The Importance of Contingency in Politics

The Congress Party once dominated Indian politics. Today, it's on the outside looking in. Rahul Verma joins Amit Varma in episode 248 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss the complex social and political factors behind this massive decline.  Also check out: 1. Political Ideology in India -- Episode 131 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rahul Verma). 2. Ideology and Identity: The Changing Party Systems of India -- Pradeep K Chhibber and Rahul Verma. 3. Taking Stock of Our Republic -- Episode 157 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ramachandra Guha). 4. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism -- Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 5. Religion and Ideology in Indian Society — Episode 124 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Suyash Rai). 6. The BJP Before Modi -- Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 7. The BJP’s Magic Formula — Episode 45 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Prashant Jha). 8. The First Assault on Our Constitution — Episode 194 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh). 9. Who Broke Our Republic? — Episode 163 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kapil Komireddi). 10. The Life and Times of Vir Sanghvi -- Episode 236 of The Seen and the Unseen. 11. The Emergency of 1975 -- Episode 103 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gyan Prakash). 12. India’s Lost Decade -- Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra). 13. The Business of Winning Elections -- Episode 247 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shivam Shankar Singh). 14. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms -- Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 15. The Baptist, the Bootlegger and the Dead Man Walking -- Amit Varma. 16. Caste in Indian Politics -- Rajni Kothari. 17. Politics In India -- Rajni Kothari. 18. Lessons from an Ankhon Dekhi Prime Minister -- Amit Varma. 19. The Burden of Democracy -- Pratap Bhanu Mehta. 20. Myron Weiner, Saadat Hasan Manto, Shivani and Harishankar Parsai on Amazon. 21. Murdahiya -- Dr Tulsiram. 22. Raag Darbari (Hindi) (English) -- Shrilal Shukla. 23. Dynastic parties: Organization, finance and impact -- Pradeep Chhibber. 24. 24 Akbar Road -- Rashid Kidwai. 25.  Congress after Indira: Policy, Power, Political Change -- Zoya Hasan. 26. The future of the Congress party -- A Conversation between Yamini Aiyar, Zoya Hasan and Rahul Verma. 27. Why big companies squander brilliant ideas -- Tim Harford. 28. A Game Theory Problem: Who Will Bell The Congress Cat? -- Amit Varma. 29. Mahua Moitra interviewed by Barkha Dutt. 30. Democracy without Associations -- Pradeep K Chibber. 31. Are You Anchored to the Past? -- Amit Varma. This episode is sponsored by Intel.  Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.