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Photo caption Hindu nationalism is one of the secrets of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularityInformation relating to the item
General elections are in full swing in India. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi hopes to win the June 1 general election, when six weeks of voting ends, and secure a third consecutive term.
One of the factors contributing to the popularity of Prime Minister Modi and the ruling People’s Party (BJP) is their relationship with “Hindutva”, a Hindu nationalist ideology.
Hardcore Hindutva supporters want to establish a theocratic Hindu state that puts Hinduism first. Critics say the claim is based on discrimination and threatens India’s direction towards peaceful coexistence of various religious groups in the world’s most populous country.
Many Muslims say attacks and hate speech have increased under Modi’s government, but the BJP denies claims that minorities are being mistreated. Recently, in an interview with the Indian news channel ‘Times Now’, Prime Minister Modi refuted claims that the BJP is negative towards Muslims, saying: “We are not against Islam and Muslims”, and that the opposing forces were creating “a sense of fear.”
What is Hindutva?
“Hindutva”, a combination of religion and nationalism, sees the religious identity of Hinduism as inseparable from India’s national identity.
The term was coined by Hindu nationalist Chandranath Basu in the late 1890s and later began to receive attention during resistance to British colonial rule.
Twenty years later, it was widely disseminated to the public by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, an anti-colonial politician and known as the godfather of Hindutva.
Savarkar wrote the pamphlet “Essentials of Hindutva” in 1922 from a British prison in India. The content points to the Indus Valley, which today extends between the Sindh region of Pakistan and the Gujarat region of India, as the birthplace of Hindu identity.
Although Savarkar described himself as an atheist, he believed that Hindus had not only religious ties to the region, but also ethnic ties related to political and cultural identity.
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The photo caption, “Hinduization of all politics, weaponization of the Hindu spirit” is one of Savarkar’s slogans.
Hindu identity was incorporated into various Indian nationalist movements that sought independence from Britain.
Mahatma Gandhi also used religious language to convey his message to the public, says Professor Subir Sinha, director of the South Asia Institute at the Institute for Oriental and African Studies in London, UK.
But Gandhi and Savarkar took completely different paths. Professor Sinha and other experts say Savarkar was inspired by fascism that was rising elsewhere at the time. Professor Sinha explains: “The early leaders of the Hindutva movement openly followed Mussolini and Hitler,” and that Mussolini and Hitler “seemed attractive because they clearly defined who was a real German and who was an Italian.”
Is India a Hindu country?
According to the most recent census in 2011, Hindus represent 80% of India’s population and Muslims 14%. The remaining 6% believe in Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism and Jainism.
However, secularism is enshrined in the Indian Constitution. This means that state power is not bound by any religion and all Indian citizens have the right to freely practice their faith.
However, the role of religion is increasingly becoming a hot potato.
Prime Minister Modi and the BJP have been criticized for undermining secularism by pursuing a Hindu-centric policy.
But some Indians argue that maximum support for Hinduism, which makes up the majority of the country’s population, is entirely compatible with secular rule. Saroj Chadha, writer and former soldier, is also of the same opinion.
Saroj Chadha argues that although ancient Hindu rulers practiced secularism for thousands of years, “their commitment and responsibility to protect Hinduism remained steadfast…perhaps this was secularism at its best.”
What is the relationship between the ruling party and Hindutva?
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Photo captionThe RSS has grown from a controversial militant group on the fringes to an influential group in Indian politics.
Hindu nationalism is one of the core tenets of the BJP.
The BJP’s roots date back to the Hindu revivalist movement under British rule. The RSS (National Voluntary Service Corps) was also active in this period.
RSS began as a far-right Hindu nationalist group. Its founder, Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, is widely known to have been influenced by Savarkar.
The RSS has been outlawed three times since India’s independence. It was first outlawed soon after Nathuram Godse, an RSS member, assassinated Mahatma Gandhi in 1948.
In 1975, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared a state of emergency that imprisoned nearly all opposition party leaders, sparking controversy and making it illegal again.
The third outlaw occurred in 1992, following the destruction of Ayodhya’s 16th-century Babri mosque by supporters of radical Hindu groups, including the RSS.
Today the RSS is described as the ideological origin of the BJP, with a strong grassroots network and political influence.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi got acquainted with the RSS at the age of eight.
Since Prime Minister Modi came to power, the RSS has strongly pushed Hindu nationalism, bringing it from the fringes to the mainstream.
Milan Vaishnav, who directs the South Asia program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a think tank in Washington, D.C., explains: “(Prime Minister Modi) is in many ways the ideal spokesperson for Hindu nationalism because he is a true believer and is deeply involved in the movement.”
What is the local situation?
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Image caption: There are around 200 million Muslims in India, the second largest population after Hindus.
Some of the BJP’s policies have heightened tensions between Hindu and Muslim communities.
In 2019, the Indian government stripped the Muslim-majority state of Jammu and Kashmir of its autonomy, claiming it was a move that would give it the same status as other regions in India.
In January 2024, Prime Minister Modi built a Hindu temple on the site of the destroyed Babri mosque in Ayodhya. Ayodhya is known as the birthplace of the Hindu god Ram.
Some BJP ministers routinely use incendiary and Islamophobic rhetoric on TV, at protest sites and on social media, and often use the terms “Indian” and “Hindu” interchangeably.
Attacks against Muslims have been reported and anti-Muslim hate speech has increased significantly. According to the India Hate Lab, three-quarters of public hate speech incidents in 2023 were reported in BJP-ruled states.
Although the issue has been raised often in Indian courts, in most cases the judiciary has been careful not to infringe on freedom of expression.
Satnam Sanghera, historian and author of Empire World: How British Imperialism Changed the World, says Modi’s use of language is “problematic”.
Sanghera cited as an example Prime Minister Modi’s 2014 statement that India “suffered from 1,200 years of slave mentality.” This statement is problematic because it makes no distinction between British colonialism and the dawn of Mughal Muslim rule, and it is inappropriate because it gives the impression that “India, which has long been a multicultural and multi-religious region, has always been a Hindu. “
What do Hindutva supporters want?
Hindutva supporters range from moderate to extremist.
The male-dominated “Trad” movement, which originated from traditionalists, displays similar characteristics to Western alt-right movements, including the use of social media and memes to incite hatred.
One Trad supporter interviewed by the BBC in 2022 plastered Nazi symbols online and said: “I don’t hate Muslims, I just hate the way they practice their religion.”
Trad supporters criticize the BJP for bowing to the West and point out that this behavior undermines the exercise of the sacred right of Hindus to establish a Hindu nation in India.
Other Hindus, on the other end of the spectrum, have never even heard of the term Hindutva. They simply accept some of the ideologies of Hindutva.
For example, they share the perception that a certain part of India was taken over from Hinduism. Therefore, we welcome the change of giving Hindu names to cities with Islamic names. “Aurangabad” is changed to “Sambhajinagar”.
“It’s a question of pride, a question of confirming every day that your tradition is superior,” explains Audrey Truschke, historian and founder of Hindutva Research.
But Milan Vaishnav of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace says this ideology is only part of the reason for Prime Minister Modi’s success.
“There are many people who tolerate a certain level of Hindu nationalism even if they have no prejudice against Muslims. I was fascinated by other aspects of the Indian brand, such as economic growth, India’s global status, welfare and the fight against corruption. Therefore, it is clear that Hindu nationalism is gaining more popularity than ever.”
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