Introduction

Abstract

In the Introduction, Angana P. Chatterji, Thomas Blom Hansen and Christophe Jaffrelot elaborate on the unparalleled majoritarian turn of politics in India today, its present effects and future impact. The Introduction delimits the ascendance of Hindu nationalist dominance in India via the institutions of state and within civil and political society, and also names the key elements in the contemporary ascendance of Hindu nationalist dominance to establish a majoritarian state in India. The triumph of the BJP in 2014, the article elaborates, brought about two unprecedented events: never had the Hindu nationalist movement won an absolute majority in the Lok Sabha, (the lower house of parliament), and never had this movement, known for its hostility to the personalization of power and its collegial governance, been so influenced by one politician, Narendra Modi. The Introduction outlines the key themes and issues elaborated upon in the interdisciplinary collection that delves into the politics, representations, and aspirations, the aspects and events, and the traumas and dislocations of the seemingly continuous yet structurally reconstituted contemporary experiment to establish a majoritarian state in India.

A tale of two cities: The fate of Delhi as UNESCO World Heritage

“…Anti-minority rhetoric is being normalized, coupled with growing ethno-religious exclusivism and practices of marginalization. 56 Under the banner of cultural nationalism, inscribing Islam as Indian World Heritage will be near impossible.…”

Homogenizing nationalists, budding fascists, and truculent exceptionalists: the end of world order in the Indo-Pacific

“…8 Historically, this was most clearly seen in how the Congress Party led the movement against the British colonizers while the RSS contented itself with opposing Muslims within India. Even today, for the RSS, the Congress Party is not a competitor but an ‘enemy’ (Chatterji et al 2019a , p. 4). At the heart of the RSS philosophy is the idea of Hindutva, an ideology championed by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (1883–1966), an intellectual steeped in European history who might be called India’s Mazzini.…”

Introduction: Nationalism’s Futures

“…Across the world, we have witnessed the emergence of political leaders and political parties relying on nationalist discourse, often of a populist kind: Donald Trump in the USA, Fidesz, led by Viktor Orbán in Hungary, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) under the leadership of Narendra Modi in India and Jair Bolsanaro in Brazil. What unites these leaders and parties, and many more like them, is their espousal of nationalism, majoritarianism, populism and authoritarianism (Brewer, 2019; Chatterji et al, 2019; Valluvan, 2019). The nationalist rhetoric employed is one that presents ‘them’ – ranging from migrants, ethnic and religious minorities, foreign people and states, sexual minorities to liberals – as a threat to the nation.…”

“…This majority is seen as having the right to rule, while minority populations are marginalised. In India, for example, the aim of the BJP is ‘to “defend” the interests of Hindus first and foremost, at the expense of the rights of the Othered/minorities in the country’ (Chatterji et al, 2019: 3, 4). Notions of pluralism are anathema to this kind of nationalism.…”

“…Anyone who does not belong to the nation is constructed as an outsider. Even those who technically do belong to the nation can find themselves under suspicion as ‘other’, an experience sadly familiar to many ethnic and religious minorities, such as British Asians and African-Caribbeans in the UK and Muslims in India (Chatterji et al, 2019; Wemyss, 2009).…”