Javed Gaya on How Cow Belt Built Majoritarian India | Conversations with Nilanjan

In this episode of Conversations with Nilanjan, lawyer and author Javed Gaya joins Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay to analyse his book Heartland Rising: The Making of Majoritarian India. Gaya argues that the Constituent Assembly made a crucial error by prioritising individual liberty and "one person, one vote" over structural representation for minorities and true federalism. He traces the roots of Indian majoritarianism to the political dominance of the Uttar Pradesh "cow belt", explains why the BJP avoids a central Uniform Civil Code to preserve the Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) tax benefits, and analyses post-2014 institutional erosion alongside emerging youth demands for state accountability. 00:00 – Opening context 02:20 – Liberty vs equality 10:39 – Delimitation debate 18:55 – South and west 23:21 – Personal laws 31:53 – 2014 rupture 36:16 – Way forward #BJP #NilanjanMukhopadhyay #JavedGaya #Federalism #UttarPradesh ▶For the latest news and analysis - https://thefederal.com/  ▶RSS Feed - https://thefederal.com/google_feeds.xml ▶For more explainers, and interesting videos - https://thefederal.com/category/videos ▶To watch The Federal's shows listed together for your easy access, click here:    • The Federal Programmes   Follow The Federal News here - ▶Website: https://thefederal.com/ ▶Facebook:   / thefederal.india   ▶X: https://x.com/TheFederal_News ▶Instagram:   / thefederal_india   ▶LinkedIn:   / thefederal   ▶Whatsapp channel: https://www.whatsapp.com/channel/0029... ▶Threads: TheFederal India (@thefederal_india) ▶Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3fy3utP... #TheFederal #India #BreakingNews #LatestNews #News #Delhi #Mumbai #Parliament #NarendraModi #RahulGandhi #Politics #Business #Economy Download The Federal App here - ▶Android - http://bit.ly/3DJSkiu ▶iPhone - http://bit.ly/TheFederalios