From Fringe to Forefront: The Mainstreaming of Hindutva Ideology

Hindutva ideology, synonymous with ‘Hinduness,’ has always lured Hindu nationalists for decades. It is now ascendant in India, metamorphosing into unalloyed form. The zenith of Hindutva in modern India is coterminous with the electoral resurgence of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), political wing of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Being the torchbearer of Hindutva, RSS has meticulously carved space in India’s social and political fabric through Sangh Parivar that has undergone immense growth over the last two decades. Amongst the various organizations under Sangh Parivar, the significance of BJP remains of prime importance as it seeks to carry out political mainstreaming of Hindu nationalism. The exclusive ideology of Hindu nationalism that was previously religious-cum-ethnocentric has evolved into punitive political ideology of India with the radical leitmotif to create Hindu Rashtra (Hindu nation), predicated on sacred territory, common race and shared culture.

The success of BJP in 2019 and the landslide re-election of Narendra Modi with an even greater public mandate as compare to 2014 demonstrates that Hindutva has been mainstreamed. Significant here is the BJP’s propagation of Hindutva ideology and creation of profound Hindu superiority perception which has played an instrumental role in enhancing its political clout with 120 seats in 1991 election, 282 seats in 2014 elections which surged to 303 seats in 2019, causing a blow to the political space of secular Indian National Congress In 2024 general elections, BJP once again secured a majority in government by bagging 240 seats. Confluence of factors such as BJP’s anti-secular and pro majoritarian state stance, neoliberal policies, backed by the downfall of Indian National Congress owing to its ineffectiveness, lackluster leadership, and corruption charges, enabled the historic rise of BJP. The degree of legitimacy and normalcy it has achieved signals that it is widely supported and not merely imposed. The mainstreaming of Hindutva began in the 1990s, but under the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi it is now widely affirmed across Indian society’s socio-economic classes. The mainstreaming of this exclusive and extremist nationalist ideology has authorized exclusionary nationalist discourse that was formerly restrained to the fringe.

The mainstreaming of Hindutva in Indian politics can be assessed through analyzing the spaces it has permeated to — cultural, social, & legal domain — that inextricably implies its political appeal, popularity and legitimacy among masses that in turn would determine its political future. Culturally, it is secluding the minorities as foreigners or outsiders having no share in Hindu culture rendering them as aliens who do not have any right to live in Indian state. Under the auspices of BJP, the state-driven phenomenon of Hindu radicalization in a country with 15% Muslims as compare to 79% Hindu population has been in full swing.  BJP supported by its ideological parent RSS has successfully fabricated notion of ‘Hindu victimhood’ through propagation of slogans such as ‘Hindus are in danger’. This ‘otherisation’ process involves use of various tools such as hate speech, state-subservient media, disinformation, reference to Golden Vedas age and historical-cum-religious clashes.

The social institutionalization of Hindutva is manifested through the launch of various campaigns such as ‘Ghar Wapsi’, ‘Love Jihad’ and ‘Gau Rakshak’. Hindutva groups carry out mass conversions through ghar-wapsi (homecoming) ceremonies with the complicity of police. Charged with the communal and moral fervor, it takes unrestrained anti-Islamic and anti-Christianity polemic. Additionally, a reconversion campaign akin to ‘Love Jihad’ is characterized by Hindu masculinity and Hindu violence. BJP politicians propagate fallacious theory of Love Jihad that Hindu women are lured into marriages by Muslim men to convert them to Islam. In this regard, BJP has embarked on passing anti-conversion laws in various state, for example, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh. Furthermore, India’s incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his 2014 national election campaign incessantly called for cow protection, capacitating nay motivating Hindu supremacist groups such as cow vigilantes or Gau Rakshak.  

Butressed by 2019 BJP’s election manifesto, Hindutva has also made rapid inroads in Indian constitution also referred to as Hindutva constitutionalism, begetting structural changes in order to create a majoritarian state. There are two key laws which are pertinent in this regard: a) Abrogation of Article 370 and 35A for changing demographic status of Kashmir; and b) Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) making religion a clear basis for citizenship with motive to provide sanctuary to the other religious minorities excluding Muslims who might be left out during the proposed nationwide National Register of Citizens (NRC). Moreover, criminalization of instant divorce practice (Triple talaq) is essential in paving the way for the ruling party to push through Uniform Civil Code (UCC) which is considered as an important goal of the Hindutva agenda to homogenize the Indian society. The 2019 verdict of Supreme Court on Ayodhya Dispute in favour of Hindus also marks ascendance of Hindu revivalist forces such as RSS, its political affiliate BJP as latter included construction of Ram Temple in its political manifesto.

Since BJP came into power, it has continued the saffronisation of public sphere alongside concatenation of appointments of Hindutva sympathizers and RSS affiliates to top ministerial and government positions. The appeal of Hindutva to the masses and its permeation in cultural, social, and legal domain not only legitimizes nay reinforces its political embodiment particularly through BJP. Lamentably, it would provide a more conducive environment for India’s transition from a secular to a majoritarian Hindu state.