Professor Rajeev Bhargava, noted political theorist will be delivering the 29th Democracy Dialogues Lecture on Sunday, March 31, 2024 at 6 PM ( IST)

Please reserve the time and date for the lecture. Details are given below

Democracy Dialogues Lecture 29:

Speaker: Professor Rajeev Bhargava

Date: Sunday, March 31, 2024, at 6 PM IST

Theme: 

Democracy and Religion in Modern India: Critical and Self-critical Reflections – Prof Rajeev Bhargava

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https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88137750034?pwd=bHZ2MDdYc1JwSW5wYWNPVUd5T0lFZz09

Meeting ID: 881 3775 0034

Passcode: 576911The lecture will be live on facebook.com/newsocialistinitiative.nsi.

– New Socialist Initiative

Abstract:

“It is widely accepted that ‘secular’ is an alien category in India. This is too simplistic a view. But even if we agree with it, how come no one has asked if ‘religion’ is alien to India? My claim is that it is or at least it is as foreign to India as secular is. What are the implications of this thesis? What have been the consequences of religionization on Indian society and polity? How has it shaped Indian democracy?  In my presentation, I shall expand these views and show why India  needs secularism and in what form.”

About the speaker :

Renowned political theorist and former director of  Centre for the Study of Developing Societies ( CSDS), Delhi Prof Rajeev Bhargava is currently an honorary fellow at the Centre and the director of its Parekh Institute of Indian Thought. He has taught at the University of Delhi and Jawaharlal Nehru University (Delhi) and has lectured, taught and held visiting professorships at several international universities. 

Prof Bhargava’s work on individualism and secularism is internationally acclaimed. His publications include Individualism in Social Science (1992), What Is Political Theory and Why Do We Need It? (2010) and The Promise of India’s Secular Democracy (2010). His edited works include Secularism and Its Critics (1998), Politics and Ethics of the Indian Constitution (2008) and Politics, Ethics and the Self: Re-reading Hind Swaraj (2022), Bridging Two Worlds : Comparing Classical Political Thought and Statecraft in India and China (2023)