• ISBN13: 9780199491445
• Binding: Hardcover
• Subject: Politics and Current Affairs
• Publisher: Oxford UP
• Publisher Imprint: Oxford UP
• Publication Date: April 16, 2019
• Pages: 276
• Original Price: INR 995.0
• Language: English
• Edition: N/A
• Item Weight: 410 grams

During the Twilight of British rule in India, a little-known Civil servant, Sir Bengal narsing rau (1887–1953), was sought after by the ruling elites—both British and Indian—for his immense knowledge of the nature and working of the Constitutions of the world as well as his reputation for being just and impartial between competing political interests. Yet, rau’s ideas and his voice have largely been forgotten today. By examining rau’s constitutional ideas and following their trajectory in late colonial Indian politics, this book shows how the process of the making of the Indian Constitution was actually never separated from the politics of conflict that dominated this period. This book demonstrates that it is only by foregrounding this political history that we can simultaneously remember rau’s critical contributions as well as understand why he was forgotten in the first place.

Arvind Elangovan graduated from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and the University of Chicago, USA and is currently associate professor of history at Wright State University, Ohio, USA. His research interests lie in exploring the political and constitutional histories of South Asia from the nineteenth century to the present. In particular, he is interested in examining the political histories within which the constitutional developments unfolded in late colonial and postcolonial South Asia. His work has previously appeared in journals such as History Compass, South Asian History and Culture and Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Norms and Politics is his first book.