Bewildered India

It is not easy to comprehend the plurality of Indian existence. The canvas is neither black nor white. In fact, it is not even a uniform shade of grey. You are confronted with a picture as bewildering as India.
The book is a systematic attempt at under- standing and interpreting India as a unique mosaic of pluralism. Countless parts and processes have contributed to the making of contemporary India. This is an attempt to throw light on them so as to comprehend the complexities involved in building a modern federal nation. India's continental polity, subsumes gigantic pluralities of regions, languages, religions and ethnicity. With such a formidable size, it has also a depth of history-a continuing uninterrupted civilization spanning over 5000 years. The study presents new formulations, different from the conventional assumptions. It highlights five core themes of vital contemporary relevance-nation-building process i'1 South Asia and national identity; dimensions of . •pluralism; critical aspects of the Muslim reality in India: looming challenges of communalism, discord, and violence; and problems of building
a secular polity and national integration. Plural societies don't have simple solutions for their problems, whatever be the temptation to concoct a panacea for all ills. The picture of India's composite culture has evolved through dialectics of historical processes. The need to emphasise this was probably never greater than it is today and this is exactly what the author with erudition,
rationality and patriotic passion, has tried to project in Bewildered India. This should stimulate more systematic research and promote positive inter-religious dialogue. It is a tragic irony that those who slash at the canvass don't realise that
they are a part of it. The Indian canvas needs the colour of love, not that of blood, for it to shine as
a portrait of co-existence, compassion, human- ism and collective prosperity.