Rethinking Secularism

Genesis and Implications of the Textbook Controversy, 1977-79

Bibliographic Data

ID2859302
AuthorsLloyd I Rudolph (University of Chicago, corresponding author), Susanne Hoeber Rudolph
Year1983
Volume56
Issue1
Pages15
Publication date1983-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenuePacific Affairs (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0030-851X • E-ISSN: 1715-3379
PublisherJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/2758768
OpenAlexW2330402178
LanguageEN
Citations received17

M ZANY FACTORS CONTRIBUTED to Janata's demise just two years after its stunning victory in the 1977 elections. At the ideological level, the principal cause was the party's inability to resolve its orientation toward the meaning and practice of secularism and its perceived opposite, communalism. At the level of intra-party policy, the ideological struggle raised the question of whether or, perhaps, how to allow membership. Should party members be allowed to belong to a doctrinaire Hindu nationalist organization, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)? Conflict over these ideological and organizational questions renewed debate over cultural policy. Since at least 1885, when only two of the 73 persons who met in Bombay to reform the Indian National Congress were Muslims,' differences over secularism and communalism have affected nationalism and state formation on the Indian subcontinent. The inability of Janata to resolve satisfactorily the dual membership and secularism/communalism controversies provides the historical backdrop for our analysis of the textbook controversy. The textbook controversy began in May 1977, less than three months after the Janata government assumed office. V. Shankar, principal

Political science · Politics · Secularism · Law · Philosophy · Religious studies · South Asian Studies and Conflicts · Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies

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