Dr. Christophe Jaffrelot and Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy: The discussions by Dr Jaffrelot on rising Hindu Nationalism in India with the resultant increasing discrimination against the Indian Muslim population, both in political and economic fronts, have pushed them to pauperization and helplessness. India, a massive country with about 1.4 billion people, and a rising superpower, pursuing a policy of hatred spearheaded by the ruling BJP, might spill across other parts of South Asia and beyond. “If I can recall, the SAARC fell apart due to the Indian attitude of arrogance and parochial mindset. This is, indeed very concerning,” an observer says.
About the Speaker: 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. He works as a Non Resident Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and as a Permanent Consultant at the Center 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” (OUP, 2019) and (as a co-editor with A. Chatterji and T.B. Hansen) “The Majoritarian State. How Hindu Nationalism is Changing India” (Hurst, 2019), as co-author with Pratinav Anil, “India’s First Dictatorship. The Emergency, 1975-77” (Hurst, 2020) and as sole author “Modi’s India. Hindu Nationalism and the Rise of Ethnic Democracy” (Princeton University Press, 2021).
