' GUJARAT UNDER MODI ' : BOOK REVIEW

NON-FICTION : ' Gujarat Under Modi '. Laboratory of Today's India By Christophe Jaffrelot.

A well-researched book by a well-known French scholar argues that Indian PM Narendra Modi used his rule in the state of Gujarat to establish the principles for his Hindutva vision of India.

An extensively researched book by Christophe Jaffrelot, a French political scientist specialising in India and Pakistan - Gujarat Under Modi : Laboratory of Today's India - deals with the transformation of Gujarat into a '' Laboratory of Hindu nationalism .''

Narendra Modi served as Chief Minister of Gujarat for a record 13 years between 2001-14, after which he became the PM of India.

Jaffrelot has written extensively on India and Pakistan and is considered a formidable scholar on the region.

Other books by the same author include : India's First Dictatorship; The Emergency 1975-77 [ 2020 ],  Modi's India : Hindu Nationalism and the Rise of Ethnic Democracy [ 2021 ], The Pakistan Paradox :  Instability and Resilience [ 2015 ], Religion, Caste and Politics in India [ 2010 ]. A History of Pakistan  and its Origins [ 2002 ] and his doctoral thesis published as The Hindu Nationalist Movement in India [ 1996 ].

Gujarat is a unique state in many aspects, including '' its extreme valorisation of an economic ethos, its cast hierarchies and its relationship with Islam.... those characteristics are largely due to geography.''

Gujarat is the fifth-largest state of India and ninth most populous, with a population of approximately  60 million. It has the longest coastline of 2, 340 kilometers, neighbouring Pakistan. 

Muslims started arriving there soon after the advent of Islam in the seventh century.

Moreover, referring to Gujaratis the director of entrepreneurship development of Gujarat declared in 2013, that '' Entrepreneurship is in their blood. No doubt in that, as Gujrati children are exposed to money making businesses early on.

Even in social gatherings, people talk about business rather than bureaucracy, politics or literature. By the time a person comes out of college, he would have a role model in one or another successful businessman.''

The World Students Society thanks Imtiaz Piracha.