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Partitions of the Heart: Unmaking the Idea of India

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Partitions of the Heart: Unmaking the Idea of India

By: Harsh Mander
Narrated by: Vishal Menon
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About this listen

 There was one partition of the land in 1947. Harsh Mander believes that another partition is underway in our hearts and minds.

How much of this culpability lies with ordinary people? What are the responsibilities of a secular government, of a civil society, and of a progressive majority? In Partitions of the Heart: Unmaking the Idea of India, human rights and peace worker Harsh Mander takes stock of whether the republic has upheld the values it set out to achieve and offers painful, unsparing insight into the contours of hate violence. Through vivid stories from his own work, Mander shows that hate speech, communal propaganda and vigilante violence are mounting a fearsome climate of dread, that targeted crime is systematically fracturing our community, and that the damage to the country's social fabric may be irreparable. At the same time, he argues that hate can indeed be fought, but only with solidarity, reconciliation and love, and when all of these are founded on fairness.

Ultimately, this meticulously researched social critique is a rallying cry for public compassion, conscience and justice, and a paean to the resilience of humanity. Elections & Political Process Political Science Politics & Government Religious Studies Social Sciences Violence in Society Human Rights Africa
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It appears like the book was written by two authors. The first part sounds like a Politically charged, ones sided,  hate speech. Statements are made without substantiation, some things are repeated over and over again which sounds like ramblings of someone giving hate speech. There is too much focus on post rise of Modi Govt in India making it sound like everything is Modi’s fault. As the author was an advisor for the UPA government. As a sympathiser to the Congress, the current  opposition party in India, it is obvious that he would be biased against the ruling BJP.

But the second half, which seems like it was written by someone else, starts sounding credible. More explanations, more details and importantly posits that communal issues have been going through three stages in India. Stage 1 starts from Pre independence which is mostly urban and local issues. Stage 2 starts from post Ayodhya and Assam issues which takes a more nationalistic nature where the issues deep into rural areas. Finally stage 3 which is less about violence but more about sustained hate and fear propaganda.

One needs to get to the very end of the book to get their money’s worth.

Poorly written, but listen till the end for your money’s worth.

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