On january 22nd 2024 Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, inaugurated the inner sanctum of a new temple in Ayodhya in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The temple is dedicated to Ram, a Hindu god believed to have been born in the city. It was built on the remnants of a 16th-century mosque that a mob of Hindu nationalists demolished in 1992. Its consecration was widely seen as the opening gambit of Mr Modi’s bid for a third term in office. More important, it is the latest sign of India’s transformation from the secular republic envisaged in its constitution to a nation defined by the hegemony of Hinduism. “This is a temple of national consciousness in the form of Ram,” Mr Modi said shortly after the inauguration. “Ram is the faith of India, Ram is the foundation of India. Ram is the idea of India, Ram is the law of India.”
The Hindu-nationalist ideology at the heart of this transformation, and of the agenda of Mr Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (bjp), is known as Hindutva, or “Hinduness”.
If, as is expected, the bjp wins re-election in a vote that begins on April 19th, it will probably become ever more central to India’s culture and politics. The country’s growing economy and its increasing importance in world affairs mean it will also become more relevant to non-Indians. Here’s what to read to learn about the origins and core ideas of Hindutva, and what it means for India’s political stability, democracy and role in the world.
Essentials of Hindutva. By Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. Global Vision; 160 pages; £31.50 Bunch of Thoughts. By Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar. Sahitya Sindhu Prakashana; 536 pages; $18.02
Adherents of Hindutva say they are merely reviving ancient truths about India’s civilisational essence. Yet theirs is a modern religious nationalism that gained influence in the early 20th century as opponents of British rule looked for sources of national identity to rally around. A key moment was the founding in 1925 of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (rss), an all-male volunteer outfit inspired by European fascist movements. The group sought to instil in its members the unity and discipline required to build a Hindu nation. It also advocated violence. The man who killed Mohandas Gandhi in 1948 was a member of the rss. The group’s understanding of Hinduness was partly based on the ideas of v.d. Savarkar, whose book “Essentials of Hindutva” popularised the term. Savarkar, writing while he was in jail for anti-British activities, defined Hinduism as a cultural identity that excludes Muslims and Christians. In “Bunch of Thoughts”, a collection of speeches, m.s. Golwalkar, who led the rss from 1940 to 1973, elaborated on Savarkar’s ideas in a more populist style. He espoused the idea of Hindu India as a teacher to the world and believed that only Hindus could be true Indians. Although the rss has since tried to sound more tolerant, Gowalkar’s speeches remain an important source for Hindu nationalism. Gowalkar himself is still revered as “Guru-ji”.
Messengers of Hindu Nationalism: How the RSS Reshaped India. By Walter Andersen and Shridhar D. Damle. Hurst; 320 pages; $35 and £30
When India wrote its constitution after independence in 1947 the rss’s campaign to define the country as a Hindu nation lost out to advocates of a secular conception of India. The group’s violent bent confined it to the fringe of politics for decades. Based on interviews with rss leaders, members and allies, this book explains how it nevertheless expanded its influence, especially from the 1980s onwards. The bjp, its political wing, and Mr Modi, who was an rss activist long before he became a party politician, played a central role.
Modi’s India: Hindu Nationalism and the Rise of Ethnic Democracy. By Christophe Jaffrelot. Translated by Cynthia Schoch. Princeton University Press; 656 pages; $27.95 and £30
What happens to a highly diverse, secular democracy like India if its government subscribes to a majoritarian ideology? Christophe Jaffrelot, a political scientist at King’s College London, has worked on Hindu nationalism for decades. In this book he writes that Mr Modi, first in his home state of Gujarat and then at the national level, combined Hindutva with a welfarist developmental agenda to win political majorities before setting about capturing institutions such as the courts and harassing opponents in the press, academia and civil society. Prominent adherents of Hindutva, including Mr Modi, have recently begun to claim that their ideology has unified Indians of all religions and restored their pride in their cultural heritage. On the contrary, says Mr Jaffrelot: it has divided society and relegated non-Hindus, particularly Muslims and Christians, to the status of second-class citizens. They must accept the primacy of the majority or face exclusion and violence. If you read only one book on this list, make it this one.
Hindu Nationalism in the Indian Diaspora: Transnational Politics and British Multiculturalism. By Edward T.G. Anderson. Oxford University Press; 434 pages; $39.95. Hurst; £30
The Indian diaspora is bigger and more influential than that of any other country. Small wonder, then, that India also exports its politics. Mr Modi has held rallies for adoring crowds in America, Britain and Australia. In September 2022 Leicester, in the British Midlands, experienced rioting between British Hindus and Muslims of South Asian origin reminiscent of communal unrest in Indian cities. In this book the historian Edward Anderson explores how Hindu-nationalist sentiment in the diaspora affects local politics and the workings of multiculturalism in Britain. Despite his focus on just one country, many of his insights apply to other places with large groups of Indian-origin immigrants.
Love Jihad and Other Fictions: Simple Facts to Counter Viral Falsehoods. By Sreenivasan Jain, Mariyam Alavi and Supriya Sharma. Aleph Book Company; 208 pages; 485 rupees
Beyond official ideology exists an entire ecosystem of Hindutva-adjacent conspiracy theories and propaganda. They are spread largely through social media, especially WhatsApp, which nearly 500m Indians use. Prominent politicians and celebrities often amplify them. The messages usually centre on vague suggestions of threats to Hindus and their religion. A notorious one is the bogey of “love jihad”, which imagines a systematic effort by Muslim men to seduce Hindu women, convert them, impregnate them and even lure them into committing terrorist acts. Often accompanied by calls for Hindus to defend themselves, the messages whip up hatred and can incite violence. In this book, three Indian journalists debunk the most common WhatsApp conspiracies. Their aim is to equip fellow Indians with facts, which they can use to educate friends and family members who have begun to believe falsehoods. It may not serve that purpose: the truth often does not persuade. But for outsiders the book provides insight into the toxic side of Indian social media and their role in mass mobilisation.
Also try
Read our explainer on Hindutva. In 2014 we published a profile of Savarkar, one of the ideology’s founding thinkers. This leader argues that Mr Modi’s Hindu nationalism is a threat to India’s economy. Our briefing discusses the role Hindutva will play in the election that starts in April 2024. All of our coverage of that election is available here. ■
source : economist