Politics after television : religious nationalism and the reshaping of the Indian public / Arvind Rajagopal.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rajagopal, Arvind, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Television in politics.

Television in politics--India.

Elections--India.

Elections.

Mass media--Political aspects--India.

Mass media.

Nationalism--Religious aspects.

Nationalism.

Nationalism--India.

Immigrants--United States.

Immigrants.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (viii, 393 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2001.

Summary:

In January 1987, the Indian state-run television began broadcasting a Hindu epic in serial form, The Ramayana, to nationwide audiences, violating a decades-old taboo on religious partisanship. What resulted was the largest political campaign in post-independence times, around the symbol of Lord Ram, led by Hindu nationalists. The complexion of Indian politics was irrevocably changed thereafter. In this book, Arvind Rajagopal analyses this extraordinary series of events. While audiences may have thought they were harking back to an epic golden age, Hindu nationalist leaders were embracing the prospects of neoliberalism and globalisation. Television was the device that hinged these movements together, symbolising the new possibilities of politics, at once more inclusive and authoritarian. Simultaneously, this study examines how the larger historical context was woven into and changed the character of Hindu nationalism.

Contents:

1. Hindu nationalism and the cultural forms of Indian politics

2. Prime time religion

3. The communicating thing and its public

4. A "split public" in the making and unmaking of the Ram Janmabhumi movement

5. Organization, performance, and symbol

6. Hindutva goes global

Conclusion: How has television changed the context of politics in India?

App. Background to the Babri Masjid dispute.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references (p. 372-389) and index.

ISBN:

0-511-08481-1

1-107-11604-X

1-280-43239-X

9786610432394

0-511-17554-X

0-511-04026-1

0-511-15595-6

0-511-32896-6

0-511-48905-6

0-511-05140-9

OCLC:

475917299

Publisher Number:

2027/heb09214 hdl