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ARGUMENT

How Hindu Nationalism Went

Mainstream
And what that means for Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party
BY KANCHAN CHANDRA | JUNE 13, 2019, 6:38 AM

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi gestures during a rally in Ahmedabad on May 26. SAM PANTHAKY/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
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When Modi arrived, he lost no time in raising that banner. He opened his speech by
leading the crowd in a salutation to India personified as a mother goddess: “Bharat
Mata ki Jai.” To his right was a garlanded portrait of this mother goddess carrying a
saffron flag, her figure stretched across a map of the subcontinent. The salutation is
controversial, seen by many Hindus and non-Hindus alike as fusing Indian nationalism
with Hindu nationalism. But many in the
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including the
prime minister, now routinely use the
salutation themselves, and brand those The salutation is
unwilling to do so as unpatriotic.
controversial, seen by many
Hindus and non-Hindus
In Indore, Modi went on to give a rousing alike as fusing Indian
speech in which he asked onlookers to think
nationalism with Hindu
nationalism.
of and for the nation, rather than of personal
and local preoccupations. “People say, ‘Why is
Modi raising terrorism as an issue,’” he said. “You tell me, should there be a discussion
of terrorism in this country or not? This is an election for Hindustan, not for a local
election. In a local election, we can talk about electricity, poles, pipes, parks, sanitation, TRENDING
gutters, and the water supply. But this is an election for Hindustan, for the government
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To be sure, other than calling India “Hindustan,” Modi did not explicitly use the word
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“Hindu” in his speech. That word was also mostly absent from the BJP’s 2019 manifesto.
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This is in marked contrast to previous election campaigns, especially in the 1990s, when
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the BJP routinely used the slogan “Garv se kaho ham Hindu hain” (Say with pride that
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we are Hindus). By 2019, after years of popular mobilization for the Hindu cause, and
five years in power during which the BJP government firmly established its pro-Hindu
credentials, the word “Hindu” no longer needed to be mentioned. Now Modi, and many
in the BJP, proceed as if Hindu symbolism and national symbolism are the same.

The BJP’s change in rhetoric reveals the extent to which Hindu nationalism has won
popular support and legitimacy. In 1947, when India was created, Hindu nationalism
was an elite ideology—and a marginal one at that. In 1951-52, when the predecessor of
the BJP, the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, contested its first election on a Hindu nationalist
platform, it obtained only 3 percent of the vote and 3 seats in parliament. Now, the BJP
has become a dominant party, with a majority of seats in the national parliament and in
several Indian states. The ideology it represents has become dominant too, acquiring a
degree of mass support that it has never had before.

A series of surveys conducted in almost all Indian states between 2016 and 2018 by
Lokniti-CSDS and Azim Premji University confirm that a majority of Hindus support
some of the key planks associated with the BJP’s brand of Hindu nationalism. This
support is remarkably broad-based. For instance, the largest and most recent of the
three studies, based on 12 states and with a total sample size of 24,092, finds that a
majority of Hindus from different caste and tribal communities believe that those who
eat beef should be punished. A majority of Hindus across different castes (but not
among India’s tribal communities) also believe that those who do not say “Bharat Mata
ki Jai” at public functions should be punished. The majority of Hindus also believe
most Hindus to be patriotic (to different degrees), but almost half are suspicious of the
degree of patriotism among Muslims.

Majority support for the BJP’s Hindu nationalism does not translate into majority
support for the BJP in India as a whole. But
more Hindus now support the BJP than ever
before. According to a survey by Lokniti
conducted after this spring’s election, 44 Majority support for the
percent of all Hindus voted for the BJP in
BJP’s Hindu nationalism
does not translate into
2019, 8 percentage points more than in 2014.
majority support for the BJP
In several Indian states, furthermore, the in India as a whole.
majority of Hindus voted for the BJP.

The support for the BJP is broad-based, too: 52 percent of Hindu upper castes, 44
percent of Hindu backward castes, 34 percent of Hindu Dalits (those who have
historically been treated by Hindu society as untouchable), and 44 percent of Hindu
Adivasis (tribal communities) voted for the BJP in the 2019 elections. For each group,
those percentages were significantly higher than in 2014.

Among those who are broadly supportive of Hindu nationalism but do not support the
BJP, there are at least two possible explanations. First, some voters may prioritize issues
other than Hindu nationalism. Second, to the extent that Hindu nationalism drives
voting decisions, the BJP is only one option among many. Several of India’s opposition
parties have now also started to adopt pro-Hindu platforms to some degree.

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For India’s young, no single party reigns supreme. But the BJP has done better among
the young than any other party. According to the Lokniti post-poll survey, 41 percent of
first-time voters (those between the ages of 18 and 22) voted for the BJP in 2019. Forty
percent of those ages 23 to 27 did, as did 39 percent of those ages 28 to 35. (The percent
voting for the BJP declined among older age groups.) The preference for the BJP over
any other party is even more pronounced among Hindu youth, among all social groups
except Dalits.

In the past, the BJP has done better among men from all age categories than women,
and this was true in 2019 too, in which 36 percent of women voted for the BJP compared
with 39 percent of men. But the gap is closing among the youngest voters. In the 2019
election, 40 percent of women ages 18 to 25 voted for the BJP, compared with 41 percent
of men. The sea of young men who turn out at BJP rallies, then, is accompanied by an
equally strong swell of support among young women, who are less likely to attend
public rallies.

There are many reasons for the substantial and broad-based support for the BJP and the
ideology it represents among Hindus. One is the longing on the part for many Indians
for cultural authenticity. This is an old sentiment, born of India’s colonial past, which
has reasserted itself as India now tries to take a leading role on the global stage. Modi,
whose preferred language is Hindi rather than English, and whose speeches are
peppered with references to Hindu festivals and historical figures, has also become for
many Indians a symbol of that authenticity. voices
A second reason is the BJP’s response to the economic aspirations of India’s population. Trump’s Growing European Base
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delivered. Unemployment figures, released by the government only after the elections
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in its election manifesto. But Modi highlighted his government’s efforts to promise STEPHEN M. WALT
Indians a better life in other ways, by providing housing and gas connections and
electricity and roads and bank accounts. It is hard to say whether the Modi government Just in Time for Lunar New Year,
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actually performed better on these indicators than its predecessors. But it was at a
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minimum not perceived to have done worse. LAURIE GARRETT

A third reason is simply the organizational prowess of the BJP. The BJP is the only
major party in India today which has an infrastructure capable of disseminating an
ideology in a coordinated way from its central leadership all the way down to the
grassroots. One reason so many Hindus have begun supporting its ideology is simply
that the BJP has been more successful in reaching out to them than other parties.

Sooner or later, the young men who have been such fervent supporters of the BJP, the
ideology of Hindu nationalism, and Modi personally will turn to their government for
jobs. It is hard to see how these aspirations can be satisfied in the immediate future. The
implications are ominous. The principal way in which the BJP has tried to create and
maintain a broad coalition of support among Hindus in the absence of jobs is to
constantly stoke a sense of threat. In the past, it has treated India’s minorities, and
dissenting Hindus, as one source of threat. In the 2019 election campaign, the BJP
treated Pakistan, and unnamed terrorists, as another. The BJP’s challenge now, with the
largest majority that any party has had in India’s parliament in three decades, is to
demonstrate that it is capable of governing without resorting to the continuous
manufacture of new threats in the future.

Kanchan Chandra is professor of politics at New York University.

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