UoNARI presents roundtable on 'Reflections on Indian democracy on Indira Gandhi’s death anniversary'.
Date: 2 November
Time: 4-5.30pm
Location: A21 Trent Building, University Park
Discussants:
Dr Papia Sen Gupta, University of Sheffield
Prof Andrew Whitehead, former BBC South Asia correspondent and former editor of BBC World Service News and Hon. Professor with SPIR, University of Nottingham.
Papia Sen Gupta (Sengupta) Bio
Papia teaches in the Centre for Political Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University. At present she is affiliated with the Urban Institute at Sheffield as British Academy International Visiting Fellow. She has published extensively on South Asian politics particularly on linguistic and education policies, minority accommodation and multiculturalism, federal democratisation, including her monograph on Language as Identity (2018) and Critical Sites of Inclusion in India's Higher Education (2022), and scholarly articles in Economic and Political Weekly, Geoforum, International Journal of Multilingualism, Social Change, Droit et Culture and Social Action. She recently completed her second monograph on Linguistic sub-nationalism and democratisation in India (forthcoming by Palgrave Macmillan 2024) and is currently working on her monograph tentatively titled: Rethinking resistance and democracy: Towards building differential solidarities.
Andrew Whitehead Bio
Title: 'Indira and Kashmir'
In 1975, Indira Gandhi, as India's Prime Minister, signed an accord with the leading Kashmiri politician of that era, Sheikh Abdullah. The agreement consolidated Indian rule over the Kashmir Valley - an area also claimed by Pakistan, and where there was a pro-independence lobby too. And it restored Sheikh Abdullah back to power locally after more than twenty years under arrest or internal exile. With hindsight, many Kashmiris see this as a moment of betrayal, when their leader abandoned his demand for self-determination. But the accord explicitly recognised Kashmir's special status under India's constitution - a status which the current Indian government has ended. This talk will examine Indira Gandhi's policy towards Kashmir and discuss the current situation in the Kashmir Valley.