Untangling the logical, lexical, and semantic patterns of the multiple official speeches of Indian prime ministers, Speaking the Nation gauges how the Indian state has been projected by different governments in different times, in the face of challenges from internal and external actors that put pressure on its leaders to safeguard their status as legitimate elites in power. It analyses how Indian nationhood is consistently reshaped and reaffirmed by invoking its secular ethos and practice, as well as the experience of market liberalization. The book calls for serious engagement with political oratory in India. A close reading of speeches since 1991--from Narasimha Rao to Narendra Modi--captured how, through these crosscutting topics, the prominent 'authors of the nation' and the 'vanguards of the state', speak India into being.

About the Author
Anandita Bajpai teaches at the Department for South Asian Studies, Institute for Asian and African Studies, Humboldt University, and is a research fellow at the Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin, Germany.


Book Information
ISBN 9780199481743
Author Anandita Bajpai
Format Hardback
Page Count 356
Imprint OUP India
Publisher OUP India
Weight(grams) 444g
Dimensions(mm) 224mm * 148mm * 30mm