The Law of Force: The Violent Heart of Indian Politics

by Thomas Blom Hansen

The Law of Force is a searing critique of the illiberal and violent forces that continue to dominate our everyday life and politics. These forces began to make themselves felt in the 1980s and 1990s—regional movements, the empowerment of lower-caste communities but also Hindu nationalism—and reflected, among many other things, a deeply illiberal underside of Indian politics.

Theirs was a language of deprivations and anger, and a politics of passion claiming to represent hitherto voiceless majorities. This language of strength was not based on a commitment to the values of the Constitution but, rather, a belief in popular sovereignty, the moral right of electoral majorities, and violence as a legitimate expression of political will.

In this book, Hansen discusses the discrepancy between the liberal language of rights in the Constitution and the largely illiberal and often violent ways in which the ‘force of law’ is visited upon non-elite Indians by the country’s police powers.

He argues that a new and intensified sense of intimacy and hurt have facilitated the rise of a popular politics of passion and action that in turn has made public violence and the mobilization of public anger into some of the most effective means of political expression in the country.

These sentiments and techniques of what Hansen calls ‘the law of force’ have been honed and perfected by the Hindu nationalist movement over the past decades.

Genres: Nonfiction, India, Politics

Paperback

Published February 10, 2021

Reviews

[Aditya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant, objective analysis. This is the kind of study that can never be carried out by a native just because there is too social conditioning to overcome. Especially if one belongs to the privileged lot.

More people should read this. This really does in many places sum up the zeitgeist.

[Ken]

A potent undertaking that illuminates how violence, specifically public violence, has taken center stage in Indian politics and society and is deeply informed by a tight weaving of religious mythology, colonial history, and nationalist ideology. I think the sections on the political theology of sacrifice and death will be particularly useful for my own thinking about how violence and excess is configured in Philippine society.

[Tom K.Mathew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book depicts the state of affairs underprivileged masses in India face as they live their daily life.
The land of non- violence is intact the land of violence.
Another dimension of this, is the violence in the family especially towards weak- children, women and aged. It has a kind of approval among the large sections of society. The reason for the use of violence as a rightful moral force may be traced to such a family background.

[Ullekh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning and deep.

Hansen has proved once again that it is for nothing that he is one of the best scholars of Hindu nationalism.

[Rishvanth Reddy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is based on the experiences of the author in his fieldwork and an extensive review of literature on the nature of politics in India. The main aim of this book is to expose the public violence in India, and its implications to Indian politics, practical governance and policing. Hasen argues the gap between constitutional promise and reality of India's situation where 'force of law' is subverted by 'law of force' used by the majoritarian and Hindu nationalist forces for political gains. This book also explores the idioms of sacrifice and death associated with multiple publics, i.e., upper casters, Muslims and Dalits. Using the data on criminal records and conviction rates, Hasen argues how the police institution and colonial Indian Penal Code (IPC) are used by ruling parties to victimise minorities. This book makes a significant contribution towards violence studies and politics in South Asia.