Christophe Jaffrelot

Christophe Jaffrelot is senior research fellow at CERI-Sciences Po/CNRS, Paris, professor of Indian Politics and Sociology at King's India Institute, London, and non-resident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He offers valuable insights on South Asian politics, particularly the methods and motivations of the Hindu right in India.

The same odd coalition

Fri, Jun 08, 2018

Anti-BJPism is propelling unlikely alliances today — just as anti-Congressism had done in the past

The segregated city

Sat, May 26, 2018

Ghettoisation and Disturbed Areas Act are dividing urban spaces in Gujarat, pushing Muslims to the edge.

A curious friendship

Wed, May 09, 2018

Shia leaders are drawing closer to the Hindutva agenda in UP under Yogi Adityanath’s chief ministership

The myth of appeasement

Fri, Apr 20, 2018

Muslims face rapid socio-economic decline. Yet, any move in their favour is made to look illegitimate

The friend of my enemy

Thu, Apr 05, 2018

Iran-India ties are deepening. But resilience of Tehran-Islamabad relations could make Delhi uncomfortable.

The Karnataka model

Thu, Mar 08, 2018

The state offers an alternative trajectory based on growth, and closing of social, religious gaps.

The lure of the populists

Mon, Feb 26, 2018

Populists repudiate pluralism, for the people can only be one and they are the people. This explains their tendency to disqualify their rivals, and even reject the multiparty system of democracy.

The most Hindu of them all

Fri, Feb 16, 2018

Religion was always recognised in India’s public sphere — but, unlike now, in the plural

A war of labels

Tue, Jan 09, 2018

Accounts of Dalit protests in Maharashtra are incomplete, need to be leavened by context and history.

Anxieties of the dominant

Wed, Jan 03, 2018

At the root of the insecurities of Marathas, Jats and Patels lies lack of education and employability

Reading Gujarat verdict: Rural-urban divide underlined, Congress gains for future

Tue, Dec 19, 2017

The BJP has fallen short of the 150 seats promised by Amit Shah. More worryingly for the party, no regional leader has emerged.

Caste of characters

Fri, Dec 15, 2017

In Gujarat, religious polarisation remains a dominant theme. And caste is back, in a different version

Fields of despair

Fri, Dec 08, 2017

Peasant mobilisations have achieved very little because of the urban bias of the BJP

Gujarat model?

Mon, Nov 20, 2017

Campaign for the assembly elections in the state is shinning the light on its economic discontents.

Article of faithlessness

Tue, Nov 07, 2017

While the government talks peace, the Sangh Parivar’s attitude towards Articles 35 A and 370 has heightened scepticism in Kashmir.

Alienation of the Patels

Wed, Oct 25, 2017

Will they vote as a caste bloc in Gujarat, or will class play a role — for BJP, that’s the question

Tweedledee, tweedledum

Thu, Oct 05, 2017

Lines between Congress and BJP are regularly crossed in Gujarat. The BJP gets the advantage

The picture after Doklam stand-off

Tue, Sep 12, 2017

Partnership with Japan could be the cornerstone of a coalition to take on China’s economic, military might.

It’s lonely on the ground

Mon, Sep 04, 2017

RTI Act needs to be protected against attempts to dilute it. RTI activists must be made less vulnerable

Reading PM Modi, through his speeches

Tue, Aug 15, 2017

In his Independence Day speeches, Narendra Modi has repeatedly used the words ‘sister’, ‘brother’ and ‘team’. The Prime Minister’s rhetorical technique is inherent in populism, a version of politics that crystallises when a leader tries to relate directly to ‘his’ nation, circumventing institutions in the worst-case scenarios.