Battling for India: A Citizens Reader
Photo by : Incredible India Info
Edited by Githa Hariharan and Salim Yusufji
Battling
for India: A Citizen’s Reader
Edited
by Githa Hariharan and
Salim Yusufji
Publisher:
Speaking Tiger , Price: INR 399/-, pp – 342, PB, Non-Fiction
For well over a decade, there has been a battle going on in India, as old divisions and inequalities have become deeper. Since 2014, this battle has reached a feverish pitch with the combined onslaught of majoritarian politics and market-driven policies. There are now, as the editors of this anthology argue, two signposts as we enter the Indian nation—one reads: Battling India, and points to a domain of coercion and plunder; the other says: Battling for India, and invites us to spaces where many brave, indomitable people demand their share of dignity and lay claim to citizenship.
This necessary collection brings us the
voices and experiences of those who are battling for India through their
private struggles and public activism. : Alivelamma, a woman farmer. Huchangi,
Rohith, Ravan—poet, scholar, activist; all dalit. Sukalo, Rajkishor,
Leelabati—activist, poet, singer; adivasis. Eighteen-year-old Muddu
Thirthahalli and ninety-one-year-old Nayantara, both writers. Amarjeet, Sonia
and 2000 others gathered at a workers’ rally. Salima, Hafiz, Aslah, who refuse
to be second-class citizens. Among them, and with them, are the voices of
journalists, artists, teachers and students. Together, they speak to us of the
many ways in which state and extra-state forces have been excluding more and
more citizens from India. And together, they show us ways to re-make the nation
envisioned by our Constitution—a nation whose people can, without exception,
live as free and equal citizens.
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