Ronojoy Sen
Biographic Data
| ID | 3837019 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ronojoy Sen |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ronojoy |
| FAMILY NAME | Sen |
| SIGNATURE | SEN R |
| AFFILIATIONS | National University of Singapore |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 21 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 17 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 21 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
The Complexities of Cricket in India
Cricket, a colonial import, has swamped other sports in terms of popularity in India and across South Asia. Today, given the large number of people who live in the region, it is the world’s second most-watched sport after soccer. Due to this widespread appeal, cricket has become a huge commercial enterprise that not only enriches players and corporate sponsors, but also is mired in politics. In the decades since independence, the sport has occasi…
Conversations on Violence in India
This essay briefly discusses accounts of violence in India before reviewing three recent books that examine the place of violence in Indian political thought. All three books provide insights into the minds of some of the thinkers who have shaped modern India. While two of the authors focus on Mahatma Gandhi and V. D. Savarkar, respectively, the third is more wide-ranging in focus. All three books are important contributions to the study of viole…
Sporting the government: Sportspersons' engagement with causes in India and the USA on twitter
With the ubiquitous reach of social media, influencers are becoming increasingly central to the articulation of political agendas on a range of topics. We curate a sample of tweets from the 200 most followed sportspersons in India and the USA since 2019, map their connections with politicians and visualise their engagements with key topics online. We find significant differences between the ways in which Indian and US sportspersons engage with po…
Identifying and Regulating Religion in India: Law, History, and the Place of Worship. By Geetanjali Srikantan
Geetanjali Srikantan’s book is an ambitious and timely work on the legal regulation of religion in India at a time when disputes over religious practice and places of worship regularly appear before the courts. Srikantan, however, steps back from the contemporary to examine Indian law’s colonial heritage. She argues that the “impasse around the regulation of religion does not lie in the insufficiency of legal reasoning or the failure of the India…
Life of a Nation's Text: The Travels and Travails of the Indian Constitution
This review essay briefly discusses Granville Austin's landmark study of the working of the Indian Constitution and its critics, reviews three recent books on that Constitution, and evaluates the extent to which these new works have been able to take constitutional studies in new directions. All three books shine a light on the critical role of the Constitution and the courts in Indian democracy. While the authors are well aware of contemporary c…
Indian Muslims: Struggling for Equality of Citizenship, by Riaz Hassan (ed.)
Secularism and Religious Freedom
This chapter examines tensions arising from the constitutional provisions with regard to secularism and freedom of religion in India. In particular, it considers Articles 25, 26, and 28 of the Indian Constitution and how the Indian Supreme Court has dealt with cases relating to these Articles. After providing an overview of the Essential Practices doctrine as used by the Supreme Court to distinguish between the secular and religious, especially i…
Peon
The Disputed Role of the Courts
India’s Supreme Court has played the role of a countermajoritarian check but has also flirted with populism. This essay examines three aspects of India’s higher judiciary: the struggle between the judiciary and the other branches over “custody” of the Constitution; the question of judicial independence and who has the right to appoint judges (in India, uniquely, the higher courts claim a right to have the final say on filling their own vacancies)…
Sedition’ and the courts
10.1080/19472498.2016.1168104
Narendra Modi’s makeover and the politics of symbolism
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has metamorphosed from one of the most divisive figures in Indian politics to one seemingly above partisan politics. The makeover of Modi began during the run-up to the 2014 national election when he avoided the language of Hindutva and mostly focused on development. After becoming prime minister, Modi has consistently worked towards maintaining the image that he assiduously cultivated during the election campaign. Th…
Nation at Play: A History of Sport in India
Reaching as far back as ancient times, Ronojoy Sen pairs a novel history of India's engagement with sport and a probing analysis of its cultural and political development under monarchy and colonialism, and as an independent nation. Some sports that originated in India have fallen out of favor, while others, such as cricket, have been adopted and made wholly India's own. Sen's innovative project casts sport less as a natural expression of human c…
House Matters: The BJP, Modi and Parliament
While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alone enjoys a majority in the current Lok Sabha (lower house of parliament), it lacks numbers in the Rajya Sabha (upper house). This paper examines how the opposition mobilised, especially in the Rajya Sabha, to counter some of the Modi government's legislative agenda during its first year, and the government's response of promulgating ordinances. A particular focus is on the issue of amending the 2013 land…
Being Muslim in South Asia: Diversity and Daily Life
What experiences and practices characterize the lives of Muslims in South Asia today? This book examines the contests of ideas, begun 150 years ago, that have translated into political actions touching the lives of tens of millions. Equally, the book focuses on aspects of daily life to emphasize that there are diverse ways of being Muslim. The book is an essential tool for anyone interested in the lives and futures of South Asia's 500 million Mus…
India's Changing Political Fortunes
[T]he principal opposition party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), seems much better positioned than the Indian National Congress to win power in this year's elections
Going Beyond Mere Accounting: The Changing Role of India's Auditor General
In early 2013, India's then comptroller and auditor general (CAG), Vinod Rai, while delivering a speech at Harvard University's Kennedy School, wondered whether his office should be confined to being "mere accountants." That this question could be raised in a public forum, and that too outside India, spoke to the transformation in recent times of Rai's stature and the office that he held. The winds of change were reflected in the Indian Supreme C…
The Persistence of Caste in Indian Politics
In the Name of God: Regulating Religion in Indian Elections
The primary question addressed by this essay is: How are religion and religious propaganda in election campaigns in India regulated? I study this question by looking at the rulings of the Supreme C
The Indian Supreme Court and the quest for a ‘rational’ Hinduism
This article examines, first, how the courts have attempted to define religion with respect to the Constitution, and second, how the court in adjudicating cases related to Hinduism has drawn a distinction between the sacred and the secular. It shows how the Court's use of the ‘essential practices’ doctrine has served as a vehicle for legitimating a rationalized form of high Hinduism and delegitimating usages of popular Hinduism as superstition. T…
Walking a Tightrope: Judicial Activism and Indian Democracy
India's 2009 Elections: The Problem of Corruption
For democrats everywhere, the news coming out of India in the spring of 2009 seemed unalloyedly good: The country had held yet another in what has become a long string of consistently fair and largely peaceful national elections, with the result that the incumbent Congress party and its coalition had won a clear mandate to govern. Yet over the years Indians have come to trust their political leaders less and less. A huge share—nearly a quarter—of…
The Indian Supreme Court and the quest for a ‘rational’ Hinduism
This article examines, first, how the courts have attempted to define religion with respect to the Constitution, and second, how the court in adjudicating cases related to Hinduism has drawn a distinction between the sacred and the secular. It shows how the Court's use of the ‘essential practices’ doctrine has served as a vehicle for legitimating a rationalized form of high Hinduism and delegitimating usages of popular Hinduism as superstition. T…
Narendra Modi’s makeover and the politics of symbolism
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has metamorphosed from one of the most divisive figures in Indian politics to one seemingly above partisan politics. The makeover of Modi began during the run-up to the 2014 national election when he avoided the language of Hindutva and mostly focused on development. After becoming prime minister, Modi has consistently worked towards maintaining the image that he assiduously cultivated during the election campaign. Th…
The Disputed Role of the Courts
India’s Supreme Court has played the role of a countermajoritarian check but has also flirted with populism. This essay examines three aspects of India’s higher judiciary: the struggle between the judiciary and the other branches over “custody” of the Constitution; the question of judicial independence and who has the right to appoint judges (in India, uniquely, the higher courts claim a right to have the final say on filling their own vacancies)…
The Persistence of Caste in Indian Politics
In the Name of God: Regulating Religion in Indian Elections
The primary question addressed by this essay is: How are religion and religious propaganda in election campaigns in India regulated? I study this question by looking at the rulings of the Supreme C
Walking a Tightrope: Judicial Activism and Indian Democracy
The Indian Supreme Court and the quest for a ‘rational’ Hinduism
This article examines, first, how the courts have attempted to define religion with respect to the Constitution, and second, how the court in adjudicating cases related to Hinduism has drawn a distinction between the sacred and the secular. It shows how the Court's use of the ‘essential practices’ doctrine has served as a vehicle for legitimating a rationalized form of high Hinduism and delegitimating usages of popular Hinduism as superstition. T…
Walking a Tightrope: Judicial Activism and Indian Democracy
India's 2009 Elections: The Problem of Corruption
For democrats everywhere, the news coming out of India in the spring of 2009 seemed unalloyedly good: The country had held yet another in what has become a long string of consistently fair and largely peaceful national elections, with the result that the incumbent Congress party and its coalition had won a clear mandate to govern. Yet over the years Indians have come to trust their political leaders less and less. A huge share—nearly a quarter—of…
In the Name of God: Regulating Religion in Indian Elections
The primary question addressed by this essay is: How are religion and religious propaganda in election campaigns in India regulated? I study this question by looking at the rulings of the Supreme C
The Persistence of Caste in Indian Politics
Going Beyond Mere Accounting: The Changing Role of India's Auditor General
In early 2013, India's then comptroller and auditor general (CAG), Vinod Rai, while delivering a speech at Harvard University's Kennedy School, wondered whether his office should be confined to being "mere accountants." That this question could be raised in a public forum, and that too outside India, spoke to the transformation in recent times of Rai's stature and the office that he held. The winds of change were reflected in the Indian Supreme C…
Being Muslim in South Asia: Diversity and Daily Life
What experiences and practices characterize the lives of Muslims in South Asia today? This book examines the contests of ideas, begun 150 years ago, that have translated into political actions touching the lives of tens of millions. Equally, the book focuses on aspects of daily life to emphasize that there are diverse ways of being Muslim. The book is an essential tool for anyone interested in the lives and futures of South Asia's 500 million Mus…
India's Changing Political Fortunes
[T]he principal opposition party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), seems much better positioned than the Indian National Congress to win power in this year's elections
Nation at Play: A History of Sport in India
Reaching as far back as ancient times, Ronojoy Sen pairs a novel history of India's engagement with sport and a probing analysis of its cultural and political development under monarchy and colonialism, and as an independent nation. Some sports that originated in India have fallen out of favor, while others, such as cricket, have been adopted and made wholly India's own. Sen's innovative project casts sport less as a natural expression of human c…
House Matters: The BJP, Modi and Parliament
While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alone enjoys a majority in the current Lok Sabha (lower house of parliament), it lacks numbers in the Rajya Sabha (upper house). This paper examines how the opposition mobilised, especially in the Rajya Sabha, to counter some of the Modi government's legislative agenda during its first year, and the government's response of promulgating ordinances. A particular focus is on the issue of amending the 2013 land…
Sedition’ and the courts
10.1080/19472498.2016.1168104
Narendra Modi’s makeover and the politics of symbolism
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has metamorphosed from one of the most divisive figures in Indian politics to one seemingly above partisan politics. The makeover of Modi began during the run-up to the 2014 national election when he avoided the language of Hindutva and mostly focused on development. After becoming prime minister, Modi has consistently worked towards maintaining the image that he assiduously cultivated during the election campaign. Th…
Secularism and Religious Freedom
This chapter examines tensions arising from the constitutional provisions with regard to secularism and freedom of religion in India. In particular, it considers Articles 25, 26, and 28 of the Indian Constitution and how the Indian Supreme Court has dealt with cases relating to these Articles. After providing an overview of the Essential Practices doctrine as used by the Supreme Court to distinguish between the secular and religious, especially i…
Peon
The Disputed Role of the Courts
India’s Supreme Court has played the role of a countermajoritarian check but has also flirted with populism. This essay examines three aspects of India’s higher judiciary: the struggle between the judiciary and the other branches over “custody” of the Constitution; the question of judicial independence and who has the right to appoint judges (in India, uniquely, the higher courts claim a right to have the final say on filling their own vacancies)…
Indian Muslims: Struggling for Equality of Citizenship, by Riaz Hassan (ed.)
Life of a Nation's Text: The Travels and Travails of the Indian Constitution
This review essay briefly discusses Granville Austin's landmark study of the working of the Indian Constitution and its critics, reviews three recent books on that Constitution, and evaluates the extent to which these new works have been able to take constitutional studies in new directions. All three books shine a light on the critical role of the Constitution and the courts in Indian democracy. While the authors are well aware of contemporary c…
Identifying and Regulating Religion in India: Law, History, and the Place of Worship. By Geetanjali Srikantan
Geetanjali Srikantan’s book is an ambitious and timely work on the legal regulation of religion in India at a time when disputes over religious practice and places of worship regularly appear before the courts. Srikantan, however, steps back from the contemporary to examine Indian law’s colonial heritage. She argues that the “impasse around the regulation of religion does not lie in the insufficiency of legal reasoning or the failure of the India…
Sporting the government: Sportspersons' engagement with causes in India and the USA on twitter
With the ubiquitous reach of social media, influencers are becoming increasingly central to the articulation of political agendas on a range of topics. We curate a sample of tweets from the 200 most followed sportspersons in India and the USA since 2019, map their connections with politicians and visualise their engagements with key topics online. We find significant differences between the ways in which Indian and US sportspersons engage with po…
Conversations on Violence in India
This essay briefly discusses accounts of violence in India before reviewing three recent books that examine the place of violence in Indian political thought. All three books provide insights into the minds of some of the thinkers who have shaped modern India. While two of the authors focus on Mahatma Gandhi and V. D. Savarkar, respectively, the third is more wide-ranging in focus. All three books are important contributions to the study of viole…
The Complexities of Cricket in India
Cricket, a colonial import, has swamped other sports in terms of popularity in India and across South Asia. Today, given the large number of people who live in the region, it is the world’s second most-watched sport after soccer. Due to this widespread appeal, cricket has become a huge commercial enterprise that not only enriches players and corporate sponsors, but also is mired in politics. In the decades since independence, the sport has occasi…
Political science (20 works) · Law (18 works) · Politics (14 works) · Sociology (13 works) · Law (8 works) · Philosophy (6 works) · Political economy (5 works) · Supreme court (5 works) · Constitution (4 works) · History (4 works)