In the introduction to EAPI, Guha writes that peasant revolts in colonial India were “traditional in the sense that their roots date back to precolonial times, but by no means archaic in the sense of being outdated; in fact, they were as modern as elite politics.” It is not surprising, therefore, that peasant revolts re-emerged in the wake of the growing crisis of the Indian state in the 1970s and have continued to resurface ever since. The rule of the nation-state, hastily fashioned during the nationalist struggle against British rule, became unstable as social and political inequalities and conflicts grew.
The emergence of powerful movements of different ideological shades, notably JP’s Nav Nirman movement, challenged the state’s claim to represent the people, and the state increasingly resorted to repression to maintain its control. A combination of patronage, financial power and coercive measures on the one hand, and appeal to mass slogans and policies on the other, seems to have been a recurring theme for the state to gain legitimacy ever since.