When religion meets nationalism

BOOK REVIEW

- ADITI PHADNIS

Marya Shakil and Narendra Nath Mishra are extremely busy television journalists. Ms. Shakil was the only journalist to whom Prime Minister Modi granted an interview from his campaign vehicle. So it is mystifying how they got the time to develop an idea and write a book while covering recent events on the ground. For a reporter, covering an election is not just about hitting dusty roads, spending nights in small hamlets, tolerating attacks by mosquitoes and sundry other wee beasties. It is not just about talking to myriad people, some of whom have to be coaxed to talk to you. It is that niggling feeling that you might have missed something, the uncertainty and the doubt, the sense that what people are saying could be interpreted differently leading to a different outcome altogether.

But Ms. Shakil and Mr. Mishra have stuck their necks out, have taken a bet and on the basis of their ground reporting have reached a conclusion about Indian politics. It could be wrong, it might be right. It's too soon to tell. But it is an interesting hypothesis. The central premise of the book is that the political mobilization of Hindus as Hindus has been overtaken by mobilization on the basis of nationalism.