With the global rise of right-wing and far-right political forces even in countries deemed democracies, civil liberties groups are under pressure as never before. This is certainly true in India, though the success of the latest spontaneous youth upsurge, under the banner of the ironically named Cockroach Janata Party, got international headlines and provided welcome breathing space.

The protests emerged against severe educational manipulation, which damaged students’ future employment prospects. Some leaders from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had to, politically speaking, tread carefully since a very substantial section of these protesting youths came from pro-BJP families. That didn’t stop BJP leaders from claiming that this movement was being manipulated by anti-national elements and groups, meaning, the more left-wing student participants and members of civil liberties groups in Delhi and elsewhere in India expressing solidarity and support. Had this movement not succeeded in achieving its key demand for official accountability, with the resignation of the education minister in late July, there is little doubt that the supposed anti-nationals would have suffered serious retribution.

This is what makes a new book-length study by Ankita Pandey about India’s civil liberties groups (CLGs) so timely. She has given us the most comprehensive and sustained study so far of these bodies that are not controlled by political parties or state authorities at either provincial or central levels. Just as the historical evolution of civil liberties activism in the United States (shaped undoubtedly by various progressive social movements and struggles) has given its CLGs a particular character, this is also the case when it comes to grasping the nature of CLGs in postindependence India.