Green and Saffron: The RSS, Modi and Indian Environmental Politics

This book examines the intersection of contemporary environmental issues and movements in independent India, and the development of Hindu conservative ideology and politics. It also focuses on post-2014 scenarios up to the present day. Sharma argues that these two social currents – environmental conservation and Hindu politics – have forged strong bonds. He reveals the hijacking of environmentalism – including the politics of climate change and energy transition – by conservative and retrograde worldviews. This, he says, constitutes a major aspect of hinterland political life. Environmentalism and politics cannot be seen as separate: environmental issues are being defined in new ways by an anti-secular form of Hinduism. And Hindu ideologues are gaining mileage for their ideology by espousing major environmental projects. Anna Hazare’s impact is studied in detail through a field investigation of his environmental initiative in Ralegan Siddhi. Sunderlal Bahuguna’s opposition to the Tehri Dam in the Garhwal Himalaya is outlined with anthropological subtlety. And the regeneration of Vrindavan’s urban and riverine hygiene by internationally funded NGOs is subjected to a historical scrutiny that includes an examination of how Lord Krishna has been redefined as the great god of conservation as well as the destroyer of pollution. Green and Saffron is a thoroughly revised, expanded, and freshly subtitled work earlier published in 2011.…