The power of persuasion: Hindutva, Christianity, and the discourse of religion and culture in Northeast India

2018

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The start of this century has seen Hindu nationalism emerge as a more dominant force than ever before. Hindutva is also evolving and shifting in new, surprising, and significant ways, requiring us to reassess and reframe prevailing understandings. This special issue seeks to identify and understand the ways in which Hindu nationalism increasingly permeates into new spaces: organisational, territorial, conceptual, rhetorical. It develops and expands on the idea of 'neo-Hindutva': 'idiosyncratic expressions of Hindu nationalism which operate outside [or on the peripheries] of the institutional and ideological framework of the Sangh Parivar' [Anderson, Edward. 2015. "'Neo-Hindutva': The Asia House M.F. Husain Campaign and the Mainstreaming of Hindu Nationalist Rhetoric in Britain." Contemporary South Asia 23 (1): 45-66].The scope of the articles in the special issue reflects the diversity of contemporary Hindutva, which appears simultaneously brazen but concealed, nebulous and mainstreamed, militant yet normalised. They cover a wide range of topics and places in which we can locate new forms of Hindu nationalism: courts of law, the Northeast, the diaspora, Adivasi communities, and the internet. The special issue also includes an in-depth interview with Christophe Jaffrelot and a postscript by Deepa Reddy. These interventions, we hope, go some way to helping us make sense of contemporary Hindutva.

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Neo-Hindutva’: evolving forms, spaces, and expressions of Hindu nationalism

Anderson

2018

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“…Those familiar with the RSS tactic of inclusion, particularly in Christian Nagaland (Longkumer 2017) This tension between Siddarth's insistence that Ramdev's yoga is about presenting itself as a patriotic duty -an idea that is also developed by Ramdev: 'From Yoga Duty to National Duty' (Ramdev 2009: 13) -and the 'Hindu' cultural references related to nationalist narrative, is striking in the following two instances. The first instance is when Ramdev repeats this message of yoga, health and nationalism in Kohima in 2011, highlighting a particular mission -of shaping and disciplining the national body.…”

Section: Patanjali Yog Samiti (Yoga Committee) Nagalandmentioning

confidence: 95%

‘Nagas can't sit lotus style’: Baba Ramdev, Patanjali, and Neo-Hindutva

2018

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This article is a preliminary attempt to understand the dynamics of how Patanjali and Baba Ramdev represent 'Hindu nationalism', or Hindutva (Hinduness) in Nagaland, India. One can read Baba Ramdev's foray into the region through the promotion of yoga, Ayurveda, and national health, as a form of 'neo-Hindutva' that is increasingly diffuse and moves away from a more militant pathway of established Hindutva designs. If one considers the work of Patanjali in Nagaland as an attempt to homogenise and unify a set of practices surrounding food and health practices, then, one can read this as an attempt to assert a singular somatic imagination, increasingly influenced by Hindutva ideas about the body, 'the health of the nation', and the promotion of swadeshi (indigenous goods) as patriotic duty. This article highlights the way Ramdev and Patanjali's business empire is trying to move beyond the 'cow belt' of north India, comprising mainly of 'Hindu-Hindi' into regions that are more diverse linguistically and historically, and culturally viewed as 'un-Indian'.

“…Asia -a move that began with the launching of the Nagaland Missionary Movement in 1970 . This demonstrates that the work of nationalism and its intimate connection to Christianity continues to pervade the region, especially with the growing influence of Hindu nationalism (Longkumer 2017).…”

Section: Contesting Education: Americans and The Britishmentioning

confidence: 96%

‘Along Kingdom’s Highway’: the proliferation of Christianity, education, and print amongst the Nagas in Northeast India

2018

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The aim of this paper is to examine the story of the American Baptists and how their mission activities in the Naga Hills District (1871-1955) have impacted upon present day politics in the Indian state of Nagaland. Baptists make up nearly 95% of the current Naga population in Nagaland. The paper will investigate the relationship between the Baptist mission's philosophy on education, Christian conversion and the subsequent rise of a sense of 'national community' amongst the Nagas. Although the primary motivation for the American missionaries was to convert, the British administrators also thought that introducing Christianity would prevent influence on these tribes from Hindu and Muslim groups. Thus began Christianity's part in a developing framework for resistance in this region, raising significant questions with regard to Christianity's persistence as a form of political articulation in contemporary Nagaland. This political articulation, I suggest, is related to a greater sense of agency brought about by Christianity, and Missionary activities in the fields of education and print. The American Baptist Foreign Mission Society (ABFMS) were at the forefront of these changes.