About the Book: Indian Political Theory: Laying the Groundwork for Svaraj
At present, a nativist turn in Indian political theory can be observed. There
is a general assumption that the indigenous thought to which researchers are
supposed to be (re)turning may somehow be immediately visible by ignoring the
colonization of the mind and polity. In such a conception of svaraj (which can
be translated as 'authentic autonomy), the tradition to be returned to would be
that of the indigenous elites.
In this book, this concept of svaraj is defined as a thick conception, which
links it with exclusivist notions of spirituality, profound anti-modernity,
exceptionalistic moralism,