In his new book ‘India’s Power Elite, Class, Caste and a Cultural Revolution’ the well-known Indian author, economist and commentator, Dr. Sanjaya Baru dwells on the three pillars of what constitutes the power elite—upper caste, wealth and the English language. While the first of three is an obvious reality what is often not fully recognized are the other two, wealth and the English language. That was the dominating triumvirate for decades after India’s independence. 

That equation began to change in the late 1970s and early 80s but it has picked up a dramatic momentum only in the last decade or so since the rise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and what could be termed as the rise of the subaltern. There is the making of a whole new power elite in India which no longer speaks the language and idiom that dominated for so long.

Mayank Chhaya Reports spoke to Dr. Baru, a former adviser to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, about how he sees this shifting equation in India’s larger political and cultural reality.

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