Gujarat Under Modi: The Blueprint for Today's India

About the Book THE DEFINITIVE ACCOUNT OF NARENDRA’S MODI’S THREE TERMS AS CHIEF MINISTER OF GUJARAT, WHICH SET THE TEMPLATE FOR HIS RULE OVER INDIA. In 2012 Narendra Modi became the first BJP politician to be thrice elected to lead a state of the Indian Union, his stewardship as chief minister of Gujarat being the longest in that state’s history. Modi and his supporters explained his achievement by pointing to economic growth under his leadership, yet detractors point out that Modi has been more business-friendly than market-friendly―to the benefit of large industrial corporations, and at the cost of great social polarisation. A marketing genius, Modi’s messaging combines the politics of Hindutva with economic modernisation, to the clear appreciation of Gujarat’s middle class. In this new and revelatory book, Christophe Jaffrelot shows how Modi’s Gujarat served as a blueprint for Modi’s India, not only in terms of Hindu majoritarianism and national populism, but also of caste and class politics. About the Author Dr. Christophe Jaffrelot is Senior research fellow at CERI-Sciences Po/CNRS, Professor of Indian Politics and Sociology at the King’s India Institute (London), President of the French Political Science Association and Chair of the British Association for South Asian Studies. In 2023 he has been appointed co-director of the Sciences Po South Asia Program. He is also a Non Resident Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a Permanent Consultant at the Centre for Policy Planning Staff of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Among his recent publications are, The Pakistan Paradox. Instability and Resilience, London, Hurst; New York, Oxford University Press; New Delhi, Random House, 2015, (as a co-editor with A. Kohli and K. Murali) Business and Politics in India (New York, OUP, 2019) and (as a co-editor with A. Chatterji and T.B. Hansen) The Majoritarian State. How Hindu Nationalism is Changing India (London Hurst, Delhi, HarperCollins, 2019), as co-author with Pratinav Anil, India’s First Dictatorship. The Emergency, 1975-77 (London, Hurst; New York, OUP; Delhi, HarperCollins, 2020) and as sole author Modi’s India. Hindu Nationalism and the Rise of Ethnic Democracy (Princeton University Press and Bangalore, Westland, 2021) and Gujarat under Modi (London, Hurst; New York, OUP and Bangalore, Westland, 2024). He's currently part of three research projects on “Shared sacred sites in South Asia”, “Muslims in India” and “The Indian Media”. Read more