About Book
About The Book
This book is the outcome of my doctoral study that I conducted at the University of Coimbra from 2017-2023. It analyses an Indian case study that explores how Hindu nationalists challenge the established discourse of human rights and secularism during a film controversy in the north Indian district of Varanasi in 2000. This film controversy is also analyzed in a broader national political context in line with the rising tide of Hindutva politics since 2014. This book is an attempt to analyse the complexities of modern theories and their implications in a non- Western society. The book concludes that Indian secularism offers theoretical and practical tools to address real contemporary conflicts of a religious nature. However, it cannot eliminate the conflicts between Hindu nationalism and freedom of expression and dissent; it has failed to prevent the communalization of public space, the rise and dominance of Hindutva and the suppression of dissent. This book is presented in a research format in order to provide a comprehensive understanding about the research processes and scientific method adopted in this study. This book will be helpful for researcher, political scientists and politicians.
About Author
About the Author
Amit Singh obtained a PhD in Human Rights in Contemporary Studies (passed with Summa Cum Laude) from the Center for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, Portugal. He is a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Coimbra. Amit has done MSc. from the University of South-Eastern Norway, M.A. from Mahidol University, Thailand and M.A. from Pondicherry University, India. He was a holder of Fritt Ord scholarship (Norway), SUPRA NORDIC scholarship (Denmark), Slovakian national scholarship and a fellow at Tokyo Foundation for Policy Research, Japan. He was a visiting researcher at Lund University (Sweden), and Comenius University (Slovakia). Amit is the author of 'The Conflict of Freedom of Expression and Religion- A Case Study from India (People's Literature Publication, 2018). His research interests are Hindu Nationalism, right-wing politics, religious populism, and freedom of expression. Amit's research articles have been published in Social Sciences, Brill's Secular Studies, Anthropologia Portuguesa, Journal of the Indian Sociological Society, and Journal of Southeast Asian Human Rights. He has contributed opinion pieces/blogs to the London School of Economics, The European Consortium for Political Research and have been interviewed by various national and international media.