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The New India: The Unmaking of the World's Largest Democracy

AUTHOR Bhatia, Rahul
PUBLISHER PublicAffairs (11/12/2024)
PRODUCT TYPE Hardcover (Hardcover)
Description

A New York Times Notable Book of 2024
"An absorbing account of India's transformation" (The Guardian) from democracy towards autocracy told through "brilliant on-the-ground reportage" (The Times).

Since Narendra Modi's election in May 2014, India has become more dysfunctional and dangerous than ever. The "world's largest democracy" has seen a cascade of events ushered in by a nationalistic and religious government that have threatened the freedoms and identities of its citizens. If you support Modi, you are a bhakt, among the devoted. If you do not, you are an urban naxal, an unpatriotic traitor, and enemy of the Hindu faith. There is, increasingly, no room in between.

In The New India, journalist Rahul Bhatia investigates this slow burn of democracy in India, connecting past and present to offer the first thorough account of how the country is sliding towards autocracy. He describes the religious, societal, and technological changes that have brought India to a point at which a nationalist mindset that despises democracy and human rights is spreading fast, all in an effort to bind the multiethnic, multilingual, and multicultural country into a single identity.

Through a character-driven narrative informed by on the ground reporting, he investigates the disinformation machine at the heart of the Modi government, the corrupt lawmakers whose work targets religious minorities, the police force bent on raiding every public newsroom, and the CEO behind the largest data collecting agency in the world whose invention has forever altered Indian elections. At the same time, Bhatia shows us the consequences of these efforts on everyday citizens--from Muslims attempting to hold on to their property to students protesting the government's overreach of their education to journalists being threatened for uttering a single word against the BJP party. What emerges is a timely, urgent and at times shocking portrait of a country that has turned on itself.

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Product Format
Product Details
ISBN-13: 9781541704008
ISBN-10: 1541704002
Binding: Hardback or Cased Book (Sewn)
Content Language: English
More Product Details
Page Count: 448
Carton Quantity: 20
Product Dimensions: 6.30 x 1.60 x 9.40 inches
Weight: 1.45 pound(s)
Feature Codes: Bibliography, Index, Price on Product
Country of Origin: US
Subject Information
BISAC Categories
Political Science | World - Asian
Political Science | Asia - South - India
Political Science | Privacy & Surveillance (see also Social Science - Privacy &
Dewey Decimal: 954.053
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
publisher marketing

A New York Times Notable Book of 2024
"An absorbing account of India's transformation" (The Guardian) from democracy towards autocracy told through "brilliant on-the-ground reportage" (The Times).

Since Narendra Modi's election in May 2014, India has become more dysfunctional and dangerous than ever. The "world's largest democracy" has seen a cascade of events ushered in by a nationalistic and religious government that have threatened the freedoms and identities of its citizens. If you support Modi, you are a bhakt, among the devoted. If you do not, you are an urban naxal, an unpatriotic traitor, and enemy of the Hindu faith. There is, increasingly, no room in between.

In The New India, journalist Rahul Bhatia investigates this slow burn of democracy in India, connecting past and present to offer the first thorough account of how the country is sliding towards autocracy. He describes the religious, societal, and technological changes that have brought India to a point at which a nationalist mindset that despises democracy and human rights is spreading fast, all in an effort to bind the multiethnic, multilingual, and multicultural country into a single identity.

Through a character-driven narrative informed by on the ground reporting, he investigates the disinformation machine at the heart of the Modi government, the corrupt lawmakers whose work targets religious minorities, the police force bent on raiding every public newsroom, and the CEO behind the largest data collecting agency in the world whose invention has forever altered Indian elections. At the same time, Bhatia shows us the consequences of these efforts on everyday citizens--from Muslims attempting to hold on to their property to students protesting the government's overreach of their education to journalists being threatened for uttering a single word against the BJP party. What emerges is a timely, urgent and at times shocking portrait of a country that has turned on itself.

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Hardcover