Why did Indian nationalism and Assamese sub-nationalism clash? Why could Indian democracy not cope with the demands of the Assam agitation in the turbulent 1980s? Why did separatism rise? Sanjib Baruah, arguably the finest political scientist on the Northeast, dives into history and theory in this important work to explain the tensions that engulfed India in this period.
The Khalistan challenge to the sovereignty of Indian State led Indira Gandhi to sanction Operation Bluestar. What was perceived as an attack on Sikh identity then led to Mrs Gandhi’s assassination. What was seen as an attack on India then led to anti-Sikh violence. This book captures those dreadful months of 1984. Mitta and Phoolka worked for years with Sikh victims and survivors in Delhi and detail a story of impunity and injustice.
The systematic attack, killing and displacement of Kashmiri pandits from the Kashmir valley in 1990 marks one of the darkest episodes of recent Indian history. Journalist Rahul Pandita takes the reader back to those years and what happened with the community in this disturbing, hauntingly written work.
The conflict in the Valley looks different from the perspective of a young Kashmiri Muslim, caught between the crossfire of militants and Indian State forces. In his book, journalist Basharat Peer brings alive his experience and that of his wider community through the late 1980s and 1990s.
No writer has captured the energy and ferment of India in the midst of a change as sharply as VS Naipaul. In this book, he dives into the fault lines of Indian society through ordinary and not so ordinary figures, listens to them, ruthlessly distills what they tell him in his own style, and draws broader lessons about what was to come.
