3 Review(s)

This volume traces the course of development of Charan Singhs discontent in the Congress, which aided by the antagonism on the part of Nehru and his daughter towards him, and the decline of the Congress as the dominant party in Uttar Pradesh, led ultimately to his defection to form a new political party and, at last, to achieve his goal of becoming chief minister of UP. Like the earlier volume, this book is based primarily on the authors personal relationship with Charan Singh during his political career and early access to his massive political files and the authors own personal interviews with politicians, other public persons, peasants, and others over 50 years, up to the present. It also provides an account of the chief ministership of Sucheta Kripalani a political outsider catapulted to the top by the power struggles of fractious factions and at the same time explores against the backdrop of regionalism in UP the considerable yet little-known role played by Charan Singh in issues of states reorganization for northern India. This book is the second volume of a multi-volume work on The Politics of Northern India: 1937 to 1987. About the Author Paul R. Brass is Professor (Emeritus) of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Washington, Seattle. He has published numerous books and articles on comparative and South Asian politics, ethnic politics, and collective violence. His work has been based on extensive field research in India during numerous visits since 1961. He has been a University of Washington faculty member and Professor, Department of Political Science and The Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies since 1965. He received his B.A. in Government in 1958, Harvard College; his M.A. in 1959, in Political Science, University of Chicago; and his Ph.D. in 1964, in Political Science, University of Chicago. His teaching specializations include comparative politics (South Asia), ethnicity and nationalism as well as collective violence. Professor Brass has received Fellowships at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, D.C. 1994–95; Faculty Research Fellowships, American Institute of Indian Studies: 1993, 1982–83, 1973, 1966–76; John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, 1972–73; Grants for Research on South Asia, American Council of Learned Societies and Social Science Research Council, 1966–67, 1973– 74, 1977–78, 1982–83, amongst others. In 2008, Brass received the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s Emeritus Fellowship. His most recent books are The Politics of Northern India: 1937 to 1987—Volume I (An Indian Political Life: Charan Singh and Congress Politics, 1937 to 1961) (SAGE, 2011), Routledge Handbook of South Asian Politics: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal (2010), Forms of Collective Violence: Riots, Pogroms, and Genocide in Modern India (2006), The Production of Hindu–Muslim Violence in Contemporary India (2003), Theft of an Idol: Text and Context in the Representation of Collective Violence (1997), Riots and Pogroms (1996), and The Politics of India since Independence, 2nd ed. (1994).