Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 Hindu nationalism and the cultural forms of Indian politics
- 2 Prime time religion
- 3 The communicating thing and its public
- 4 A “split public” in the making and unmaking of the Ram Janmabhumi movement
- 5 Organization, performance, and symbol
- 6 Hindutva goes global
- Conclusion
- Appendix: Background to the Babri Masjid dispute
- Notes
- Select bibliography
- Index
1 - Hindu nationalism and the cultural forms of Indian politics
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 Hindu nationalism and the cultural forms of Indian politics
- 2 Prime time religion
- 3 The communicating thing and its public
- 4 A “split public” in the making and unmaking of the Ram Janmabhumi movement
- 5 Organization, performance, and symbol
- 6 Hindutva goes global
- Conclusion
- Appendix: Background to the Babri Masjid dispute
- Notes
- Select bibliography
- Index
Summary
The Ramayan epic was serialized on national television in India from January 1987 to August 1989. During the broadcast, the Ram Janmabhumi (Birthplace of Ram) movement, which aimed to demolish a mosque, Babri Masjid (Babur's mosque) in Ayodhya and build a Ram temple in its place, grew in importance. The Ramayan serial overlapped with the most crucial phase of the Janmabhumi movement, when it changed from an ominous but still relatively obscure campaign into the dominant issue before the country, one that made and unmade prime ministers and ruling parties. The Ramayan achieved record viewership in virtually every part of the country (something no serial before it had done), and made Sunday mornings “belong” to it; any public event scheduled for that time courted disaster. With such publicity given to its pre-eminent symbol, the god-king Ram, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party was emboldened to declare, by the middle of 1989, that the Ayodhya movement “had reached a state and status in Indian public life when it was no more possible to ignore its effect in politics, including electoral politics.” The issue was officially declared to be political, with the BJP making it their number one priority that “a grand temple to Lord Ram” would be built at the site of the mosque.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Politics after TelevisionHindu Nationalism and the Reshaping of the Public in India, pp. 30 - 71Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2001
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