The extraordinary nature of the crisis faced by the Congress means that the revival of the party is necessarily predicated upon its renewal. This task becomes particularly onerous as it has to be achieved in the face of a challenge posed by the ruthless hegemonic force controlling politics.
India’s Founding Moment: The Constitution of a Most Surprising Democracy by Madhav Khosla, Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 2020, pp 219, ₹599.
The rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party has contributed to the emergence of a new ideological framework to India’s democracy and public life in general. This framework might be better understood if it is seen as the crafting of hegemony. The politics of crafting a new hegemony did not emerge all of a sudden. Beyond the immediate context, the rise of the party needs to be understood in the broader political context that has shaped up since 1989.
Following the result of the Gujarat assembly elections, the print media has witnessed a slew of write-ups by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) functionaries trumpeting the party’s victory and explaining how its indefatigable leadership and deep organisational roots contributed to that victory. Though...
The most crucial issue is whether, in their reincarnations, parties can substantially give up on the characteristics inherited from the time of their foundation. The example of the Shiv Sena suggests that moderation and normalisation do take place but the predominant tendency is to convert notoriety into normal.
