If Hindutva is the dominant experiment of majoritarianism in Indian politics today, Rajasthan has become one of its largest laboratories. The rise in mob lynchings, honour killings, and caste atrocities in the state indicates that it is an emerging battleground of Hindu nationalism. For decades, the political landscape of Rajasthan has remained divided along lines of caste, class, and identity assertions. How feudal lords continue to wield so much power, why political actors still subscribe to Rajput royalty, and how the state is spiraling into a new Hindutva hotbed are questions answered eloquently by journalists Deep Mukherjee and Tabeenah Anjum in the book From Dynasties to Democracy: Politics, Caste and Power Struggles in Rajasthan.
The authors present a rigorously researched and nuanced account of Rajasthan’s journey from feudal aristocracy to a democratic state. Mukherjee and Anjum have been reporting on the region’s politics for more than a decade, making the book a remarkable work. Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, Ashok Gehlot, Vasundhara Raje, and the emerging politician Sachin Pilot are among the political stalwarts whose personas have shaped Rajasthan’s political fortunes. The authors offer a sharp and analytical examination of the factors behind their rapid rise to power, including entrenched caste divisions, royal lineage, and political chauvinism. In Rajasthan, the authors write, caste has played a pivotal role in the formation of political parties, and its deployment in electioneering has only further entrenched caste identities.
The book is divided into eleven chapters. In the first four chapters, the authors unveil Rajasthan’s evolution from a feudal state to an electoral democracy by examining the rise of Kisan Sabhas and Praja Mandals, caste violence, Dalit agitations, and tribal self-assertion. The remaining chapters describe the formation of new political determinants such as unrest, riots, and lynchings, which have reshaped the state’s politics and given it a new religious outlook. The authors write, “The fact that from the very first elections, when the first non-Congress government was formed, all opposition leaders were Rajputs is evidence of the Community’s shared anger towards the grand old party”. In chapter Bovines and Bloodshed, the authors write, “In the present times, cow vigilantism is a real threat to the lives of Meo Muslims. Pehlu Khan, Rakbar Khan, Nasir, and Junaid are Meo Muslims who have lost their lives in the last five years as a result of cow vigilantism.”
Through an insightful narrative, the book uncovers the glaring political and religious fault lines beneath the region’s thriving, picturesque surface. An analytical biography of Rajasthan, From Dynasties to Democracy is a book that every serious reader of Indian politics should read.
