TY - JOUR
T1 - Bandh politics
T2 - Crowds, spectacular violence, and sovereignty in India
AU - Chatterjee, Moyukh
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2016/12/8
Y1 - 2016/12/8
N2 - In 2002, in Gujarat, India, the Hindu nationalist organization, VHP (World Hindu Council), called for a state-wide bandh–a shutdown of shops, offices, businesses, and transportation–to protest the death of Hindu activists by a Muslim mob. During the state-endorsed bandh, Hindu activists and the wider public, supported by the police and politicians, attacked Muslims with impunity. While the ruling Hindu nationalist regime claimed that the violence was spontaneous rioting, activists and survivors emphasized the organized nature of the massacre. If crowds are understood as a performative, and not simply a political tool, then the bandh is a form of political drama when crowds perform claims to sovereignty. Bandh politics entangle multiple audiences, anticipate public violence, invite participation from state and non-state actors, and symbolize popular sovereignty. Bandh politics transformed state-backed public violence against Muslims in 2002 into a mass protest that enabled new forms of solidarity between the Hindu nationalist regime, state officials, and the wider public. Bandh politics is neither instrumental nor spontaneous, but more like a wager that enables political actors to seize, stage, and frame crowd violence as the will of the people.
AB - In 2002, in Gujarat, India, the Hindu nationalist organization, VHP (World Hindu Council), called for a state-wide bandh–a shutdown of shops, offices, businesses, and transportation–to protest the death of Hindu activists by a Muslim mob. During the state-endorsed bandh, Hindu activists and the wider public, supported by the police and politicians, attacked Muslims with impunity. While the ruling Hindu nationalist regime claimed that the violence was spontaneous rioting, activists and survivors emphasized the organized nature of the massacre. If crowds are understood as a performative, and not simply a political tool, then the bandh is a form of political drama when crowds perform claims to sovereignty. Bandh politics entangle multiple audiences, anticipate public violence, invite participation from state and non-state actors, and symbolize popular sovereignty. Bandh politics transformed state-backed public violence against Muslims in 2002 into a mass protest that enabled new forms of solidarity between the Hindu nationalist regime, state officials, and the wider public. Bandh politics is neither instrumental nor spontaneous, but more like a wager that enables political actors to seize, stage, and frame crowd violence as the will of the people.
KW - bandh
KW - crowds
KW - ethnic and religious violence
KW - Gujarat
KW - India
KW - sovereignty
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85003935949&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/1600910X.2016.1258586
DO - 10.1080/1600910X.2016.1258586
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85003935949
SN - 1600-910X
VL - 17
SP - 294
EP - 307
JO - Distinktion
JF - Distinktion
IS - 3
ER -