Full Description
The fast-consolidating identities along religious and ethnic lines in recent years have considerably 'minoritised' Muslims in India. The wide-ranging essays in this volume focus on the intensified exclusionary practices against Indian Muslims, highlighting how, amidst a politics of violence, confusing policy frameworks on caste and class lines, and institutionalised riot systems, the community has also suffered from the lack of leadership from within. At the same time, Indian Muslims have emerged as a 'mass' around which the politics of 'vote bank', 'appeasement', 'foreigners', 'Pakistanis within the country', and so on are innovated and played upon, making them further apprehensive about asserting their legitimate right to development. The important issues of the double marginalisation of Muslim women and attempts to reform the Muslim Personal Law by some civil society groups is also discussed. Contributed by academics, activists and journalists, the articles discuss issues of integration, exclusion and violence, and attempt to understand categories such as 'identity', 'minority', 'multiculturalism' and 'nationalism' with regard to and in the context of Indian Muslims.
This second edition, with a new introduction, will be of great interest to scholars and researchers in sociology, politics, history, cultural studies, minority studies, Islamic studies, policy studies and development studies, as well as policymakers, civil society activists and those in media and journalism.
Contents
Acknowledgements. List of tables. List of figures. Introduction 1. Minority and Minorityism: The Challenge before Indian Muslims M. J. Akbar 2. The Muslim as Victim, The Muslim as Agent: On Islam as a Category of Analysis Markha Valenta 3. Locating Multiculturalism and Social Exclusion in the Liberal Democratic Framework Ranu Jain 4. Muslims and Politics of Exclusion Ram Puniyani 5. Indian Muslims: Political Leadership, Mobilization, and Violence Irfan Engineer 6. Precedents and Exceptions: BJP's engagement with the Muslims Nistula Hebber 7. Structure of Violence and Muslims Taha Abdul Rauf 8. Hindu-Muslim Riots in India: A Demographic Perspective R. B. Bhagat 9. Police Conduct during Communal Riots: Evidence from 1992-93 Mumbai Riots and its Implications Jyoti Punwani 10. Ethnic Politics, Muslims and Space in Contemporary Mumbai Abdul Shaban 11. Social Exclusion and Muslims of Kolkata Sanjukta Sattar 12. Muslim Women and Law Reforms: Concerns and Initiatives of the Excluded within the Excluded Noorjehan Safia Niaz and J. S. Apte. About the Editor. Notes on Contributors. Index
