Akhil Ranjan Dutta - Hindutva Regime in Assam: Saffron in the Rainbow

As I read Akhil Ranjan Dutta's Hindutva Regime in Assam: Saffron in the Rainbow, I am reminded of the glorious tradition of writing buranjis or current histories in Assam. The book effectively infuses politics with historylong lost especially in political writings. Dutta views history not in a historicist way but as a practice that also contributes to the making of history. The beauty of the book lies in its quiet elegance, in informing the text with theory without loudly foregrounding it.

Samir Kumar Das

Professor in Political Science, University of Calcutta, India;

Former Vice-Chancellor, University of North Bengal, Siliguri, India

By 2014, the BJP had already made headway in Assam. Its victory in 2016 marked a major shift in the state's politics, challenging the consensus that sustained plurality of the state. Akhil Ranjan Dutta's competent work provides detailed assessment of the BJP's politics as the ruling party of Assam. Hindutva Regime in Assam: Saffron in the Rainbow is an important contribution because it meticulously shows how the BJP ruptured the consensus on key issues. The book is also important for the assessment of governance that predominantly operates in the dual universe of Hindutva and neoliberalism.

Suhas Palshikar

Chief Editor, Studies in Indian Politics

Former Professor in Political Science,

Savitribai Phule University, Pune, India

Akhil Ranjan Dutta's Hindutva Regime in Assam: Saffron in the Rainbow is a meticulously researched book on politics in contemporary Assam. With the help of logical and intelligently crafted arguments, Dutta takes the reader along the different routes through which the BJP amassed power in Assam, riding on a populist strategy of appealing to an Assamese pride which overwhelmed the promised rainbow with saffron nationalism. By examining the BJP's strategies of negotiations and alliances in the electoral domain, the resolution of contests over citizenship through the NRC and CAA, and the homogenization of plural imaginaries of the Assamese identity, the book explains both the rise of the BJP to power and the challenges it may face in the coming years. Lucid and accessible, this book is an important contribution to the study of politics in India in general and of Assam in particular.

Anupama Roy

Professor, Centre for Political Studies, School of Social Sciences,

Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

HINDUTVA REGIME IN ASSAM

Saffron in the Rainbow

SAGE STUDIES ON INDIA'S NORTH EAST

• Akhil Ranjan Dutta

Copyright Akhil Ranjan Dutta, 2021

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

First published in 2021 by

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Published by Vivek Mehra for SAGE Publications India Pvt Ltd and typeset in 10.5/13 pt Berkeley by AG Infographics, Delhi.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021941243

ISBN: 978-93-91370-28-2 (ePub)

SAGE Team: Amrita Dutta, Shipra Pant and Rajinder Kaur

Cover Image: Aarti David

To

Professor Hiren Gohain,

an unwavering custodian of the people's conscience,

whose writings and social commitments have had an immense

bearing on my intellectual pursuits.