Moving beyond purely theoretical considerations, he assesses India's political future, the possible obstacles to the development of communalism, and the forces that exist on the Left which might be brought into alliance to halt the march of chauvinism.

Presents several essays in studies of Indian literature and film, by discussing how key authors offer contending, 'alternative' visions of India and how poetry, fiction and film can revise both the communal and secular versions of national belonging thatdefine current debates about 'Indianness'.

Christhu Doss examines how the colonial construct of communalism through the fault lines of the supposed religious neutrality, the hunger for the bread of life, the establishment of exclusive village settlements for the proselytes, the rhetoric of Victorian morality, the booby-traps of modernity, and the subversion of Indian cultural heritage resulted in a radical reorientation of religious allegiance that eventually created a perpetual detachment between proselytes and the “others.” Exploring the trajectories of communalism, Doss demonstrates how the multicultural Indian society, known widely for its composite culture, and secular convictions were categorized, compartmentalized, and communalized by the racialized religious pretensions. A vital read for historians, political scientists, sociologists, anthropologists, and all those who are interested in religions, cultures, identity politics, and decolonization in modern India.

Murtaza Bhutto, 1954-1996, political leader from Pakistan.

In this timely, nuanced collection, twenty leading cultural theorists assess the contradictory ideals, policies, and practices of secularism in India.

This book gives the reader a brief introduction to some of the theories of secular thought that are popular in the West as well as in India. It also deals extensively into what the true meaning of secularism in India is. It innovatively embeds Indian cases and contexts in the Constitutional Perspective. It presents an understating of the manner in which India developed its peculiar variant of secularism. Chapter 1 traces the historical and conceptual exposition of secularism both in the western and Indian Contexts. Chapter two narrated the political intensions of the constitution framers and constitutional provisions. In the following two chapters, it deals with judicial pronouncements with regards to secularism and also discussed the threats to Indian Constitutional Secularism and its vision by its rebellions. This work is a modified version of the doctoral thesis submitted to the Pondicherry University