01318    a2200133   4500020001800000082002200018100002000040245007600060260003400136300001400170504003500184520084500219650012001064  a9780199481743  a320.954014bBAJ-S  aBajpai,Anandita  aSpeaking the nation: the oratorical making of secular, neoliberal India  bOxford University Pressc2018  axv, 335p.  aInclude Bibliography and Index  aUntangling the logical, lexical, and semantic patterns of the multiple official speeches of Indian prime ministers, Speaking the Nation gauges how the Indian state has been projected by different governments in different times, in the face of challenges from internal and external actors that put pressure on its leaders to safeguard their status as legitimate elites in power. It analyses how Indian nationhood is consistently reshaped and reaffirmed by invoking its secular ethos and practice, as well as the experience of market liberalization. The book calls for serious engagement with political oratory in India. A close reading of speeches since 1991--from Narasimha Rao to Narendra Modi--captured how, through these crosscutting topics, the prominent 'authors of the nation' and the 'vanguards of the state', speak India into being.  aPolitical oratoryvPolitics and governmentvPrime ministersvEconomic developmentvCommunication in politicszIndia