The Political Economy of Hindutva

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The Political Economy of Hindutvas Rise to
Prominence

• Anja Kovacs
• Room 2.73
• a.kovacs_at_uea.ac.uk
• 15 March 2007

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The Ram Janmabhoomi campaign

• Babri Masjid (Babars
  Mosque) - Ayodhya

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Main Proponents

• Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)

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Main Proponents
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Main Proponents

• Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)
• Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP)

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Main Proponents
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Main Proponents

• Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)
• Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP)
• Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
• .
• Sangh Parivar (Sangh Family)

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What is Hindutva?

• Aim to turn India into a Hindu country
• Hindu race is united by common traditions,
  experiences and memories of glory and disaster
• Muslims are considered foreign troublemakers
  and barbarian invaders

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What is Hindutva?

• 
  The destruction of the Babri
  Masjid 6 December 1992

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What is Hindutva?

• Hindutva
• Hindu-ness
• the form of Hindu nationalism that emphasises
  the supposed cultural essence of the Hindu
  nation, backed up by the myth of the Muslim as
  foreign invader.

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What is Hindutva?

• Riots (Pogrom?) in
• Gujarat (2002)
• 900-2000 people
• killed
• 90 000 people shifted
• to relief camps
• 150 000 people
• displaced

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The Political Economy of Hindutva

• A shared cultural essence
• excludes the Muslim community from the nation
• erases from view the power relations that
  continue to exist among Hindus
• Main supporters upper caste, middle class

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The Political Economy of Hindutva

• Middle class?
• National Council for Applied Economic Research
  (1995-1996 urban households)
• 16 scooter
• 21 colour TV
• 25 refrigerator
• National Sample Survey Organisation (1999-2000
  urban households)
• 33 PCC of 50 for family of five
• 8 PCC of 95 for family of five

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The Political Economy of Hindutva

• Middle class
• Petty bourgeoisie
• Middle ranks of professions and civil service
• White-collar employees in private sector
• Rich farmers and peasants
• Upper caste
• brahmin kshatriya vaishya
• (not sudra dalit)

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The Political Economy of Hindutva

• Vedas varnas derived from Purusha
• Brahmin head
• Kshatriya arms
• Vaishya thighs
• Shudra feet
• Hindu people are Virat Purusha (Almighty
  Incarnate)

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The Political Economy of Hindutva

• A Changing India, from the 1960s onwards
• failure of the Nehruvian model and growing
  disrepute of the Congress party
• rise of the Other Backward Castes (OBCs)
• Mandal Report
• Liberalisation and globalisation

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The Political Economy of Hindutva

• Liberalisation and globalisation
• connections with Hindutva
• disinterest in the well-being of the poor
• authoritarianism and brutalisation of culture and
  politics
• liberalisation and Indias Great Power
  Ambitions