SEPADPod With Ajay Gudavarthy

Richardson Institute

On this episode of SEPADPod Simon speaks with Ajay Gudavarthy, a political theorist, analyst and columnist in India. Ajay is associate professor in political science at Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He is the editor of India after Modi: Populism and the Right (Bloomsbury, Delhi, 2018)and Secular Sectarianism: Limits of Subaltern Politics (Sage, 2019)and author of countless articles and opinion pieces on Indian politics, secularism, populism and sectarianism. On this special episode, Simon and Ajay talk about sectarianism in India in the form of a 'secular sectarianism'. They do this by reflecting on Ajay's twin roles as a public intellectual and academic, looking at the complex interplay between identity politics, resistance and authoritarianism. This is a must listen for anyone looking at sectarianism in a comparative context.