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The Ministry of Home Affairs and Indian Democracy
Governance by Stealth: The Ministry of Home Affairs and the Making of the Indian State by Subrata K Mitra, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2021; pp xxv + 476, price not indicated.
The Indian Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is virtually a shadow government within the Indian government. It is an official entity like none other, with national reach. This is not by accident as Subrata K Mitra narrates with rare elegance. As a former head of Heidelberg University’s South Asia Institute, he brings a strong dose of Germanic thoroughness. His 20-year research enhances the book’s depth and perspicacity.
This is an important work: 450 pages of text, 390 pages of narrative, and almost 60 pages of extracts from important home ministry documents, a vital source that brings to life the theme. The book’s title is explained in the preface. Stealth “refers to the art of maintaining public order with the minimum use of force” and finding ways to enhance “stateness to minimise the resistance to public order” (p xix).
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