India after Modi: Populism and the Right

Abstract

The rise of right-wing authoritarianism in India in the guise of Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has incapacitated the Indian Left and created a political cul-de-sac of majoritarian populism to which the liberal left has no answers. Ajay Gudavarthy’s India after Modi: Populism and the Right not only examines why the Right prefers populist politics and how it effectively uses populism to further its divisive agenda but also provides a new cartography for political action and alliances between the Indian Left and minoritarian subaltern groups. Gudavarthy argues that such a leftist alliance is a prerequisite for reconstructing a philosophy of secularism that can derail the right-wing populist juggernaut in India.