THE BATTLE OF BELONGING -

There are over a billion Indians alive today. But are some Indians more Indian than others? To answer this question one that is central to the identity of every man woman and child who belongs to the modern Republic of India eminent thinker and bestselling writer Shashi Tharoor explores hotly contested ideas of nationalism patriotism citizenship and belonging. In the course of his study he explains what nationalism is and can be reveals who is anti-national what patriotism actually means and explores the nature and future of Indian nationhood. He gives us a clear-sighted view of the forces working to undermine the ‘idea of India’ (a phrase coined by Rabindranath Tagore) that has evolved through history and which in its modern form was enshrined in India’s Constitution by its founding fathers. Divided into six sections the book starts off by exploring historical and contemporary ideas of nationalism patriotism liberalism democracy and humanism many of which emerged in the West in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and quickly spread throughout the world. The author then summarizes India’s liberal constitutionalism exploring the enlightened values that towering leaders and thinkers like Gandhi Nehru Tagore Ambedkar Patel Azad and others invested the nation with. These are contrasted with the narrow-minded divisive sectarian ‘us vs them’ alternatives formulated by Hindutva ideologues and propagated by their followers who are now in office. Today the battle is between these two opposing ideas of India or what might be described as ethno-religious nationalism vs civic nationalism. The struggle for India’s soul has heightened deepened and broadened and threatens to hollow out and destroy the remarkable concepts of pluralism secularism and inclusive nationhood that were bestowed upon the nation at Independence. The Constitution is under siege institutions are being undermined mythical pasts propagated universities assailed minorities demonized and worse. Every passing month sees new attacks on the ideals that India has long been admired for as authoritarian leaders and their bigoted supporters push the country towards a state of illiberalism and intolerance. If they succeed millions will be stripped of their identity and bogus theories of Indianness will take root in the soil of the subcontinent. However all is not yet lost and this erudite and lucid book shows us what will need to be done to win the battle of belonging and strengthen everything that is unique and valuable about India. Firmly anchored in incontestable scholarship yet passionately and fiercely argued The Battle of Belonging is a book that unambiguously establishes what true Indianness is and what it means to be a patriotic and nationalistic Indian in the twenty-first century.