acquiesced to by the nationalist and the post-colonial leadership/discourses and appropriated by an identity-seeking Hindu upper caste-middle class. Together these offered a congenial climate for the development of Hindutva. This paper broadly outlines the cultural, social and political climate of Orissa at the time of the entry of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and examines how this organisation, intelligently and strategically, interacted with and adapted itself to the peculiar conditions in this 'Hindu province' during the early years of its existence in the state.

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