Hindu nationalism in power: Making sense of Modi and the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government, 2014–19

ABSTRACT

As the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance returns to power in India, it is appropriate to reflect on the coalition’s first term in office. This paper provides an overview of the government’s performance in key areas, especially vis-a-vis religious minorities, and of the competing approaches through which its policies have been understood. It argues for a need to move away from conventional explanations that have failed to predict the popular appeal of Hindu nationalism. Instead, an interpretive understanding anchored in social constructionism offers a more meaningful perspective on the seismic changes that are reflected in contemporary Indian politics.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 Apart from creating a hostile environment for dissent, the government has increased practical difficulties for researcher, particularly non-Indian researchers in further limiting access to research visas, monitoring international conferences, and filling institutions of higher education with its own nominees with the aim of saffronising higher education (see Gudavarthy 2018, 33–43).

2 For the development of nationalism in India in relation to the theories of nationalism, see Chatterjee (1993). Most readings make a critical distinction between the civic and composite nationalism of the Congress and ethnically based nationalist ideology of the Hindu Right dating from the 1920s (see Varshney 2002, ch. 3). For more detailed discussion of the genealogy of the latter and its development since the early 1920s, see Jaffrelot (1996).

3 The aadhaar card scheme was launched by the UPA government in order to improve service delivery of state goods to socio-economically disadvantage groups. However, in 2016 the BJP significantly extended the scope of the scheme to make it the largest identification scheme in the world, requiring the aadhaar card to be mandatory in almost all routine transactions such banking and the use of mobile phones. Although these measures have been contested in the Supreme Court, in September 2018 the court upheld the validity of the scheme. The meta-data generated by the aadhaar card is being frequently misused by the state, commercial and political groups, see The Tribune (April 20, 2019).

4 Space precludes a more detailed discussion of these shortcoming. For a further discussion of these concepts and how they have been revised by institutionalists in light of the criticism, see Pierson (2004).