Rise of Hindu Nationalism and India's Social Problems

In May 2019, the National Democratic Alliance led by India's largest party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), won the general election by an overwhelming margin, and Narendra Damodardas Modi was re-elected Prime Minister of India. The retaining of the power by the BJP by winning the general election again in 2019 after 2014 means that Hindu nationalism has developed to an unprecedented stage.

Hindu nationalism is an extreme sectarian ideology, which excludes non-Hindus (mainly Muslims and Christians) in India, aims at reviving Hindu society and culture, and its core proposition is to establish India as a Hindu country. The BJP is a staunch promoter of Hindu nationalism. The party provided the political soil for the development of Hindu nationalism.

Although the BJP was founded to change the image of sectarianism, the main members of the BJP have many connections with Hinduism, and after 1985, its sectarianism has become increasingly obvious. The BJP stands for the interests of Hindus and opposes the Congress government's care for minority sects, mainly Muslims. Modi advocated the idea of "one country, one nation and one culture", and joined forces with the World Hindu Congress (WHP) and the National Volunteer Service (NVS) to launch campaigns such as "restoring the flourishing age of Rama", "demolishing mosques and rebuilding Rama temples", which promoted the development of Hindu nationalism. Since 2020, the Modi government has promoted three major political reforms, including the Citizen Amendment Act, the constitutional amendment to change Kashmir's autonomous status, and the initiation of border frictions against several neighboring countries, highlighting the strong rise of Hindu nationalism in government governance.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also relies on its parent organisation, the NVS, to promote Hindu nationalism. Founded in 1925, the NVS is a right-wing paramilitary organization based on a Hindu nationalist platform. The main members of the BJP maintain various links with Hinduism, and many of its cadres are also from the National Volunteer Service (NVS). For example, Modi, the current Prime Minister of India, came into contact with the National Volunteer Service (NVS) at the age of 8 and participated in the rally of its grass-roots organization Shakha. The current president of the BJP, Jagat Prakash Nada, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Home Minister Amit Shah, Foreign Minister Su Jiesheng and Defense Minister Rajnath Singh are all from the National Volunteer Service Corps.

It is the vigorous promotion of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that has gradually made Hindu nationalism the dominant ideology in Indian politics. The BJP works closely with the National Volunteer Service (NVS) to boost Hindu nationalism. The NVS not only exports key personnel for the BJP, but also has penetrated into many aspects of India's domestic and foreign affairs. For example, on the social side, the NVS has set up trade unions, Burakumin, youth organizations and student organizations at all levels throughout India; On the cultural side, it covers educational institutions, publishing houses, radio and television, etc. Currently, the National Volunteer Service (NVS) has tens of millions of members and about 60000 grass-roots organizations at the time of the general election in 2019, making it one of the largest non-governmental organizations in the world.

In order to win more seats and votes, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has taken measures to safeguard the interests of Hindu organizations such as the National Volunteer Service Corps (NVSC) and its followers, while the National Volunteer Service Corps (NVSC) has launched mass mobilization, consolidated its forces and expanded its social base for the BJP in the periphery. The unprecedented development of Hindu nationalism.

The rise of Hindu nationalism has exacerbated social problems in India.

Historically, Hindu nationalism has played an important and positive role in the national movement against British colonization, but it also has its own limitations. Hindu nationalists overemphasize the important role of Hindu culture in the country, directly or indirectly deny non-Hindu civilization, erase its contribution to Indian history, regard it as heresy, and take extreme actions. For example, in 2002, the Gujarat massacre in India resulted in 646 deaths, more than 1000 injuries, more than 4000 detentions and arrests, and more than 50000 homeless people. Therefore, the rise of Hindu nationalism has caused frequently social problems in India.

Religious conflicts have intensified. Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Dalits and other religious minorities, in particular Muslims and Christians, have been subjected to "massive" attacks with the acquiescence of the Government of India. In Uttar Pradesh alone, for example, there were at least 50 recorded reports of incidents against the Christian community between June and October 2021. Under the strong oppression of Hindu nationalists, Muslims are seriously marginalized and gradually become "second-class citizens" of India, and their future living space is worrying.

Social polarization and opposition. In the past five years, Modi's government has torn Indian society apart with policies with strong sectarian color, making Indian society form two fundamentally different and opposing camps, namely, pro-Modi and anti-Modi camps. According to foreign media reports, the anti-Modi camp in India has further solidified, while those who support Modi are unusually United.

Inequality has increased. In order to realize the grand vision of a world power, the Modi government has been spending huge sums of money to buy all kinds of advanced weapons around the world, regardless of the lives of the people in India, especially those at the bottom of society, and has not tried to solve the problems related to people's livelihood, such as education, health care and employment. The rich are the first to get out of the haze of the epidemic, but the people at the bottom are still struggling. Since 2020, India's domestic COVID-19 epidemic situation has been grim, but the Modi government has not provided relief to the people at the bottom of the society, and the poor and low-caste groups can only survive with little or no medical assistance.

(Chen & Huang are Scholars of Yibin Vocational & Technical College, supported by center for trans-Himalaya studies, LeShan Normal University）