南アジア・インド洋世界研究会

This research project explores the role of vernacular media in the deepening of India’s democracy. India is not only the most populous democracy - it is one where people from lower caste and class groups are increasingly beginning to participate in electoral politics. This has led to the political empowerment of lower caste groups in India. What is striking about India is that the process of democratic deepening has taken place despite the low level of economic development, illiteracy and social divisions. While most of the neighboring countries in the South Asian region have experienced authoritarian rule and military dictatorship, India has remained a successful democracy, except for a brief interlude of authoritarian rule from 1975 to 1977. The case of India also negates the commonly held belief that got established through the experiences of East Asian countries that authoritarian regimes are needed in order to achieve rapid growth. There is wide consensus among scholars about the expansion of the participatory base of Indian democracy, which Yadav (2000) has termed the “democratic upsurge”. In an attempt to understand the mechanisms of the deepening of Indian democracy, this research analyzes the role of Hindi news media. The main hypothesis of my current research argues that the process of the deepening of India’s democracy has occurred largely due to the rise of the vernacular media with its ability to reach the masses that could not be reached by English newspapers and television. This research explores the role of Hindi media in facilitating the deepening of grassroots mobilization in Indian democracy by paving the way for the entry of hitherto marginalized groups into the political arena. This is done through a study of one of India’s major Hindi language dailies, Dainik Bhaskar (The Daily Sun). The structural development and expansion over the years of Dainik Bhaskar exemplifies the dominant position that Hindi news media has come to occupy in a globalizing India. The entry of new social groups into the political arena with the rise of grassroots movements and popular mobilization since the 1980s has largely been facilitated by the Hindi newspapers that have strong presence in small towns and rural areas. The resurgence of Hindi newspapers has not only contributed to the further consolidation of Indian democracy, but it also challenged the long held dominance of English newspapers in the public sphere. It has also resulted in ‘vernacularization’ of the public sphere and widening the political and cultural space available for the hitherto marginalized classes who could not participate in ‘national’ public sphere because of a certain dominant mode of discourse hegemonized by the English-speaking ‘national’ elite.

Taberez Ahmed Neyazi is currently Visiting Fellow, East-West Center, Hawaii. He received Ph.D. from National University of Singapore in September 2009. His dissertation title was "Media Convergence and Hindi Newspapers: Changing Institutional and Discursive Dimensions, 1977-2007". His publications include “Cultural Imperialism or Vernacular Modernity? Hindi Newspapers in a Globalizing India”, Media, Culture and Society, Sage, London (Accepted for publication), “Global Myth vs. Local Reality: Towards Understanding ‘Islamic’ Militancy in India”, Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, Vol. 29, No. 2, June 2009, pp. 153-169, Routledge, London; and “State, Citizenship and Religious Community: The Case of Indian Muslim Women”, Asian Journal of Political Science, Vol. 15, No. 3, December 2007, pp. 303-318, Routledge, London.