Populism and Precarity in Contemporary Indian Dystopian Fiction: Nayantara Sahgal’s When the Moon Shines by Day and Prayaag Akbar’s Leila

espanolSi bien la distopia ha sido desde siempre un tema recurrente en la literatura, es ahora cuando la ficcion distopica y apocaliptica se ha hecho especialmente popular a escala mundial. El objetivo de este articulo es analizar como la ficcion india contemporanea denuncia la barbarie del nacionalismo indio, en particular las politicas llevadas a cabo por un estado represivo en el que la tradicion y la pureza estan muy por encima de la multiculturalidad, el dialogo y la igualdad. Para ello, me centro en dos novelas de renombre internacional, a saber, When the Moon Shines by Day (2017), de Nayantara Sahgal, y Leila (2018), de Prayaag Akbar. De manera diferente pero complementaria, ambas distopias ofrecen un retrato critico de la precariedad que impera en la India actual. Ambas novelas advierten del peligro del nacionalismo fundamentalista hindu y la censura cultural que este conlleva, a la vez que llaman la atencion sobre el dano que una minoria dominante puede infligir sobre los que habitan en el escalafon mas bajo de la sociedad, que son asi condenados a vivir en condiciones inhumanas, como si fueran menos que nada. EnglishAlthough dystopia has been an enduring trope in literature, it is now, however, that dystopian and apocalyptic fiction has become especially popular all over the world. The main aim of this article is to discuss how contemporary Indian fiction denounces the barbarity of contemporary Indian nationalism, in particular the policies enforced by a repressive Indian state where tradition and purity are valued above multiculturality, dialogue and equality. In order to do this, I focus on two internationally acclaimed novels, namely, NayantaraSahgal’s When the Moon Shines by Day (2017) and Prayaag Akbar’s Leila (2018). In different but complementary ways, both dystopias draw a telling portrait of precarious times in contemporary India. Both novels also warn against the dangers of the fundamentalist version of Hindu nationalism and cultural censorship, at the same time as they bring to our attention the damage that a dominant minority can inflict on those situated at the bottom of the social ladder, who are thus condemned to live in inhuman conditions, as if they were less than nothing.