Description
- Publication: January 2022
- Author : NALIN MEHTA
- Price: Rs 999
- ISBN: 9789395073011
- Genre: Non-fiction
- Page Extent: 846
- Binding: Hardback
- Imprint: Westland Non-fiction
About the Book
‘THIS IS GOING TO BE A CLASSIC, A BOOK THAT WILL BE READ WIDELY AND
FOR A LONG TIME. ITS READERSHIP WILL INCLUDE SCHOLARS, POLITICAL
ACTIVISTS, AND ANYONE WHOSE JOB OR INTEREST LIES IN UNDERSTANDING
CONTEMPORARY INDIA ...’ —PROF. ROBIN JEFFREY
In election after election since 2014, both at the Union and state levels, the BJP has won more often than it has lost—a clear indication of growth beyond its core Hindu base. The question is, why do so many people across divisions of caste, religion and gender vote for a party with unapologetically aggressive Hindutva politics? Are its much-publicised development schemes, whatever their flaws, the big pull factor? Or the active mobilisation of the RSS cadre to its cause?
In this fascinating revisionist history, political scientist and journalist Nalin Mehta examines how the BJP became the world’s largest political party. He goes beyond the usual narrative of the party’s Hindutva politics to explain how, under Narendra Modi, it reshaped the Indian polity using its own brand of social engineering. This reconstruction was cleverly powered by new caste coalitions, the claim of a new welfare state that focused on marginalised social groups and the making of a women-voter base.
Based on data from three unique indices—the Mehta–Singh Social Index, which studies the caste composition of Indian political parties; the Narad Index, which calculates communication patterns across topics and audiences; and PollNiti, which connects and tallies hundreds of political and economic datasets—The New BJP is full of startling insights into the way both the party and the country function. Previously untapped historical records, exclusive interviews with party leaders and comprehensive reportage from across India provide a fresh understanding of the BJP’s growth areas, including the Northeast and south India.
A lucid and objective study of the BJP and India today, this is a book that demands engagement and debate from every side of the political divide. A lucid and objective study of the BJP and India today, this is a book that demands engagement and debate from every side of the political divide.
About the Author
Professor Nalin Mehta is Dean, School of Modern Media,
UPES; Advisor, Global University Systems; and Non-
Resident Senior Fellow, Institute of South Asian Studies,
National University of Singapore. He is an award-winning
social scientist, journalist and author who has held senior
leadership positions in major Indian media companies and
in international financing institutions like the Global Fund
in Geneva, Switzerland. He has taught and held research
positions at universities and institutions in Australia
(ANU, La Trobe University), Singapore (NUS), Switzerland
(International Olympic Museum) and India (IIM Bangalore,
Shiv Nadar University).
He was previously Executive Editor, The Times of
India-Online, where he led a number of AI-led tech
innovations to redefine digital media. He has also served
as Managing Editor, India Today (English TV channel) and
Consulting Editor, The Times of India. Mehta is the author
of five bestselling and critically acclaimed books, including
India on Television (winner of the Asian Publishing Award for
Best Book on Asian Media, 2009), Behind a Billion Screens
(Longlisted as Business Book of the Year, Tata Literature
Live, 2015), and most recently, Dreams of a Billion (2020,
co-authored).
