Social movements against Hindutva: analysing their impact on the Indian state’s support for cow protection vigilantism

Abstract

This paper analyses the impact of social movements on the Indian state’s support for cow protection vigilantism, which forms a key aspect of its adherence to the Hindutva ideology. Adopting Varigonda’s framework, the paper argues that the movement’s impact is determined by its collective action repertoires, politicisation of its affiliated identity and openness of state input structures. The paper tests this framework through a comparative study of two movements: the Dalit-centric post-Una and the Muslim-centric post-Dadri movements. It demonstrates how stronger action repertoires, characterised by protracted mass mobilisation; effective politicisation of the Dalit identity and its propensity towards electoral mobilisation of the Dalit populace; and open state input structures, characterised by the consistent support of major political parties, enabled the post-Una movement – unlike the post-Dadri movement – to impede state support for cow protection vigilantism.

Keywords:

• Social movement
• cow protection vigilantism
• Hindutva
• Dalit
• Muslim
• India

Acknowledgements

I acknowledge Professor Subrata K. Mitra, under whom the ideas for the theorisation took shape. I also acknowledge the Asia Research Institute, where I currently work and where this paper took shape.

Disclosure statement

I declare that there are no potential competing interests.

Notes

1 For detailed study of Hindutva, the BJP’s adherence to its ideology, and its engagement with Dalits and Muslims, see Teltumbde (2020); and Sharma (2011)”

2 The participants have been extremely generous in agreeing to be interviewed by me (mostly over the telephone and by email). Their recollections have served as the basis for constructing the movement’s trajectory, and in fleshing out its participants. They have all been anonymised. The article omits their names, organisations and titles, and refers to them only as ‘participant’ or ‘activist’.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Varigonda Kesava Chandra

Varigonda Kesava Chandra is Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore. He holds a PhD from the South Asian studies programme at the National University of Singapore (2020). His thesis has just been published as a monograph: Society, Resistance and Civil Nuclear Policy in India: Nuclearising the State (London: Routledge, 2020). He is interested in researching social movements and state–society relations in South Asia.