Social Collectives, Political Mobilisation and the Local State

Abstract

The paper attempts to explore the emergence and role of select civil-social and religious collectives, i.e., ethno-religious groups, caste collectives, religious social orders and petty business and trade associations in political mobilization and surfacing of new political and social elites at the local level as well as their relationship with the local state apparatus. The study is based on field surveys conducted in two urban centres of India, viz. Lucknow and Ahmadabad. It contextualises the findings of two urban areas with the larger national and federal level social and political processes.