The Sangh Parivar: A Reader (Critical Issues in Indian Politics)

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This volume brings together significant readings on the Sangh Parivar - the 'family' of Hindu nationalist organizations - and traces the rise of the right wing in Indian politics.

The volume describes the matrix of the Parivar - the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) - and how it was constituted. It examines the core group of the Sangh Parivar which represents major arenas of the public sphere - the Bharatiya Janata Party (the political heir of the Jana Sangh) in the political domain, the Vishva Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal in the religious domain, the Rashtra Sevika Samiti (women's wing of the RSS), and the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram (for 'welfare' of tribal groups), the Seva Bharati (for socio-ideological work among the Dalits), the Vidya Bharati (and its network of schools), and the Swadeshi Jagran Manch (active in the economic domain since the 1990s). The reader therefore shows that the Sangh Parivar engages with different sectors of the Indian society.

Besides scrutinizing and providing the first-ever comprehensive overview of these components, the volume also examines the major role played by the RSS and the VHP in the expansion of the Sangh Parivar, concluding with an examination of the ways in which the Sangh Parivar has stated to organize the Indian (Hindu) diaspora primarily in the west.

This reader is the first volume in the new series, Critical Issues In Indian Politics, aimed at students and scholars of Indian politics, sociology, history, and an informed lay audience consisting of journalists, activists, and policy planners.

About the Author:

Christophe Jaffrelot is Director of Research at CNRS (France), and Director of the Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Internationales (CERI-Sciences Po), Paris. His publications include India's Silent Revolution - The Rise of the Lower Castes in North Indian Politics (2003) and Dr Ambedkar and Untouchability - Analysing and Fighting Caste (2005).