Introduction

Abstract

The four chapters in this part address the theoretical issues concerning ethnicity and ethnic conflict in Indian politics. All were written between the demolition of the Babri Masjid mosque in December 1992 and the 50th anniversary of India’s independence in August 1997 and, in some measure, reflect a concern with these developments. Against this background a considerable body of literature emerged, much of it largely uncritical of the macro-ethnic conflicts in Indian politics or, unwittingly, as in the case of post-structuralist and rational choice accounts, appeared as an apologia for the status quo. In sharp contrast, the arguments made in these chapters, when taken together, offer an alternative reading of ethnic conflict in Indian politics.