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This article reflects on the relationship between Hindu nationalism and democracy and how the former emerges from within democracy only to subvert it. The essay outlines important conceptual issues in the relationship between Hindu nationalism and democracy, discusses the relationship between the idea of a ‘Hindu Rashtra’ and ‘Hindu Rajya’, and delves into the complex interplay between Hindu nationalism and caste. This article ultimately argues that Hindu nationalism’s alignment with authoritarianism in a political style does not simply corrode democracy, but it also undermines all values. The objective of this analysis is not to provide a comprehensive explanation of the rise of Hindu nationalism, as much as to reflect on the ways in which its ideology operates at multiple levels.

The rapid expansion of private higher education over the past four decades in India has transformed Indian higher education. This chapter has three aims. It provides the historical, economic, and political context for the privatization of higher education in India. It then examines the legal, regulatory, and institutional framework in which private education operates in India, and how these shape the opportunities and constraints for private education institutions. It then looks at the governance challenges of a new generation of private universities that might help increase the breadth and depth of private higher education in India. The chapter concludes with a prediction that the future success of private higher education in India will depend on two factors: broader growth of the Indian economy and willingness to expand and invest in education, and political and administrative choices over the regulation of the higher education system in India.