On this episode of SEPADPod Simon speaks with Ajay Gudavarthy, a political theorist, analyst and columnist in India. Ajay is associate professor in political science at Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He is the editor of India after Modi: Populism and the Right (Bloomsbury, Delhi, 2018)and Secular Sectarianism: Limits of Subaltern Politics (Sage, 2019)and author of countless articles and opinion pieces on Indian politics, secularism, populism and sectarianism. 

On this special episode, Simon and Ajay talk about sectarianism in India in the form of a 'secular sectarianism'. They do this by reflecting on Ajay's twin roles as a public intellectual and academic, looking at the complex interplay between identity politics, resistance and authoritarianism. 

This is a must listen for anyone looking at sectarianism in a comparative context.

The Richardson Institute is the oldest Peace Studies centre in the UK and was established in 1959 in the spirit of the Quaker scientist, Lewis Fry Richardson. The Richardson Institute is an interdisciplinary forum for research on peace and conflict based within the Department of Politics, Philosophy and Religion at Lancaster University.

Run by Dr Simon Mabon, the Institute has a number of podcasts available on this channel. The first is SEPADPod, part of SEPAD, the Sectarianism, Proxies and De-Sectarianisation Project (www.sepad.org.uk), funded by Carnegie Corporation. SEPADPod features conversations with academics working on contemporary issues in Middle East politics. The second is The Impact Narrative, where Simon speaks with Dr Mark Garnett about UK and global politics.