INDIA'S MANY NATIONS: EXAMINING THE VARYING DURABILITY OF SUBNATIONAL PROTESTS AND RIOTS IN POST-INDEPENDENCE INDIA

Abstract

India is a unique country where a multitude of linguistically distinct communities have been organized into states, each of which has its own inimitable subnational identity, and all of which exist under the greater Indian nation. What are the ebbs and flows of this complex relationship between the various subnations of India and the greater nation? When do subnations resort to recurrent protests and riots, and when is the relationship between subnations and the nation peaceful? To answer these questions, this study performs a most-different case study comparison among three states ? Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Assam ? and compares the party politics found in these states with the durability of subnational protests and riots. In doing so, this study demonstrates that subnational party positionality, which refers to the interparty relationships of a given subnational party vis-…-vis national parties and other subnational parties, determines the durability of acts of resistance. In making this link between party politics and subnational violence, this study aims to correct current misconceptions in the literature that subnational violence is only historically relevant to India. This study also seeks to provide a nuanced explanation as to how subnational attachments are instrumentally utilised by subnational parties to gain electoral dominance.