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Gujarat Under Modi: Laboratory of Today's India
In 2012 Narendra Modi became the first Hindu nationalist politician thrice elected to lead a state of the Indian Union, his stewardship as Chief Minister of Gujarat being the longest in that state’s history. Modi and his BJP supporters explained his achievement by pointing to economic growth under his leadership, yet detractors point out that Modi has been more business-friendly than market-friendly—to the benefit of large industrial corporations, and at the cost of great social polarisation.
In 2002, an anti-Muslim pogrom of unparalleled ferocity occurred in Gujarat, leading to the biggest number of Muslim deaths since Partition. The state’s Hindu majority immediately rallied around Modi. No serious riot has occurred in Gujarat since, but polarisation was key to Modi’s strategy there, and he has deployed that strategy again and again since he became Prime Minister of India in 2014. For Modi has cultivated a communal image. A marketing genius, his messaging combines the politics of Hindutva with economic modernisation, to the clear appreciation of Gujarat’s middle class.
Christophe Jaffrelot’s revealing book shows how Modi’s Gujarat served as the laboratory of Modi’s India, not only in terms of Hindu majoritarianism and national populism, but also of caste and class politics.
In 2002, an anti-Muslim pogrom of unparalleled ferocity occurred in Gujarat, leading to the biggest number of Muslim deaths since Partition. The state’s Hindu majority immediately rallied around Modi. No serious riot has occurred in Gujarat since, but polarisation was key to Modi’s strategy there, and he has deployed that strategy again and again since he became Prime Minister of India in 2014. For Modi has cultivated a communal image. A marketing genius, his messaging combines the politics of Hindutva with economic modernisation, to the clear appreciation of Gujarat’s middle class.
Christophe Jaffrelot’s revealing book shows how Modi’s Gujarat served as the laboratory of Modi’s India, not only in terms of Hindu majoritarianism and national populism, but also of caste and class politics.
416 pages, Hardcover
Published July 1, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 9, 2025
The plan was always set up to succeed... hatemongering, cosying up to capital, creating an ecosystem of sycophantic civil servants, destroying the judiciary and the police with yesmen, using PR to fool a nation of mostly backward caste-ridden and 'educated' WhatsApp uncles... winning the support of a 'middle class' that's closer to the top than the bottom.. removing obstacles from within your own party by hook and crook and so on. It's not pretty reading precisely because the country is straitjacketed in such safe hands. We had to choose the lesser of two evils but we failed because failure is an art form. Oh and Indians are spectacularly good at delusions.
June 28, 2024
An excellent summary of Narendra Modi's rise to power as the chief minister of Gujarat. Jaffrelot takes a data based approach to narrate the history and the circumstances that led to BJP's ascension in Gujarat which eventually would lead to the party and the supremo winning the elections at the centre.
August 5, 2024
A very good history of PM Modi’s rise in Gujarat and his impact on culture, commerce, class and class warfare. He was a shrewd politician from the get go.
September 12, 2024
The last few paragraphs make such sad reading for a patriotic democracy loving secular citizen.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews