SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This chapter delineates and disaggregates a relatively neglected category, that of political pluralism. I argue, first, that historically, India has offered an important example of plurality in policy, with a multiplicity of state approaches and dispositions toward the accommodation of religious diversity. Unpacking political plurality, I distinguish in a provisional and schematic fashion between hierarchical pluralism, integrationist exclusion, integrationist inclusion, and weak multicultural, strong multicultural, and assimilationist approaches toward religious diversity. Second, if pluralism is understood as a normative category that denotes approaches that respect religious diversity, state approaches in India have differed widely in the extent to which these are pluralist. Political pluralism encompasses a range of dispositions toward socio-religious plurality, ranging from hostility to the celebration of religious difference. Pluralism both institutional and normative is threatened by the hegemony of Hindu nationalism in Indian politics today.