Another India

Another India tells the story of the world’s biggest religious minority
through vivid biographical portraits that weave together the stories
of both elite and subaltern Muslims.
By challenging traditional histories and highlighting the neglect of
minority rights since Independence, Pratinav Anil argues that Muslims
have, since 1947, had to contend with discrimination, disadvantage,
deindustrialisation, dispossession and disenfranchisement, as well as an
unresponsive leadership. He explores the rise and fall of the Indian
Muslim elite and the birth of the nationalist Muslim, and emphasizes the
importance of class in understanding the dynamics of Indian politics.
Anil also sheds light on the vested custodial interests and the
depoliticization of the privileged classes, all of which resulted in the elite
betrayal by the landed gentry of the ordinary members of the
community, a betrayal whose consequences are still felt by India’s 200
million Muslims today.
Another India ultimately recovers Muslim agency from the back pages of
history and offers a different picture of democratic India, challenging
received accounts of the world’s largest democracy.