A Malevolent Embrace? The BJP and Muslims in the Parliamentary Election of 2004
by Niraja Gopal Jayal


The Indian parliamentary election of 2004 was an election of many firsts: it was the first Lok Sabha election of the twenty-first century; it was the first election in which political communication came to be conducted in the corporate vocabulary of image-making, branding and marketing; it was the first election after the first ever non-Congress government completed a full term in office; and it was the first election after which the elected leader of the single largest party declined the prime ministership and nominated another. It was also arguably the first general election in which the minority vote was assiduously courted by a party whose very identity was, since the early 1990s, defined by its hostility to minorities. This essay analyzes the failed attempt of the BJP to reinvent itself as a moderate and inclusivist party in the election campaign of 2004, and the response of the Muslim community to this initiative. It also examines the results of the election in constituencies where the Muslim population exceeds 10 percent, including the nomination of candidates, party strategies, and the final outcomes.

The Making of a River Linking Plan in India: Suppressed Science and Spheres of Expert Debate
by Kelly D. Alley

The plan to interlink the rivers of India and create a new “national water grid” comes at a time when water scarcity discourses assume a nervous tone that is at once local and global, triggering fears of continuing drought, falling ground water tables, and the further contamination of surface waters. This paper explores the way in which a large scale resource use plan is made in India and how it is debated by specialist groups and concerned citizens outside government. The paper covers historical and contemporary discussions regarding the river linking plan through official and unofficial water use discourses, governmental, judicial and NGO documents, decision-making events, and my own participant observation conducted during the summer of 2003. It also addresses, in this context, the relation between science and policy-making and the paths of communication and knowledge exchange between officials and experts in and outside government offices.

Kashmiris and the Kashmir Conflict
by Wajahat Habibullah

In the already abundant writings on Kashmir, the past year has seen two valuable additions by scholars both eminent in the field. The two books under review are very different in approach, and offer very different prescriptions for a resolution to the conflict. Robert Wirsing’s Kashmir in the Shadow of War, as the title suggests, sounds a somber, sometimes even pessimistic note refraining from explicit suggestions for a resolution, instead outlining how channels can be created to foster peace. Sumantra Bose, in his Kashmir: Roots of Conflict, Paths to Peace, presents as yet unexplored ways towards resolution in what he understands to be the problem. In an area so vexed and so debated, it will be difficult for the avid follower of events to agree with either prescription offered. In fact, the questions raised by both remain unanswered and could, if followed through, exacerbate rather than solve the problem—at least with respect to the aspirations of Kashmiris.