tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/bjp-9785/articlesBJP – The Conversation2024-03-17T19:01:41Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2248682024-03-17T19:01:41Z2024-03-17T19:01:41ZNarendra Modi’s economy isn’t booming for India’s unemployed youth. So, why is his party favoured to win another election?<p>India will soon hold the <a href="https://carnegieendowment.org/publications/interactive/india-elects-2024">biggest election ever conducted</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/16/india-to-hold-worlds-biggest-election-in-seven-stages-from-april#:%7E:text=Voting%20will%20be%20staggered%20over,announced%20on%20the%20same%20day.">starting</a> on April 19 and running through early June. Almost 950 million registered voters will be able to cast ballots to elect the 543 members of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament.</p>
<p>The result is not a foregone conclusion, but <a href="https://eastasiaforum.org/2024/01/21/indias-2024-elections-may-bring-a-new-political-epoch/">most analysts expect</a> Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to win another five years in office. After a decade in power, the <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/mood-of-the-nation-2024-lok-sabha-elections-pm-modi-nda-win-likely-india-alliance-congress-important-issues-2499457-2024-02-08">opinion polls suggest</a> Modi is still well regarded by many Indians and the main opposition parties do not command wide support.</p>
<h2>Slow growth, too few jobs</h2>
<p>This situation might strike some as odd. The Modi government’s record is mixed – especially in managing the economy – and has <a href="https://thewire.in/economy/survey-finds-deep-economic-discontent-job-pessimism-52-say-modis-policies-favour-big-business">disappointed many voters</a>. </p>
<p>To be sure, as the <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/india-news/global-buzz-around-high-growth-rate-of-indian-economy-says-pm-modi-124030400884_1.html">prime minister frequently reminds voters</a>, India has grown faster than many competitors in recent years. But the BJP came to office ten years ago promising <a href="https://theasanforum.org/indias-new-leadership-and-east-asia-1/">double-digit growth rates</a> and it has <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/8299d318-7c35-49a0-9a9a-b8e5abeba7be">never achieved that goal</a>. </p>
<p>Worse still, it has <a href="https://eastasiaforum.org/2023/04/10/indias-workforce-woes/">struggled to generate jobs</a> for the millions of young people who need them. </p>
<p>Critics point to errors in BJP economic policy they think have stifled growth and job creation. These include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>the shock inflicted in 2016 by the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-41100610">sudden withdrawal</a> of 85% of India’s paper money, ostensibly to combat corruption</p></li>
<li><p>the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-india-new-delhi-narendra-modi-2bfb76c9d3c0246896425461166078b5">bungled introduction</a> of much-needed reforms to the agricultural sector </p></li>
<li><p>and the ongoing protection of India’s <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/518e516a-df00-47fd-b7b3-183599c47485">big industrial conglomerates</a> from domestic and foreign competition.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Taken together, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/india/india-wanted-a-manufacturing-boom-its-workers-are-back-on-the-farm-instead-e94bb940#">critics charge</a>, these mistakes have left too many people in precarious work and held back investment in manufacturing, which could offer more people more jobs.</p>
<h2>Shoring up a Hindu nationalist base</h2>
<p>Why, then, do so many Indians still support the Modi government? </p>
<p>Part of the answer lies in the BJP’s ability to appeal to multiple constituencies with targeted messages. </p>
<p>Ruling India effectively depends on constructing and maintaining coalitions – either coalitions of parties or coalitions of voters. Modi’s BJP does both. It is supported by <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/nda-38-vs-opposition-26-full-lists-of-parties-attending-delhi-bengaluru-meets-101689667153538.html">several smaller parties</a> in parliament, but more important in terms of winning elections, is the <a href="https://carnegieendowment.org/2019/04/04/bjp-s-electoral-arithmetic-pub-78678">patchwork quilt of different groups of voters</a> it can marshal.</p>
<p>At the centre of this quilt sits a group of convinced Hindu nationalists, motivated by an ideology known as “<a href="https://theconversation.com/indias-prime-minister-modi-pursues-politics-of-hindu-nationalism-what-does-that-mean-117794">Hindutva</a>”. They argue that India’s society and government should reflect what they believe is the will of the Hindu majority, numbering about 80% of the population.</p>
<p>For decades, they have campaigned to end what they perceive as unreasonable special protections given to religious minorities, including for places of worship and faith-based divorce and child custody laws, as well as the <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/8/5/kashmir-special-status-explained-what-are-articles-370-and-35a">autonomous status</a> of the Muslim-majority state of Jammu and Kashmir.</p>
<p>Step by step, over the past decade, the Modi government has met many of these demands, locking in the Hindu nationalist base for the BJP. </p>
<p>In 2019, it <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-49234708">revoked the constitutional amendments</a> that limited New Delhi’s rights to determine how Kashmir is governed.</p>
<p>Earlier this year, the prime minister also presided over the opening ceremony of a <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-01-23/narendra-modi-opens-ayodhya-temple-on-site-of-babri-mosque/103374836">new Hindu temple</a> at Ayodhya, on the site of mosque demolished by Hindu nationalist activists in 1992. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-a-controversial-hindu-temple-in-india-could-prove-pivotal-to-narendra-modis-party-in-upcoming-elections-219811">Why a controversial Hindu temple in India could prove pivotal to Narendra Modi's party in upcoming elections</a>
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<p>Soon after, the government announced a <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/indias-citizenship-amendment-act-why-is-it-controversial/a-68514701">controversial new law</a> will come into effect that will allow Hindus, Sikhs and others fleeing neighbouring Muslim-majority countries to gain Indian citizenship, but may permit the deportation of Muslims deemed to be illegal immigrants.</p>
<p>And many believe a “<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/india/what-is-indias-civil-code-why-does-it-anger-muslims-2024-02-07/">uniform civil code</a>” will be next, imposing common marriage, alimony and custody arrangements on all Indian citizens, regardless of religion.</p>
<h2>Courting women and urban, middle-class voters</h2>
<p>The Hindu nationalist core is powerful, but it is not large enough to give the BJP all the seats it needs to govern.</p>
<p>For that reason, the party has also tried to <a href="https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blink/read/why-the-indian-middle-class-gravitates-towards-modi/article33269351.ece">win over the growing urban middle class</a>. This group is less interested in cultural issues and more concerned with good governance, as well as India’s standing in the world. </p>
<p>In the last two elections, the BJP won their support by promising to crack down on corruption, improve the country’s business environment, build better infrastructure and restore national pride. It is promising to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/india/indias-modi-pledges-15-bln-spending-splurge-elections-near-2024-03-08/">push on with this program</a> so it can hold on to this bloc of voters, and it likely will, in the absence of convincing alternatives. </p>
<p>At the same time, the BJP will continue to seek the support of the rural poor and women, who might back left-wing parties or not vote at all. </p>
<p>To appeal to these groups in recent years, the Modi government has <a href="https://thewire.in/economy/modi-govts-fiscal-policy-on-welfare-trends-so-far-and-what-to-expect">doubled the funding</a> for a rural income guarantee scheme, and launched other programs, including one to provide midday meals to schoolchildren. </p>
<p>It has facilitated the opening of <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-28962762">bank accounts</a> for tens of millions, including women. This allows them – in principle, at least – to circumvent corrupt officials and feckless husbands when it comes to receiving welfare payments. </p>
<p>The government has also provided millions of rural homes with <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/modi-speech-bulid-toilets-women-girls-204195-2014-08-15">toilets</a> and <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/Modi-launches-LPG-scheme-for-poor-women/article14295554.ece">cooking gas bottles</a>, arguing both make women safer.</p>
<p>These measures have paid off so far, with more of the <a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/India-election/For-clues-to-BJP-s-landslide-win-look-to-Modi-s-rural-support2">rural poor</a> and more <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/elections/story/why-more-women-voted-bjp-2022-elections-analysis-1924821-2022-03-13">women</a> voting for the BJP in recent elections.</p>
<p>This time around, the party is looking to consolidate support among women, in particular. It has shepherded a new gender quota bill through parliament, which will <a href="https://carnegieendowment.org/2023/09/26/india-s-new-gender-quota-law-is-win-for-women-mostly-pub-90644">require</a> one third of Lok Sabha seats to be reserved for women from 2029, among other measures.</p>
<h2>A divided and weak opposition</h2>
<p>The Modi government’s success in winning over these groups is impressive, but it must be noted the BJP has <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/elections/lok-sabha-2019/analysis-highest-ever-national-vote-share-for-the-bjp/article27218550.ece">never gained more than 40%</a> of the popular vote in a national election. If it faced a united and effective opposition, it might struggle to win office.</p>
<p>Happily for the BJP, India’s opposition parties are divided and weak. If they could join forces and put their support behind a single, strong candidate to challenge the BJP in individual districts, they might win more seats. However, negotiations to do this have <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/elections/india/alliance-blues-for-india-in-several-states-2935890">proved tortuous</a>.</p>
<p>Worse still, the fragile opposition alliance has not yet named a <a href="https://www.businesstoday.in/india/story/lok-sabha-polls-2024-elections-not-beauty-contests-says-congress-on-india-alliances-pm-face-420882-2024-03-11">credible alternative candidate</a> for the prime ministership. </p>
<p>Congress Party leader Rahul Gandhi, the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi family that led India after independence, is an obvious choice, but is widely seen as an <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/india/rahul-gandhi-prince-indian-politics-who-lost-his-parliament-seat-2023-03-24/">ineffectual dilettante</a>. Successful regional politicians like West Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee have <a href="https://thewire.in/books/book-review-will-mamata-banerjee-be-a-serious-challenger-to-modi-in-2024">limited reach</a> beyond their own states. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, Modi’s <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2023/08/29/indians-views-of-modi-and-other-national-leaders/#:%7E:text=Indian%20Prime%20Minister%20Narendra%20Modi,have%20a%20very%20favorable%20view.">personal popularity is high</a>. His modest background and personal charisma still appeal to the young and the aspirational, especially in <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-63884247">caste groups historically excluded</a> from power and wealth. </p>
<p>Defeating such a dominant figure will be hard, if not impossible.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224868/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian Hall is affiliated with the Australia India Institute. </span></em></p>Modi’s party has struggled to generate jobs for young people, but is highly adept at marshalling votes to win elections.Ian Hall, Professor of International Relations, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2208002024-01-24T13:14:21Z2024-01-24T13:14:21ZDunki: what this new Bollywood film tells us about the imperial history of the UK’s immigration system<p>The UK government’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/jan/16/tory-deputy-chairs-resign-lee-anderson-brendan-clarke-smith-rishi-sunak">efforts to send asylum seekers to Rwanda</a>, which undermine the independence of Britain’s judiciary, highlight ongoing tensions within the British Conservative party. </p>
<p>They also mark a return to colonial-era forced mobility, particularly of <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/12/8/451">non-white migrants</a>. The British used a similar practice to establish and maintain colonies and control imperial and colonial borders – for example, through the <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Slavery_and_Forced_Migration_in_the_Ante.html?id=HsSTBQAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y">forced relocation of people in the transatlantic slave trade</a> and the <a href="https://www.ubcpress.ca/aboriginal-title-and-indigenous-peoples">dispossession and eviction of Indigenous peoples</a> in white settler colonies. </p>
<p>They also <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/law-and-history-review/article/abs/perish-or-prosper-the-law-and-convict-transportation-in-the-british-empire-17001850/B54E81668AC147F2B9433290A6FF49C5">transported British convicts to overseas colonies</a> and, during the second world war, dispersed <a href="https://refugeehistory.org/blog/2021/6/10/the-dispersal-of-displaced-persons-in-the-british-empire-and-beyond-from-world-war-two-to-the-partition-of-india">refugees to colonised territories</a>. </p>
<p>There are echoes of empire in today’s <a href="https://ukandeu.ac.uk/explainers/illegal-migration-act-2023/">anti-immigration legislation in the UK</a>, but what is less discussed is how these practices shaped former British colonies such as India.</p>
<p>Dunki, a Bollywood film currently playing in cinemas, explores these issues. The film, directed by Rajkumar Hirani and featuring <a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2023-09-21/shah-rukh-khan-key-facts-srk-jawan-pathaan-bollywood">global superstar Shah Rukh Khan</a>, details the travails, from the mid-1990s, of a group of Sikh friends from Punjab who migrate to the UK. </p>
<p>Unable to do so legally thanks to the <a href="https://freemovement.org.uk/on-this-day-sixty-years-ago-the-first-commonwealth-immigrants-act-came-into-effect/">barriers on legal migration for Commonwealth citizens</a>, they decide to take the “donkey”, or illegal, route. This means travelling to a foreign land through a range of other countries. </p>
<p>While donkey routes are traditionally via train, boat or other means, the <a href="https://thewire.in/world/four-us-donkey-flights-had-left-for-nicaragua-when-french-immigration-intercepted-legend-airlines">recent, real-life grounding</a> of a chartered “US donkey flight” in France reveals that this method is changing with the times. The Romania-based Legend Airlines plane was on its way from Dubai to Nicaragua, from where the migrants would have travelled to the US border.</p>
<p>These journeys are not only difficult and dangerous, but expensive. To get to the US, the largely Punjabi migrants detained in France had reportedly promised to pay between <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/dunki-flight-dubai-to-nicaragua-passengers-from-gujarat-offered-rs-60-80-lakh-illegal-us-entry-2483354-2024-01-02?onetap=true">£55,000 and £75,000</a> to corrupt immigration agents. </p>
<p>In Dunki, the donkey route takes the friends overland via Afghanistan and Iran, before they are smuggled by container ship to the UK. Along the way, three members of the group are murdered, one is threatened with rape, and they endure innumerable other hardships. And for those who make it, their situation improves little upon arrival in the UK. </p>
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<p>Underpinning such adversities is colonialism and its legacies. In one moving scene, Khan’s character speaks at the funeral of a man who committed suicide after failing the English language test that would have enabled him to go to the UK.</p>
<p>When the British came to India, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACKQDAlAfFE&ab_channel=RedChilliesEntertainment">he says</a>, “We never asked: ‘Do you know Hindi?‘ How dare they stop us, he asks, from going to their country because we don’t know their language?</p>
<p>Later in the film, a character suggests that Indians like her were only forced to go to the UK because of what the British had done to India. </p>
<h2>Preserving the spoils of empire</h2>
<p>Dunki also demonstrates the ironies of modern border restrictions in the UK. Although these, by design, largely bar the entry of the global poor, the labour such people provide is <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S095937802200005X">essential for maintaining</a> the standards of living that Britons enjoy.</p>
<p>UK trade policies continue to generate a steady supply of both low-cost goods and labour from lower-income countries. Since Brexit, for example, the British government has pressured countries such as Ghana and Cameroon to sign trade deals that perpetuate <a href="https://waronwant.org/news-analysis/empire-20-uk-trade-deals-squeeze-wealth-global-south">impoverishment and industrialisation</a>, and feed an exodus of migrant labour to the UK.</p>
<p>It is India, however, that remains the <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/india-migration-country-profile">largest migrant-origin country in the world</a>. India became the go-to destination for a new form of bonded labour known as <a href="https://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a-new-system-of-slavery-the-british-west-indies-and-the-origins-of-indian-indenture/">indentured servitude</a> following the formal abolition of slavery in Britain in 1833. But the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9781444351071.wbeghm285">displacement of up to 20 million people</a>, particularly in Punjab, in the 1947 partition of India into two separate nation-states, fuelled a new exodus – including to the UK. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=cTPpDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=ethnoreligious+nationalism+a+product+of+empire+india&ots=g4LV4KS9v3&sig=6M4MYgL3883HgNF8cyfPkhaKPuU&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false">ethnoreligious nationalism</a> that fuelled partition continued to spawn further migration. This includes the genocidal violence, in 1984, that led to the death and dislocation of <a href="https://time.com/3545867/india-1984-sikh-genocide-anniversary/">thousands of Sikhs</a>. The cast of Dunki appears to leave India in the aftermath of such horrors. Yet instead of openly acknowledging this, the film displaces the genesis of its story to a decade later.</p>
<p>This is likely due to political concerns within India today. The governing Hindu ethnonationalist party, the BJP, has proposed <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-57676214">sweeping new powers to censor films</a>. The government already uses the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/11/20/india-netflix-amazon-movies-self-censorship/">threat of legal action</a> to shape the content produced by streaming platforms, and employed emergency powers to ban a <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/1/25/india-banning-bbc-documentary-on-modi-attack-on-press-freedom">BBC documentary on the prime minister, Narendra Modi</a>. </p>
<p>Since right-wing Hindu groups can also <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/nayantharas-annapoorani-removed-from-netflix-actress-producers-land-in-legal-trouble/articleshow/106730203.cms">force a film to be withdrawn</a>, it has become risky for filmmakers to explicitly address issues to do with ethnoreligious violence. Both India and Britain have a long way to go in acknowledging the ongoing relationship between colonialism, migration, and their legacies.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220800/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Deana Heath does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Shah Rukh Khan’s new film sheds light on the history of UK migration policy.Deana Heath, Professor of Indian and Colonial History, University of LiverpoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2216352024-01-22T16:09:39Z2024-01-22T16:09:39ZIn opening a Hindu temple on the site of a former mosque, Narendra Modi is following an old Hindu nationalist ploy<p>Pronouncing the fulfilment of “the dream that many have cherished for years”, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/22/modi-inaugurates-hindu-temple-on-site-of-razed-mosque-in-india">has inaugurated</a> a new Hindu temple at Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh in the north of the country. It is built on the site of a mosque that was destroyed by Hindu nationalists more than 30 years ago. </p>
<p>When the Hindu nationalists demolished the 16th-century Babri Masjid mosque, they did so in the belief that it had been built by the Muslim Mughal emperor Babur on the site of an ancient Hindu temple that marked the birthplace of the god Ram. But the historical and archaeological evidence for the existence of this is <a href="https://thewire.in/history/babri-masjid-asi-excavation-ayodhya-ram-temple">hotly debated by experts</a>.</p>
<p>Modi has turned the consecration of the Ayodhya temple into a massive national event, inviting 8,000 VIPs including Bollywood stars, Hindu religious leaders, politicians and diplomats. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims also made their way to the town, which has received a US$3 billion (£2.35 billion) government-funded makeover. </p>
<p>Critics have condemned what they describe as a <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/ram-mandir-ayodhya-mamata-banerjee-bjp-politics-opposition-consecration-2486465-2024-01-09">politicisation of a religious event</a>, pointing to elections in April or May this year at which Modi will bid for a third term. Over his decade as prime minister, Modi has deliberately harnessed and encouraged Hindu nationalist aspirations for his own ends.</p>
<p>This event is undoubtedly aimed at energising Modi’s political base among Hindu nationalists. But there is more to this story than cynical electioneering.</p>
<p>The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), of which Modi is now the leader, has been advocating for decades for the construction of a Hindu temple on the site at Ayodhya. </p>
<p>In 1992, the party was a relatively minor player in a country dominated by the secular Indian National Congress. But in 2019, with Modi as prime minister, the Indian Supreme Court ruled that the temple could be built on the site. Plans for a new mosque were relocated nearby to a symbolically smaller patch of land.</p>
<h2>History of hatred</h2>
<p>Immediately after the mosque’s destruction in 1992, riots between Hindus and Muslims erupted across India. One Hindu nationalist vigilante later <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/feb/06/travel.features">defended his violence</a> in curious political terms: “Muslims … had no compunction about killing people, while a Hindu would pause before killing and ask himself why he was doing it.”</p>
<p>The moral relativism of this remarkable statement reflects an attitude that has been at the heart of Hindu nationalist politics from its inception. It is centred on the twin paranoias of Hindu disunity because of the ancient caste system and the illusion of Islamic unity (Indian Muslims are actually <a href="https://contendingmodernities.nd.edu/theorizing-modernities/modern-islam-story-south-asia/">doctrinally and politically divided</a>.</p>
<p>In 1923, these paranoias were systematically laid out by Hindu political philosopher Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in his <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essentials_of_Hindutva#">Essentials of Hindutva</a>. This book is widely seen as a foundational text of Hindu nationalism. Imprisoned from 1911 to 1937 for sedition by the British, Savarkar rapidly shifted his revolutionary zeal from opposing the European colonisers to repudiating India’s Muslims. </p>
<p>At odds with his attempts to make Muslims out to be a polluting foreign influence is the fact that the majority were not external invaders but <a href="https://thewire.in/caste/caste-among-indian-muslims-real-why-deny-reservation">Hindu converts</a> attempting to escape the caste system. The caste system perpetuated ideas of purity and pollution within the hierarchy. High castes enforced a range of occupational, hygiene, religious, and dietary practices on the lower castes through shame, sanctions and violence. </p>
<p>Accordingly, Savarkar believed that Muslim unity came from an immunity to shame. Observing Muslim inmates in his jail, he glibly attributed the violence of Muslim prison gangs to an impulse inherent in Islam. </p>
<p>With the same breath, he implored his Hindu inmates to jettison shame, mimic these traits and contemplate a violent politics of “cruelty” towards Muslims. In doing so, they would distract from caste divisions.</p>
<p>Savarkar exhorted Hindu society to discard Gandhi’s philosophy of passive resistance. Instead they should pursue a violent and “shameless” <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/historical-journal/article/glory-and-humiliation-in-the-making-of-v-d-savarkars-hindu-nationalism/B196AD5F952FF78DF066CC25E0D058E8#fn1">quest for Hindu fraternity</a> in which caste distinctions would disappear. Meanwhile, the once united Muslims would live as a humiliated and cowed community that no longer had the self-belief to challenge Hindu political power.</p>
<p>The destruction of mosques and construction of temples became key strategies for uniting Hindus by banishing caste differences in <a href="https://theprint.in/pageturner/excerpt/as-a-teenager-savarkar-tried-to-destroy-a-mosque-was-sad-hindus-werent-united/281796/">Savarkar’s ideology</a>. Some of the planned mega-temples would accommodate <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/historical-journal/article/glory-and-humiliation-in-the-making-of-v-d-savarkars-hindu-nationalism/B196AD5F952FF78DF066CC25E0D058E8">5,000 worshippers</a> from every caste. At the same time, tearing down Muslim heritage across India aimed to politically humiliate the seemingly unified Muslims and return political Hinduism “to its original glory”.</p>
<h2>Cynical politics</h2>
<p>Modi’s government and its Hindu nationalist surrogate organisations have put this ideology into practice. The inauguration of the Ayodhya temple has little to do with Hindu religious doctrine. Indeed, the government was criticised for trying to arrange the event before the temple’s “sanctum sanctorum” (holy of holies) was completed. </p>
<p>The BJP also failed to invite several key Hindu monastic organisations. Indeed, being overshadowed by high-caste Brahmin priests would distract from Modi’s populist brand built around him as a <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/modi-is-a-teli-ghanchi-obc-bjp/articleshow/34084111.cms">humble middle-caste tea salesman</a>. </p>
<p>Allied to this project are other strategies for forging Hindu unity while publicly humiliating Muslims. For instance, the arbitrary demolition of Muslim homes and businesses by mobs aided and abetted by local police. </p>
<p>These attacks occur when Muslims are deemed to have shown insufficient deference to Hindu sentiments – for example by eating beef or participating in anti-government protests. The bulldozer has since become a Hindu nationalist symbol and even internationalised by BJP troll-farms <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/9/4/modis-lesson-from-israel-demolish-muslim-homes-erase-their-history">supporting Israeli actions in Gaza</a>.</p>
<p>At first glance, the Ayodhya inauguration innocuously celebrates a new self-confident “Vatican for Hindus”. But we cannot forget its political motivations. If the violent destruction of a minority’s place of worship is given legal and political legitimacy in the name of Hindu nationalism, then democracy has given way to mob rule.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/bharat-why-the-recent-push-to-change-indias-name-has-a-hidden-agenda-213105">Bharat: why the recent push to change India's name has a hidden agenda</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221635/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vikram Visana received funding from the British Academy in the form of a Small Grant of £5300 from 2019-2023. </span></em></p>Modi is running for his third consecutive term of office, but many believe he plans to remain in power indefinitely.Vikram Visana, Lecturer in Political Theory, University of LeicesterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2198112024-01-18T18:59:01Z2024-01-18T18:59:01ZWhy a controversial Hindu temple in India could prove pivotal to Narendra Modi’s party in upcoming elections<p>Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister, famously opposed government interference in the rebuilding of the Somnath temple, a popular religious site for the Hindus in Gujarat, because he saw the project as a <a href="https://www.theweek.in/news/india/2020/08/04/ram-mandir-precursor-how-a-nehru-govt-minister-helped-rebuild-somnath-temple.html">form of “Hindu revivalism”</a>. </p>
<p>In line with his idea of a secular India, Nehru wanted <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/research/hindu-revivalism-why-jawaharlal-nehru-disapproved-rajendra-prasads-presence-at-somnath-temple-inauguration-6539918/">complete separation of state and religion</a>. </p>
<p>There are no such qualms for the current prime minister, Narendra Modi, head of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Images of him <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/05/world/asia/modi-temple-ayodhya.html">were beamed live across the country in 2020</a> performing Hindu rituals during the foundation stone-laying ceremony of a grand temple dedicated to Lord Ram, a revered Hindu deity. </p>
<p>The half-completed temple, which will be the largest in India and will be <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/preparing-for-the-ram-temple-consecration-a-package/article67737059.ece">inaugurated</a> on Monday, has been built on the site of the 16th century Babri mosque, that was reduced to rubble by a Hindu mob in 1992. Violent riots followed, <a href="https://carnegieendowment.org/2020/08/18/mounting-majoritarianism-and-political-polarization-in-india-pub-82434">killing more than 2,000 people</a>, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/india/indias-top-court-halts-plans-survey-centuries-old-mosque-2024-01-16/">most of them minority Muslims</a>. </p>
<p>After a prolonged legal battle, the Indian Supreme Court in 2019 <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/ayodhya-verdict-understanding-the-supreme-court-judgment/story-G7mzXfBFEDJ88PmuLj8CpL.html">awarded the land</a> where the mosque once stood to Hindus for the building of a temple. </p>
<p>The inauguration of the temple comes at a pivotal time for the country, with elections due in a few months. It is likely to play a significant role in the upcoming polls, for three main reasons.</p>
<h2>Drawing Hindus together across castes</h2>
<p>First, the Ram Temple movement has allowed the BJP to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00856401.2015.1089460">unite</a> large sections of the Hindu population behind a singular political and religious goal, irrespective of caste considerations. Prior to this, mainly upper castes identified with its ideology. </p>
<p>To expand its voter base, the party resorted to a strategy of “<a href="https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/modi-spells-out-social-engineering-mantra-for-bjp-s-success-beyond-2024-123012200266_1.html">social engineering</a>”. <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/2658585">It went on a drive to recruit large numbers of leaders from lower castes</a> (or as they are known in India, “scheduled castes” and “other backward classes”) in order to project an image as a party representing all Hindus that wants to better living conditions for all. </p>
<p>The strategy was successful. Having won just two seats out of 543 in India’s parliament in 1984, the BJP became the single largest party in parliament in 1996, the first national election after the mosque demolition.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-hindu-nationalists-are-cheering-moves-to-build-a-temple-challenging-a-secular-tradition-126901">Why Hindu nationalists are cheering moves to build a temple, challenging a secular tradition</a>
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<p>Last October, an opposition-ruled state (Bihar) released a caste census, despite much push-back from the BJP. The census revealed that <a href="https://frontline.thehindu.com/politics/bihar-caste-survey-report-game-changer-in-indian-politics-results-challenge-bjp-hindutva-unity-narrative/article67402996.ece">63% of the state’s population belong to the “other backward classes”</a>. </p>
<p>This could be seen as damaging to the BJP as it shows the party hasn’t done enough to lift people out of poverty. There was always a demand for such surveys so that jobs could be reserved for the lower castes according to their actual share in population. The BJP has resisted them, however, fearing this would anger their upper caste supporters.</p>
<p>The opposition has promised similar nationwide surveys if it manages to defeat the BJP in the 2024 election. And it has <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/india/bihar/caste-survey-in-bihar-reveals-hiked-quotas-for-deprived-castes-in-2023-2818607">committed to distributing resources</a> in a more equitable way, if elected.</p>
<p>These developments have put the BJP’s mantra of Hindu unity on rather shaky ground. To ensure this doesn’t become a major election issue, BJP leaders will have to amplify the noise around the temple, demonstrating the unity of all Hindus irrespective of caste.</p>
<h2>Sectarian tensions bring out voters</h2>
<p>Second, sectarian tension has always <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/bjp-gains-in-polls-after-every-riot-says-yale-study/articleshow/45378840.cms">helped the BJP electorally</a>. Studies show that whenever there’s a riot in the year before an election, the party <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1561/100.00015051">gains an increase of 0.8% in the share of the vote</a>. </p>
<p>This is a substantial gain because in India’s first-past-the-post voting system, winning just 37% of the total votes in the 2019 parliamentary elections <a href="https://www.economist.com/leaders/2020/01/23/narendra-modi-stokes-divisions-in-the-worlds-biggest-democracy">ensured an overwhelming majority of seats</a> for Modi’s party. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-some-indians-want-to-change-the-countrys-name-to-bharat-213524">Why some Indians want to change the country's name to 'Bharat'</a>
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<p>Of course, not all Hindus support the Ram Temple. But the BJP is well aware that the number of Hindu temple supporters is large enough to help the party win elections comfortably. </p>
<p>In a survey held after the 2022 election in the state of Uttar Pradesh, <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/elections/uttar-pradesh-assembly/religious-polarisation-and-electoral-choices/article65215835.ece">over two-thirds of the Hindu respondents</a> who thought the temple was a “very important” election issue voted for the BJP. </p>
<p>This is arguably the single-most polarising issue in the country and some Hindu nationalists want to keep the pot boiling. They have already petitioned the courts with claims to <a href="https://scroll.in/article/1024769/behind-gyanvapis-women-petitioners-a-network-of-men-who-have-long-fought-for-hindutva-causes">two other historical mosques in Varanasi and Mathura</a>. The Supreme Court also seems to be taking a <a href="https://thewire.in/law/supreme-court-greenlights-asi-gyanvapi-survey">favourable view of these claims</a>.</p>
<h2>Distraction from other big issues</h2>
<p>And last but not least, a grand inauguration ceremony – and its continuous month-long coverage on pro-government mainstream TV channels – will distract voters from real issues and help the BJP control the electoral narrative. </p>
<p>There are plenty of other issues to be concerned with. India’s economic growth hasn’t necessarily led to more jobs, with about 42% of graduates under 25 <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/business/42-3-of-graduates-under-25-unemployed-finds-latest-state-of-working-india-report-8949124/">unemployed</a>. </p>
<p>Despite the fact that Modi promised to <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/pm-promises-farmers-income-doubling-by-2022/article24212508.ece">double the incomes of farmers by 2022</a>, they are still struggling to keep up with ever-rising debts. More than 100,000 farmers <a href="https://thewire.in/agriculture/average-30-farmer-suicides-per-day-in-modi-govt-years-points-to-a-systemic-apathy">committed suicide</a> from 2014–22, a rate of more than 30 per day. </p>
<p>Human rights activists, journalists and student protesters are <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/10/13/india-arrests-raids-target-critics-government#:%7E:text=The%20Indian%20government%20also%20used,Dalit%20meeting%20in%20January%202018.">regularly charged with stringent anti-terrorism laws</a> and thrown in prison. Amnesty International was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/29/amnesty-to-halt-work-in-india-due-to-government-witch-hunt">forced to shut down</a> after the government froze its accounts following the publication of critical reports of its human rights record.</p>
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<p>Ethnic violence has <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2024/1/9/ethnic-conflict-in-indias-manipur-has-completely-ruined-businesses">wracked</a> the northeastern state of Manipur since last May. An influential member of parliament who asked tough questions about industrialist Gautam Adani’s relationship with Modi was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/22/mahua-moitra-indian-parliament-expulsion">expelled from parliament</a> in December. The government <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-67656686">claimed</a> she had accepted bribes to ask the questions; she denies this.</p>
<p>And institutions meant to safeguard India’s democracy are being <a href="https://thewire.in/rights/decaying-institutions-and-diminishing-democracy-of-the-indian-republic">systematically dismantled</a>. </p>
<p>The government has also been accused by UN special rapporteurs of “<a href="https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2023/country-chapters/india#:%7E:text=In%20June%2C%20three%20United%20Nations,participation%20in%20inter%2Dcommunal%20violence.">collective punishment</a>” of Muslims suspected of taking part in inter-communal violence or protests through the bulldozing of their properties, <a href="https://doij.org/10.10000/IJLMH.113298">often disregarding standard procedures</a>. One demolition was even telecast live with <a href="https://scroll.in/article/1026083/indians-are-expressing-shock-at-news-channel-glee-over-demolition-of-muslim-activists-house">news anchors cheering from the sidelines</a>. </p>
<p>In two states that have seen the worst of such bulldozer actions (Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh), the BJP was returned to power in state elections.</p>
<p>Modi’s government doesn’t want to lose any support from its Hindu base, so the temple inauguration will presumably bring much BJP chest-thumping, especially as the election draws closer.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219811/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aviroop Gupta does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Ram temple, built on the site of a destroyed mosque, could be used by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party to mobilise his Hindu nationalist supporters ahead of the elections.Aviroop Gupta, PhD Candidate, Curtin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2135242023-09-27T12:27:58Z2023-09-27T12:27:58ZWhy some Indians want to change the country’s name to ‘Bharat’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550340/original/file-20230926-15-ivocio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C23%2C7774%2C5171&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomes delegates to the G20 leaders summit in front of a placard reading 'Bharat,' the Hindi word for 'India.'</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/british-prime-minister-rishi-sunak-and-us-president-joe-news-photo/1669134258?adppopup=true">Dan Kitwood/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When India invited delegates attending the G20 summit in September 2023 to dinner with “<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-66716541">the President of Bharat</a>,” rather than “the President of India,” it may have looked to the world like a simple case of postcolonial course correction. </p>
<p>The word “India” is, after all, <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-does-turkey-want-other-countries-to-start-spelling-its-name-turkiye-199390">an exonym</a> – a placename given by outsiders. In this case, the name came from the British, who ruled the subcontinent from 1858 to 1947, <a href="https://theconversation.com/colonialism-in-india-was-traumatic-including-for-some-of-the-british-officials-who-ruled-the-raj-77068">a violent period of colonialism</a> that later came to be called “the British Raj.” </p>
<p>“Bharat,” on the other hand, is the word for “India” in Hindi, by far <a href="https://www.forbesindia.com/article/news-by-numbers/hindi-day-2020-indias-mostspoken-languages-are/62577/1">the most spoken language in the nation</a>. Alongside English, Hindi is one of two languages used in <a href="https://qz.com/india/1712711/indias-constitution-is-over-30-times-as-long-as-the-us">the Indian Constitution</a>, with versions written in each language.</p>
<p>“Bharat” may, therefore, look like a well-reasoned and uncontroversial replacement for a term anointed long ago by outsiders – something akin to how <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-43821512">Eswatini</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1980/08/26/archives/zimbabwe-is-welcomed-into-un-independence-achieved-in-april.html">Zimbabwe</a> and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13072774">Burkina Faso</a> updated their countries’ names from the colonial designations “Swaziland,” “Rhodesia” and “Upper Volta,” respectively. </p>
<p>But the use of “Bharat” has <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/9/6/india-or-bharat-whats-behind-the-dispute-over-the-countrys-name">elicited outcry</a> from the political opposition, some Muslims, and Hindu conservatives in the south, reflecting ongoing tensions in India between language, religion and politics. </p>
<h2>Two different language families</h2>
<p>My book with fellow linguist <a href="https://julietetelandresen.com/">Julie Tetel Andresen</a>, “<a href="https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Languages+In+The+World%3A+How+History%2C+Culture%2C+and+Politics+Shape+Language+-p-9781118531280">Languages in the World: How History, Culture, and Politics Shape Language</a>,” covers the language history and politics of India.</p>
<p>Hindi is the most-spoken language in India, but its use is largely relegated to a part of the country that linguists refer to as “<a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hindi-language">the Hindi belt</a>,” a massive region in northern, central and eastern India where Hindi is the official or primary language.</p>
<p>Around 1500 B.C.E., a group of outsiders from Central Asia – known now as the <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/society/history-and-culture/theres-no-confusion-the-new-reports-clearly-confirm-arya-migration-into-india/article61986135.ece">Indo-Aryans</a> – began migrating and settling in what is now northern India. They spoke a language that would eventually become <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sanskrit-language">Sanskrit</a>. As groups of these speakers separated from one another and spread out over northern India, their spoken Sanskrit changed over time, becoming distinctive.</p>
<p>Most of the languages spoken in northern India today – Hindi, Punjabi, Bengali and Gujarati, among many others – derive from this history. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550428/original/file-20230926-21-ur64w0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map of India highlighting predominant languages spoken in various regions." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550428/original/file-20230926-21-ur64w0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550428/original/file-20230926-21-ur64w0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=595&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550428/original/file-20230926-21-ur64w0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=595&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550428/original/file-20230926-21-ur64w0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=595&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550428/original/file-20230926-21-ur64w0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=748&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550428/original/file-20230926-21-ur64w0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=748&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550428/original/file-20230926-21-ur64w0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=748&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Different languages are predominantly spoken in different parts of India.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/illustration/indian-map-with-official-languages-of-indian-royalty-free-illustration/1490281073?phrase=map+of+indian+languages&adppopup=true">Venkatesh Selvarajan/iStock via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>But the Aryans were not the first group to inhabit the Indian subcontinent. Another group, the Dravidians, was already living in the region at the time of the Aryan migrations. They may have been <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-021-00868-w">the original inhabitants of the Indus-Valley Civilization in northern India</a>. Over the millennia, the Dravidians migrated to the southern part of the subcontinent, while the Aryans fanned out across the north. </p>
<p>Today, Dravidians number <a href="https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Dravidian_peoples">about 250 million people</a>. <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Dravidian-languages">Dravidian languages</a>, such as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tamil-language">Tamil</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Telugu-language">Telugu</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Malayalam-language">Malayalam</a>, have no historical relationship and virtually no linguistic similarities to the Indo-Aryan languages of the north. </p>
<h2>Dravidians spurn Hindi</h2>
<p>By the time the Raj ended in 1947, English had been established as the language of the elites and was used in education and government. As the new nation of India took shape, Mahatma Gandhi advocated for a single Indian language to unite the diverse regions and for many years championed Hindi, <a href="https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/fact-check-did-gandhi-want-hindi-as-national-language/cid/1705408">which was already widely spoken in the north</a>.</p>
<p>But after independence, opposition to Hindi grew in the Dravidian-speaking south, where English was the favored lingua franca. For Tamils and other Dravidian groups, Hindi was associated with the Brahmin caste, whom many felt <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/why-periyar-is-still-an-influencer-in-the-political-landscape-of-tamil-nadu/periyars-movements/slideshow/63215382.cms">marginalized Dravidian languages and culture</a>. </p>
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<img alt="Portrait of a woman smiling, wearing a blue and white shawl." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550332/original/file-20230926-21-sf77gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550332/original/file-20230926-21-sf77gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=826&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550332/original/file-20230926-21-sf77gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=826&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550332/original/file-20230926-21-sf77gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=826&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550332/original/file-20230926-21-sf77gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1039&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550332/original/file-20230926-21-sf77gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1039&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550332/original/file-20230926-21-sf77gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1039&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Indira Gandhi pushed to codify English, alongside Hindi, as an official language in the constitution.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/indian-politician-indira-gandhi-news-photo/639614209?adppopup=true">Henri Bureau/Sygma/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>For many people in the south, Hindi came to be seen as a language as foreign as English. To keep tensions from spilling over, the first prime minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, supported verbiage in the constitution adopted in 1950 <a href="https://www.uottawa.ca/clmc/language-provisions-constitution-indian-union#:%7E:text=The%20Constitution%20adopted%20in%201950,official%20language%20of%20the%20Union.">allowing for the continued use of English in government</a> for a limited period.</p>
<p>Violence nevertheless continued in the south for years around what was seen as the <a href="https://www.thenewsminute.com/tamil-nadu/history-anti-hindi-imposition-movements-tamil-nadu-102983">unfair promotion of Hindi</a>. It abated only when Indira Gandhi – Nehru’s daughter and the third prime minister of India – <a href="https://www.impriindia.com/insights/linguistic-diversity-language-policy/">pushed to codify English</a>, alongside Hindi, as an official language in the constitution.</p>
<p>Today, the Indian Constitution <a href="https://www.mha.gov.in/sites/default/files/EighthSchedule_19052017.pdf">recognizes 22 official languages</a>.</p>
<h2>Nationalists push for one official language</h2>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/75-years-ago-britains-plan-for-pakistani-and-indian-independence-left-unresolved-conflicts-on-both-sides-especially-when-it-comes-to-kashmir-185932">The Partition of India in 1947</a> – corresponding to the dissolution of the Raj – led to the creation of Pakistan, which was set up to aggregate the majority Muslim regions from the colonial state. An independent India was set up to include the majority non-Muslim regions. </p>
<p>Today, roughly <a href="https://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/2023-05/Pakistan.pdf">97% of Pakistan’s population is Muslim</a>. In India, Hindus make up about 80% of the population, while <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-58595040">Muslims make up about 14%</a> – more than 200 million people.</p>
<p>This is where modern domestic politics come into play. </p>
<p>“<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/20/what-is-hindu-nationalism-and-who-are-the-rss">Hindutva</a>” is a brand of far-right Hindu nationalism that emerged in the 20th century in response to colonial rule but gained its biggest following under the leadership of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Narendra-Modi">Prime Minister Narendra Modi</a> and his <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Bharatiya-Janata-Party">Bharatiya Janta Party</a>, or the BJP. </p>
<p>As a political ideology, Hindu nationalism should be distinguished from Hinduism, a religion. It advances policies that seek to promote Hindu supremacy and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/05/11/modi-india-muslims-hatred-incitement/">are widely considered anti-Muslim</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/25/threat-unity-anger-over-push-make-hindi-national-language-of-india">One such policy</a> is the promotion of Hindi as the sole official language of India. Speaking in 2022 at a Parliamentary Official Language Committee meeting, <a href="https://frontline.thehindu.com/cover-story/linguistic-imperialism-bjp-pronouncements-on-promoting-hindi-spark-outrage/article38492154.ece">BJP Home Minister Amit Shah said</a>, “When citizens of states speak other languages, communicate with each other, it should be in the language of India.”</p>
<p>To Shah, the “language of India” and Hindi were one and the same.</p>
<h2>Suppressing Urdu</h2>
<p>Muslims in India speak the languages of their communities – Hindi among them – as do Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Christians. </p>
<p>However, making Hindi the national language could be viewed as one part of a broader political project that can be characterized as anti-Muslim. That’s why the political opposition is against using “<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/9/6/india-or-bharat-whats-behind-the-dispute-over-the-countrys-name">Bharat</a>,” even though many Muslims are themselves Hindi speakers. </p>
<p>These politics become even clearer in the context of the BJP’s attempts <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Urdu-language">to limit the use of Urdu</a> – a language with a high degree of <a href="https://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/%7Eharoldfs/540/langdial/node2.html">mutual intelligibility</a> to Hindi – <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-61199753">in Indian public life</a>. </p>
<p>Although Urdu and Hindi are remarkably similar, their differences take on outsized religious and national significance. </p>
<p>Whereas Hindi is written in the Devanagari script, which has strong cultural associations with Hinduism, Urdu is written in the Perso-Arabic script, which has strong associations with Islam. Whereas Hindi draws on Sanskrit for new words, Urdu draws on Persian and Arabic, again emphasizing associations to Islam. And whereas Hindi predominates in India, <a href="https://www.sprachcaffe.com/english/magazine-article/what-language-is-spoken-in-pakistan.htm">Urdu is the official language of Pakistan</a>, along with English. </p>
<p>Thus the appearance of “Bharat” in official government correspondence may reopen old wounds for Muslims – and even for conservative Hindus in the Dravidian-speaking south who might otherwise support Modi and the BJP. </p>
<p>Although an official name change is unlikely in the immediate future, “Bharat” will likely continue to serve as a rallying cry for right-wing nationalists. </p>
<p>To them, the conciliatory language politics of Nehru and Indira Gandhi <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/07/15/india-nehru-history-myths-modi-bjp-politics-review/">are a thing of the past</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213524/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Phillip M. Carter does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The government’s use of the Hindi word for ‘India’ revives debates over whether Hindi should be the national language – and reopens some old wounds.Phillip M. Carter, Professor of Linguistics and English, Florida International UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2131052023-09-08T14:05:41Z2023-09-08T14:05:41ZBharat: why the recent push to change India’s name has a hidden agenda<p>The invitations to a state dinner to mark India’s hosting of this year’s G20 came not, as you’d expect, from the office of the president of India, but from the “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/07/india-or-bharat-g20-invitations-throw-up-question-dating-back-centuries">president of Bharat</a>”. This has prompted speculation from observers both at home and abroad about whether this signifies an official government intention to rename the country.</p>
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<p>Some have <a href="https://www.livemint.com/politics/news/will-bjp-rename-bharat-if-india-bloc-rechristens-itself-bharat-arvind-kejriwal-11693915259439.html">suggested</a> that the ruling BJP (Bharatiya Janata arty) is rattled, and is responding to the adoption of the <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/i-n-d-i-a-indian-national-democratic-inclusive-alliance-2024-elections-confusion-over-2-different-full-forms-for-opposition-alliance-4219182">acronym INDIA</a> (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) by a group of more than two dozen opposition political parties ahead of the general elections in 2024.</p>
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<p>There are numerous <a href="https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/trending/india-or-bharat-netizens-use-humour-to-debate-wonder-if-institutions-names-would-change-541603">debates taking place online</a> – both humorous and serious – about whether this name change ought to go ahead.</p>
<p>There’s a <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/india/bjp-mp-stirs-row-seeks-to-rename-india-to-bharat-1241795.html">growing push among BJP MPs</a> to adopt the name change, since “India” – the conventional English rendering of the country’s name – to some at least, symbolises “colonial slavery”. There have been <a href="https://news.abplive.com/news/india/india-to-bharat-country-name-change-what-supreme-court-said-1627743">previous petitions</a> seeking such a name change, but these were dismissed by the Supreme Court in 2016, and again in <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/india-or-bharat-here-is-what-sc-had-to-say-on-renaming-in-2020/articleshow/103398304.cms">2020</a>. </p>
<p>Just days before the G20 invitation went out, Mohan Bhagwat, head of the nationwide right-wing paramilitary organisation RSS (<a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/05/03/706808616/the-powerful-group-shaping-the-rise-of-hindu-nationalism-in-india">Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh</a>) – the ideological parent of the BJP – <a href="https://time.com/6310821/bjp-rename-india-bharat/">called explicitly</a> for the use of “Bharat” rather than India, <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/mohan-bhagwat-asks-people-to-use-name-bharat-instead-of-india/article67273901.ece">saying</a>: “We don’t have to think about whether anyone outside will understand this or not. If they want to, they will, but that is not our problem … The world need us today, we don’t need the world.”</p>
<h2>Constitutional change</h2>
<p>The recent flurry of speculation reopens old debates that were <a href="https://www.barandbench.com/columns/india-or-bharat-what-constituent-assembly-debated-and-what-supreme-court-held">discussed and resolved</a> in the Constituent Assembly in September 1949. Article 1 of the constitution, which deals with the name and territory of the Union, refers to the country as “India, that is Bharat”. In other words, the two names for the country have since always been understood as being synonymous. So the proposed change would mean altering the constitution to remove the reference to “India”. </p>
<p>Adding to the mix is the fact that a special session of the Indian parliament <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/govt-likely-to-move-bill-to-rename-india-as-bharat-in-parliaments-special-session/articleshow/103381210.cms?from=mdr">has been called</a> for September 18-22, thus fuelling speculations that this in on the order of business.</p>
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<p>But it’s unlikely that the path to the name change will be a formal one in the first instance. Like many significant changes that accommodate long-held demands of the Hindu nationalist right-wing in India, any name change will probably need to follow a process of societal normalisation.</p>
<p>For example, take the decision in April 2023 to <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/14/mughals-rss-evolution-outrage-as-india-edits-school-textbooks">remove from school textbooks</a> references to the (Muslim) Mughals who ruled over the subcontinent between the 16th and 19th centuries. The push for this began to gain momentum in 2016 with the informal <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/up-front/story/20160321-the-great-mughal-whitewash-audrey-truschke-south-asian-history-828594-2016-03-09">#DeleteMughalsFromHistory</a> hashtag in 2016. </p>
<p>So the G20 dinner invite is merely an opening gambit in a longer play.</p>
<h2>Rise of the Hindu right</h2>
<p>Part of the rationale offered by supporters of the name change is that Bharat is an indigenous term that goes back in history and was prominent in the anti-colonial struggles – for example, the slogan “<em><a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/jaipur/aradhana-mishra-bharat-mata-ki-jai-slogan-viral-video-8926590/">Bharat Mata ki Jai</a></em>” (Hail to mother Bharat). But there are other more important political ideological factors that must not be missed.</p>
<p>As the backbone of the right-wing in the country, the RSS (founded in 1925) has always carried a vision for India as a Hindu nation that extends far beyond electoral politics. In this transformation of Indian society and polity, the idea of <a href="https://theloop.ecpr.eu/hindu-nationalists-strategy-of-othering/">“othering” non-Hindus</a> has been crucial, and at various times has targeted Muslims, Christians, non-Brahmins, secularists, atheists, dissenters and so on.</p>
<p>So the proposed change of name from India to Bharat is not an anti-colonial move. Rather it is the creation of a binary designation whereby those who continue to espouse an “Indian” identity will, over time, become politically labelled as an “other” to the true and authentic “Bharatiya” (resident of Bharat) who is the “ideal” Hindu or Hindu-ised citizen.</p>
<p>In my 2017 <a href="https://www.nitashakaul.com/uploads/Kaul-2017-Journal_of_Labor_and_Society.pdf">analysis of the rise of the right</a> in India, I outlined the strategic ways in which the right relies upon contradictory leveraging of various dualities. One that I identified was India versus Bharat. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.asianstudies.org/publications/eaa/archives/on-the-difference-between-hinduism-and-hindutva/">Hindutva</a>, or political Hindu right-wing vision of India cherished by the RSS and BJP, is one where Bharat stands not just for a country that is India, but also connotes an idyll of pure Hindutva morality.</p>
<p>The right is seeking to create a new wedge between those who live in India and those who live in Bharat. Much like the divide between Remainers and Leavers in the UK is a legacy of Brexit, this kind of divisive politics has long-term consequences as the meanings attached to specific terms are altered. </p>
<p>The entities Bharat and India are constructed for particular political purposes. The RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said in 2013: “<a href="https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/rapes-occur-in-india-not-bharat-says-rss-chief-mohan-bhagwat-509401">Rapes do not happen in Bharat, they happen in India</a>.” </p>
<p>But facts matter little in the face of politically charged ideologues. Contemporary India is marked by a politics of distraction, where the recovering of some idyllic past is used by the right to obscure from view the failures of the present when it comes to equal rights and freedoms for citizens, competitive politics and the rule of law. </p>
<p>For citizens in need of life and livelihood security, a renamed Bharat is a hollow promise trading on manipulated narratives of past glory.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213105/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nitasha Kaul does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The move to rename India as ‘Bharat’ is part of a push by the Hindu nationalist right to create an ideologically pure state that in reality never existed.Nitasha Kaul, Director, Centre for the Study of Democracy (CSD), Professor of Politics, International Relations, and Critical Interdisciplinary Studies, University of WestminsterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2113892023-08-22T17:01:15Z2023-08-22T17:01:15ZNarendra Modi’s Independence Day speech sounded more like a snake oil salesman than a statesman<p>Narendra Modi’s tenth consecutive Independence Day speech as Indian prime minister, delivered from the Red Fort in Delhi on August 15, was <a href="https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/trends/pm-modis-77th-independence-day-speech-longer-than-any-other-in-recent-past-11190481.html">long</a> (90 minutes) and characteristically loaded with bombast. It was not the inclusive message of a statesman seeking to address a nation’s challenges and opportunities, but more of a campaign pitch for next year’s general election. </p>
<p>At times, he resembled the old snake oil salesman cliché: he proclaimed the success of his product and ignored its side effects. He was vague on detail and tried to distance himself from any problems his policies had caused. And, as you’d expect, he rubbished what his competitors have to offer. </p>
<p>At other times, he channelled Julius Caesar, <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/india/prime-minister-narendra-modi-independence-day-speech-2023-full-text-8893141/">repeatedly referring to himself in the third person</a>: “Modi had the courage to bring reforms … And Modi brought reforms one after the other.” His speech was littered with such references.</p>
<p>In a remarkable display of sophistry, he repeatedly called the citizens of India his “<em>parivarjan</em>” or family. This is significant, because Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is backed by the “<em>Sangh Parivar</em>” or “Sangh family” of Hindu supremacist rightwing organisations. So, when the prime minister refers to family, it’s clear this is non-inclusive – and his speech was rife with the familiar us-versus-them tropes that have become the staple of <a href="https://www.nitashakaul.com/uploads/Kaul-2017-Journal_of_Labor_and_Society.pdf">rightwing politics</a> in Modi’s India.</p>
<p>He also presented his administration as the beginning of an “<a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/business/union-budget/union-budget-2022-23-what-does-amrit-kaal-mean-1076822.html"><em>amrit kaal</em></a>”. This is a term from Vedic (or Hindu) astrology that means an auspicious critical time to start a new era or new projects. But an important subtext of his address was his assertion that India underwent more than a millennium of slavery. India’s Independence Day speech is supposed to celebrate freedom from British colonial rule which ended in 1947. But Modi’s 1,000 years of slavery has been <a href="https://thewire.in/government/independence-day-modi-speech-slavery-manipur">widely interpreted</a> as deliberately referencing long periods of the country’s history during which the country was ruled by Muslim dynasties, including the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/history/mughalempire_1.shtml">Mughal empire (1526-1761)</a>, characterising it as an era of invasion, looting and subjugation.</p>
<h2>Rhetoric versus reality</h2>
<p>Modi has used his previous Independence Day speeches to <a href="https://www.jagranjosh.com/general-knowledge/key-highlights-from-pm-modi-independence-day-speech-1692067102-1">announce his government’s campaigns</a> – and this year was no different. Sadly but predictably, few media organisations were brave enough to point to the contrast between his <a href="https://thewire.in/politics/narendra-modi-independence-day-speech-rhetoric-plan">rhetoric and reality</a> when he listed his government’s successes. </p>
<p>His claim to have the economy under control rings hollow when you consider that inflation is at a <a href="https://www.livemint.com/economy/independence-day-2023-whats-been-indias-inflation-trajectory-in-last-one-year-check-key-figures-11692031722341.html">15-month high of 7.44%</a>, driven by a doubling of fruit and vegetable prices in recent months. His claim that exports are increasing is <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/exports-decline-by-22-to-32-97-billion-in-june-steepest-monthly-fall-in-3-years/articleshow/101762242.cms?from=mdr">simply untrue</a>. </p>
<p>Meanwhile policy pledges of previous years that have not been fulfilled were simply forgotten. His promises to double farmer’s incomes, encourage the development of “<a href="https://smartcities.gov.in/">smart cities</a>”, provide <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/by-2022-every-indian-will-have-a-house-promises-pm-modi/story-z2ZAADfVfDemFWItiM1oXI.html">housing</a> and <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/Electricity-for-all-houses-by-2022-Modi/article60205952.ece">electricity</a> for all, or to solve the <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/6/15/has-india-kashmir-policy-under-modi-failed">crisis in Kashmir</a> hardly rated a mention. </p>
<p>Modi’s speech was also big on was women’s empowerment and safety. He said it was “everyone’s responsibility to ensure there is no atrocity against our daughters”. But <a href="https://thewire.in/women/big-talk-small-action-modi-govts-work-on-womens-empowerment-in-the-last-9-years">during his tenure</a>, women’s participation in the labour force has fallen and crimes (especially relating to sexual violence) against women have risen. This was most recently seen <a href="https://theconversation.com/indian-womens-struggle-against-sexual-violence-has-had-little-support-from-the-men-in-power-210318">in BJP-ruled Manipur</a>. His tenure has been marked by shameful prolonged silences on ghastly situations and failure to fix responsibility and act on addressing <a href="https://thewire.in/women/narendra-modi-nari-shakti-independence-day">crimes against women</a>. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/indian-womens-struggle-against-sexual-violence-has-had-little-support-from-the-men-in-power-210318">Indian women's struggle against sexual violence has had little support from the men in power</a>
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<p>Similarly, his regular invocation of the “140 crore family members” (the entire population of India) as one “family” ignores the situation of minorities in India. This has deteriorated rapidly in recent years while <a href="https://thewire.in/communalism/modis-india-empowering-the-mob-disempowering-the-state">mob violence against ethnic minorities</a> has continued, against a backdrop of silence from those in power. A blatantly assertive Hindu supremacist vigilante mob culture is on display where <a href="https://scholarworks.iu.edu/iupjournals/index.php/muslimphilanthropy/article/view/5012">hate speech</a> against Muslims and Christians has become normalised. </p>
<p>Were Modi a statesman worthy of his position, he would have assured India’s minorities that they are equal rights-bearing citizens. He would have refrained from <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/77th-independence-day-pm-modi-speech-red-fort-key-quotes/articleshow/102737080.cms?from=mdr">platitudes about peace</a> and the “Indian family” and rather spelled out policy proposals to tackle ethnic violence in Manipur. </p>
<h2>Stump speech</h2>
<p>Modi’s speech spent some time accusing his political opponents of the “<a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/independence-day-2023-pm-modi-decries-corruption-nepotism-appeasement-as-three-sins-get-rid-of-them-101692069707816.html">three evils</a>” his government had worked hard to eradicate. These, he described in some detail as:</p>
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<p>Corruption, nepotism and appeasement; these challenges have flourished which has suppressed the aspirations of the people of our country.</p>
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<p>The Modi-led BJP administration has been <a href="https://www.economist.com/international/2023/05/02/the-2023-crony-capitalism-index">notorious for its crony capitalism</a>. One of India’s wealthiest businessmen, Gautam Adani, who hails from Modi’s home state of Gujarat, has <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/474706d6-1243-4f1e-b365-891d4c5d528b">gained the nickname, “Modi’s Rockefeller”</a> for his reportedly close relationship with the prime minister. Adani himself commented on television earlier this year that: “These allegations are baseless … the fact of the matter is that my professional success is not because of any individual leader.” In general, though, well-connected billionaires have <a href="https://www.eurasiareview.com/08052023-under-modis-watch-crony-capitalist-sectors-share-in-indias-gdp-goes-up-from-5-to-8-analysis/">flourished under the BJP</a>. </p>
<p>Modi’s reference to “dynastic politics” is obviously directly aimed at his opponents in the Congress party, the Gandhi/Nehru family. It is significant that the day before his speech, the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (named after India’s first and longest-serving prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru) was renamed Prime Minister’s Museum and Library. </p>
<p>Finally, the word “appeasement” in Indian politics is a dog-whistle which is used to accuse his political enemies of favouring minorities. The BJP’s Hindu nationalism, meanwhile, has effectively and purposefully marginalised minority groups. Modi’s support for a <a href="https://frontline.thehindu.com/the-nation/uniform-civil-code-history-implications-and-minority-perspectives/article67090521.ece#:%7E:text=The%20Uniform%20Civil%20Code%20aims,throughout%20the%20territory%20of%20India%E2%80%9D.">Uniform Civil Code (UCC)</a>, which ostensibly aims to foster equality and unity, has been widely criticised for ignoring and endangering the rights of India’s minority groups.</p>
<p>Modi’s speech was nothing more than a stump speech for the 2024 election aimed firmly at the country’s Hindu majority. Towards the end of his speech, Modi <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/india/prime-minister-narendra-modi-independence-day-speech-2023-full-text-8893141/">expressed his confidence</a> that on August 15 2024, he would again address the country from the Red Fort after being reelected. </p>
<p>Many Indians who care about democratic erosion, decline in media freedoms, institutional capture, pervasive identity-based anti-minority violence, deepening societal divisions and a centralisation of executive power, will hope otherwise.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211389/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nitasha Kaul does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Indian prime minister’s rhetoric strayed a long way from reality.Nitasha Kaul, Director, Centre for the Study of Democracy (CSD), Professor of Politics, International Relations, and Critical Interdisciplinary Studies, University of WestminsterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2107852023-08-08T19:26:14Z2023-08-08T19:26:14ZManipur violence: Why has India’s government been slow to respond?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540908/original/file-20230802-23-fhyvfk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=25%2C90%2C8601%2C5652&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Activists protesting ethnic violence in northeastern Manipur state shout slogans in Mumbai, India, on July 24, 2023. Violence between tribal communities in the state has flared up in recent months.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/manipur-violence-why-has-indias-government-been-slow-to-respond" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>A mass burial for 35 people from the Kuki tribe killed in ethnic violence in India’s Manipur state <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/postponed-mass-burial-of-35-kukis-delayed-as-ethnic-clashes-continue-in-manipur-meitei-groups-criticize-conglomerate-101691053524061.html">was recently put on hold</a> after opposition from the state’s Meitei community. </p>
<p>The dispute over the burial site is the latest episode in an ethnic conflict that has rocked Manipur. For months, Manipur in northeastern India has seen <a href="https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/nation/manipur-violance-explained-what-triggered-and-why-is-peace-yet-to-return-528010">ethno-religious violence</a> between the majority Hindu Meitei community and the Kuki and Naga <a href="https://www.reuters.com/graphics/INDIA-VIOLENCE/movakzwygva/">tribal communities</a> who are predominately Christian. </p>
<p>Since May, the stream of violence has <a href="https://www.telegraphindia.com/north-east/manipur-bearing-brunt-of-violence-kukis-make-up-two-thirds-of-the-victims-says-reuters-analysis/cid/1955181">claimed the lives</a> of over 180 people and has displaced thousands. Despite the violence, the central government only responded with statements after images of a shocking attack on two women were shared online.</p>
<p>In late July, a <a href="https://thewire.in/communalism/manipur-video-two-kuki-women-paraded-naked-gang-raped">harrowing video</a> emerged of two Kuki women being paraded naked through the streets of a small Manipur village by a group of men. One of the women was then allegedly gang-raped. News reports stated the men were allegedly from the Meitei community.</p>
<h2>Government inaction</h2>
<p>Opposition Members of Parliament have brought a <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/world/asia/india-s-modi-faces-a-no-confidence-vote-over-silence-on-ethnic-violence-tearing-at/article_17541698-0883-527e-8b52-351450d565fa.html">no-confidence motion</a> against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, citing his government’s failure to respond to the violence. </p>
<p>After the video was widely shared online, and more than two months after the violence first broke out, Modi finally made a statement. He called it a “<a href="https://thewire.in/politics/seventy-nine-days-after-violence-broke-out-narendra-modi-finally-talks-about-manipur">shameful incident</a>,” and said state governments should strengthen their legal systems to protect India’s “mothers and sisters.”</p>
<p>However, his statement also <a href="https://www.financialexpress.com/india-news/manipur-violence-video-narendra-modi-bjp-nirbhaya-moment/3184842/">included examples</a> of violence in states run by the opposition, and did not condemn the violence more broadly. The parliament has been in session since July 20, <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/ask-pm-to-speak-in-parliament-on-manipur-give-roadmap-for-bringing-peace-in-state-opposition-urges-president/article67149804.ece">but the prime minister has yet to make an appearance to discuss the situation in Manipur</a>.</p>
<p>Many of India’s political elite have remained deafeningly silent or have <a href="https://thewire.in/politics/narendra-modi-manipur-response-humanity">engaged in whataboutism</a>. When the Minister of Women and Child Development, Smriti Irani, was questioned in parliament about the violence against women in Manipur, she <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/when-smriti-irani-shouted-at-opposition-over-manipur-in-parliament/articleshow/102181242.cms?from=mdr">evaded responsibility</a> and pointed to violence in opposition ruled states.</p>
<p>This most recent incident is yet another indication of India’s indifference towards violence against women. The current administration has also been clear and consistent in its apathy towards marginalized and minority communities. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540912/original/file-20230802-25-2d6d4l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man and woman pull a cart down a road lined with debris and damaged buildings." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540912/original/file-20230802-25-2d6d4l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540912/original/file-20230802-25-2d6d4l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540912/original/file-20230802-25-2d6d4l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540912/original/file-20230802-25-2d6d4l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540912/original/file-20230802-25-2d6d4l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540912/original/file-20230802-25-2d6d4l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540912/original/file-20230802-25-2d6d4l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A couple pulls a cart loaded with scavenged items from the debris of burnt houses following ethnic clashes and rioting in Sugnu, in the northeastern Indian state of Manipur, on June 21, 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The women in the video have since filed a petition with the Supreme Court of India. Lawyers representing them have <a href="https://thewire.in/law/we-cant-justify-what-happened-in-manipur-by-saying-this-happened-elsewhere-sc">alleged</a> that police collaborated with the perpetrators. In a statement, the Indian Supreme Court said violence against women in Manipur has reached an “<a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/india/supreme-court-says-violence-against-women-in-manipur-unprecedented-refuses-to-hear-cases-of-other-states/articleshow/102284901.cms?from=mdr">unprecedented magnitude</a>.”</p>
<h2>What’s behind the violence</h2>
<p>Manipur is a small state of around three million people in the northeast of India bordering Myanmar. Manipur’s proximity to international borders with Myanmar has made it prone to insurgency and conflict. Instances of ethnic violence are often attributed to decades of unresolved strife between various tribal and non-tribal groups. </p>
<p>This ongoing violence was triggered by the <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/manipur-high-court-directs-state-to-consider-inclusion-of-meitei-community-in-scheduled-tribes-list/article66756719.ece">Manipur High Court’s decision in April 2023</a> to include the state’s majority Meitei community in the list of <a href="https://ncst.nic.in/content/frequently-asked-questions">Scheduled Tribes</a>. Categorizing a group as a Scheduled Tribe provides members of the group with special constitutional safeguards — at least on paper. </p>
<p>The Meitei community <a href="https://www.reuters.com/graphics/INDIA-VIOLENCE/movakzwygva/">performs better</a> than other ethnic groups in Manipur on many social indicators, such as access to employment and educational opportunities.</p>
<p>Kuki and Naga tribal communities <a href="https://www.outlookindia.com/national/intricacies-of-meitei-s-st-status-demand-and-the-hill-valley-divide-in-manipur-news-290275">fear</a> that if the Meitei are categorized as Scheduled Tribes, that would strengthen their already greater political influence in the state. The tribal communities also fear it would allow Meiteis to <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-66260730">buy land and settle</a> in Kuki areas. </p>
<p>This <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/08/01/modi-india-manipur-violence-rape/">strife</a> has led to churches being burned, sexual violence, killings and other atrocities.</p>
<p>In response to the outbreak of violence in May, the Manipur state government <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/an-internet-ban-will-not-restore-peace-in-manipur/article67106942.ece">shut down internet services</a>. The <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lV8EIpCIk0QausqzjphWvcNk4ejFujMi/view?ref=static.internetfreedom.in">order</a> issued by the government read that “anti-social elements” were using social media to incite the “passions of the public” and it was a necessary measure to stop the spread of disinformation. </p>
<p>Arbitrary internet shutdowns for a wide variety of reasons have become <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/india-internet-shutdown-idINL8N2YZ245">all too common</a>, despite a <a href="https://indiankanoon.org/doc/82461587/">2020 Supreme Court of India ruling</a> that declared suspending the internet a “drastic measure” that state governments must employ only if “necessary and unavoidable.” </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540911/original/file-20230802-8013-2ag4le.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A group of people at a protest carry a banner that reads: Women against rape culture." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540911/original/file-20230802-8013-2ag4le.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540911/original/file-20230802-8013-2ag4le.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540911/original/file-20230802-8013-2ag4le.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540911/original/file-20230802-8013-2ag4le.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540911/original/file-20230802-8013-2ag4le.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540911/original/file-20230802-8013-2ag4le.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540911/original/file-20230802-8013-2ag4le.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Activists protesting against ethnic violence and the assaults of two women, who were paraded naked in northeastern Manipur state, walk in a procession in Kolkata, India, on July 24, 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Bikas Das)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why has Manipur been ignored?</h2>
<p>The states of northeastern India have long been seen as developmentally and geographically peripheral by the central government. States like Manipur have been subjected to “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1215/15366936-8913107">neocolonial governance</a>” and have not benefited from social, political or economic development because they are often viewed as “amorphous shadowlands” within India.</p>
<p>People in the region have often been <a href="https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/the-neglected-states-of-the-nation/220206">neglected</a> and positioned as outsiders by the rest of India. Successive central governments have often viewed those in the northeast as objects to be militarized, policed and disciplined. Manipur has also been subjected to abusive laws such as the <a href="https://www.mha.gov.in/sites/default/files/armed_forces_special_powers_act1958.pdf">Armed Forces Special Powers Act</a>, which grants the Indian Armed Forces special powers to maintain order in “disturbed areas.” This militarization has contributed to <a href="https://www.outlookindia.com/national/intricacies-of-meitei-s-st-status-demand-and-the-hill-valley-divide-in-manipur-news-290275">perpetual violence</a> in the region.</p>
<p>India’s democratic veneer has helped it evade international scrutiny for the ongoing ethnic violence in Manipur. International outrage at what has happened in Manipur has been minimal. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/india-is-using-the-g20-summit-to-further-its-settler-colonial-ambitions-in-kashmir-205166">India is using the G20 summit to further its settler-colonial ambitions in Kashmir</a>
</strong>
</em>
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<p>In fact, Modi received a red carpet welcome in the so-called bastions of democracy, namely the United States in late June and France in mid-July.</p>
<p>In response to a question from a reporter about declining respect for human rights and democracy, Modi responded that <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/democracy-runs-in-our-veins-says-pm-to-question-on-rights-of-muslims-4144923">democracy is in India’s DNA</a> and has been delivered for all regardless of caste, creed, religion and gender. </p>
<p>Modi’s visit to France in July to pen new <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/7/13/military-deals-in-focus-as-france-rolls-out-red-carpet-for-modi">defence deals</a> coincided with European Parliament’s <a href="https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/RC-9-2023-0335_EN.html">adoption of a resolution</a> urging Indian authorities to take action to stop the violence in Manipur. However, there was no push back from the French president. </p>
<p>If states like the U.S. and France truly believe in human rights, they must take a much stronger stance on India’s draconian shift towards authoritarianism and illiberalism.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210785/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jay Ramasubramanyam does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Indian central government has done little thus far to quell the ongoing ethnic violence in the state of Manipur.Jay Ramasubramanyam, Assistant Professor, Law & Society Program, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2063052023-05-24T08:18:31Z2023-05-24T08:18:31ZWord from The Hill: On the Voice, the Quad, and Indian PM Modi’s visit<p>As well as her interviews with politicians and experts, Politics with Michelle Grattan includes “Word from The Hill”, where she discusses the news with members of The Conversation’s politics team.</p>
<p>In this podcast Michelle and politics + society editor Amanda Dunn discuss whether Labor needs to panic about a polling decline in support for the Voice, the Quad meeting on skates, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s celebrity welcome.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206305/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In this podcast, @michellegrattan and @amandadunn10 discuss Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit and his rock-star welcome, The Voice, and the G7 and Quad meetings in JapanMichelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2038522023-04-14T16:29:40Z2023-04-14T16:29:40ZIndia: Rahul Gandhi’s defamation trial highlights drift away from democracy under Narendra Modi<p>Rahul Gandhi, India’s most prominent opposition leader and the principal adversary of the country’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, was recently disqualified as a member of parliament. This came after Gandhi was <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-65023061">found guilty</a> of defamation for comment he made about Modi’s surname at a rally in 2019. </p>
<p>Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party had also run a furious campaign demanding “<a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/row-over-rahul-gandhis-remarks-hits-lok-sabha-proceedings-for-second-consecutive-day/articleshow/98636210.cms"><em>Rahul Gandhi maafi mango</em>”</a> (Rahul Gandhi, apologise) after comments Gandhi made during his recent visit to the UK. The scion of India’s most prominent political dynasty made several remarks alleging that India’s democratic institutions were being <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/criticising-govt-at-home-or-abroad-citizens-right-does-not-amount-to-being-unpatriotic-sibal-amid-rahuls-uk-remarks-row/article66622611.ece">deliberately undermined</a> by the current government. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1633728174470078471"}"></div></p>
<p>This, BJP members said, amounted to “defaming” India itself. Their reasoning was that criticising the state of India’s postcolonial democracy in the halls of the former colonising country crossed the line. But this hypersensitivity equates to evading scrutiny if it means that democratically elected leaders cannot voice their opinions freely in any forum. </p>
<p>Modi and the BJP’s brand of politics has thrived on the sustained use of <a href="https://www.nitashakaul.com/uploads/Kaul-2017-Journal_of_Labor_and_Society.pdf">deliberately contradictory speech and policies</a> as part of what I have termed his “<a href="https://www.ippjournal.org/-postcolonial-neoliberal-nationalism.html">postcolonial neoliberal nationalism</a>”. This political project has been divisive for its weaponisation of colonial history, its failure to act on crony capitalism, and for claiming a monopoly on what it means to be nationalist. </p>
<p>The space for raising these concerns within India is shrinking rapidly, as shown by the decline in civil and political liberties that has led to Indian being ranked as only <a href="https://freedomhouse.org/country/india/freedom-world/2023">“partly free”</a> in the latest Freedom House Index. </p>
<p>Gandhi, along with other opposition leaders and scholars like ourselves and others, in and outside India, have been pointing toward this <a href="https://democracyjournal.org/magazine/62-special-issue/the-challenge-of-indias-democratic-backsliding/">democratic backsliding</a> or <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/regarding-fascism/">worse</a> occurring in India. Such criticisms are routinely met with political labelling of being “anti-national”, “anti-India” and “foreign funded”.</p>
<p>In various <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s67NhAn8gJQ">speeches and forums</a> during his visit to the UK in March, Gandhi asserted – as he does regularly in India – that Modi and the BJP are pursuing an unprecedented campaign against political opposition, civil society, and dissent. </p>
<p>In this, they are doing the bidding of the far-right <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/in-london-rahul-gandhi-calls-rss-fascist-points-out-reasons-for-congress-decline-101678147505367.html">Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)</a> (National Volunteer Organisation). Gandhi <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/rss-a-fundamentalist-fascist-organisation-rahul-gandhi-at-chatham-house/videoshow/98472452.cms?from=mdr">has described the RSS</a> as a “fundamentalist” and “fascist” movement that “has basically captured pretty much all of India’s institutions”.</p>
<p>Gandhi is not alone in his criticism of the RSS. Writer and activist Arundhati Roy has <a href="https://www.trtworld.com/asia/rss-will-either-destroy-india-or-india-will-destroy-them-arundhati-roy-55386">said the same of the movement</a>, arguing that the century-old paramilitary movement was supported by much of India’s corporate sector. </p>
<h2>Democracy in decline</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/05/03/706808616/the-powerful-group-shaping-the-rise-of-hindu-nationalism-in-india">RSS</a> is a nucleus of the “<a href="https://hindutvawatch.org/sangh-parivar/">Sangh Parivar</a>” umbrella movement of various right-wing organisations and an ideological parent to the BJP. It has been quite open about its desire to transform India into <a href="https://tif.ssrc.org/2022/12/07/understanding-and-undoing-the-far-right/">a strongly militarist nation</a> based on extreme <a href="https://www.india-seminar.com/2009/601/601_dibyesh_anand.htm">Hindu nationalism</a>. </p>
<p>Institutional capture by the BJP is evident in its <a href="https://theprint.in/india/governance/modi-pmo-tends-to-control-everything-ministers-seek-nod-for-press-meets-too-says-anil-swarup/973913/">control of India’s senior bureaucracy</a>, the regular use of the <a href="https://www.outlookindia.com/national/explained-the-birth-and-evolution-of-enforcement-directorate-as-indian-state-sword-arm-news-212141">Enforcement Directorate</a> (a law enforcement agency under the Ministry of Finance) for <a href="https://www.outlookindia.com/national/enforcement-directorate-the-rise-and-rise-of-ed-sarkar--news-212317">political targeting of the opposition</a>, and the installation of controversial leaders of academic and cultural institutions. Thanks to <a href="https://twitter.com/NitashaKaul/status/1646617233504739331?s=20">longstanding pressure from Sangh Parivar</a>, even school textbooks have been revised to present a <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/14/mughals-rss-evolution-outrage-as-india-edits-school-textbooks">selective and Hindu-centric view of history and science</a>.</p>
<p>With the support of <a href="https://theasiadialogue.com/2019/05/08/media-money-and-majoritarianism-the-indian-elections-2019/">many in the business sector and media</a>, the BJP has built a cult around Modi based on the idea of one leader, one party, one (Hindu) nation. This resembles what many would see as bearing the hallmarks of modern fascism.</p>
<h2>Political Labelling</h2>
<p>The BJP’s reaction to Gandhi’s criticisms only backs this assessment. Rather than engage with the substance of Gandhi’s arguments, the party and its supporters have instead focused on criticising him personally. They portray Gandhi and other critics as “anti-national” and as part of a <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/rahul-gandhi-doing-what-mir-jafar-did-bjps-new-attack-over-uk-remarks-3879527">“foreign conspiracy”</a> to weaken India. </p>
<p>This contempt for opposition by no means stops at political figures such as Gandhi. In March, justice minister Kiren Rijiju referred to “some retired judges” being “<a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/political-pulse/kiren-rijiju-draws-flak-over-remark-on-judges-law-minister-talking-like-an-outlaw-8506280/">part of the anti-India gang</a>”. </p>
<p>The BJP also has a poor record when it comes to free speech in India. The international media monitor RSF said in its current report that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The violence against journalists, the politically partisan media and the concentration of media ownership all demonstrate that press freedom is in crisis in
“the world’s largest democracy”.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In recent times, this suppression and intimidation has extended to the international media. After the BBC aired a documentary critical of Modi’s government, the authorities <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/21/tax-raids-on-bbc-offices-in-india-deeply-worrying-says-labour">raided the BBC’s Delhi office</a>, purportedly for tax reasons. </p>
<p>The BBC documentary arguably said nothing that Indian scholars and activists have not been arguing since the riots in Gujarat 2002 when Modi was beginning his rise as the state’s chief minister. Yet the Modi government <a href="https://thewire.in/video/watch-du-students-barred-bbc-documentary-modi">punished students</a> who tried to screen the documentary in their universities, and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/23/india-emergency-laws-to-ban-bbc-narendra-modi-documentary">invoked emergency laws</a> to ban the documentary.</p>
<p>Of course, the rise of <a href="https://academic.oup.com/isr/article/23/4/1619/6303451">authoritarian-style politics</a> in electoral democracies is not confined to India. But given the sheer size of India, which is tipped to overtake China as the world’s most populous country this year, and its reputation as an established non-western democracy, the significance of Gandhi’s warnings and his ongoing treatment at the hands of the ruling party in India is of major concern.</p>
<p>Gandhi has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/03/india-rahul-gandhi-appeals-against-defamation-verdict">appealed his conviction</a>, but his warnings – and those of countless other politicians, activists and public intellectuals – deserve to be taken seriously by the rest of the world. How the world reacts may determine whether India will remain the world’s largest democracy or become a bellwether for autocratisation in the coming years.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203852/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The scion of India’s pre-eminent political dynasty is accusing the prime minister of undermining the country’s democracy.Nitasha Kaul, Reader (Associate Professor), School of Social Sciences, University of WestminsterDibyesh Anand, Head of School of Social Sciences, University of WestminsterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1981852023-01-27T16:03:09Z2023-01-27T16:03:09ZGandhi’s image is under scrutiny 75 years after his assassination – but his protest principles are being revived<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506801/original/file-20230127-26-tjrx0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Harshit Srivastava S3/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Mohandas Karamchand “Mahatma” Gandhi remains, even <a href="https://www.historytoday.com/archive/months-past/death-mahatma-gandhi">75 years after his assassination</a>, a useful symbol for many in India. For secularists, the leader of the country’s independence movement represents an imagined India of the past. For the current government, he is a means by which it can soften its international image.</p>
<p>In his <a href="http://www.littlemag.com/nandy.htm">2002 essay</a>, academic Ashis Nandy, mentioned four versions of Gandhi, who led India’s move from British colony to independent nation. </p>
<p>The first is the Gandhi of the Indian state and of official Indian nationalism. The second is a puritanical and sombre figure, apolitical and dependent on state funding, the subject of university seminars debating: “What would Gandhi do?” </p>
<p>The third is the “Gandhi of the ragamuffins”, opposing mechanisation, large-scale development and a high-consumption economy. The fourth is Gandhi the non-violent revolutionary, a worldwide phenomenon, influential in movements but no longer feared by tyrants, nor taken seriously by the left. </p>
<p>Over the past two decades, however, Gandhi and his legacy have taken a thorough beating.</p>
<p>Reappraisals of Gandhi are, admittedly, long overdue. Titles such as “Mahatma” (“high souled” or “venerable” in Sanskrit) and “Father of the Nation” have worn thin since his death, as new events in India and worldwide that brought new scrutiny to his life, work and politics. </p>
<p>Some of these seem far-fetched, for example <a href="http://amanpanchayat.org/the-sinner-and-the-saint-2/">equating Gandhi with Osama bin Laden</a> and global jihadists on the grounds that they were similarly based on a “sacrificial humanitarianism”. <a href="https://theworld.org/stories/2013-01-30/was-gandhi-bisexual-letters-go-display-65th-death-anniversary">Speculations about his sexuality</a> provoked a debate about his supposed “celibacy”. In the aftermath of the #MeToo movement, his strange practice of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/01/gandhi-celibacy-test-naked-women">sleeping next to naked young women</a> was openly discussed. </p>
<p>The rise of much-persecuted <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalit">Dalit</a> people (previously known as untouchables) in political and intellectual spaces over the past two decades has given rise to trenchant criticisms of Gandhi’s complicity in the preservation <a href="https://www.roundtableindia.co.in/anilkumar-pv/">of caste dominance</a>, and the hypocrisy in his stands repeatedly that favoured the preservation of caste over justice and emancipation. Economist and politician Bhimrao Ramji “Babasaheb” Ambedkar’s <a href="https://thewire.in/history/mahatma-gandhi-jayanti-ambedkar-caste">evisceration of Gandhi’s politics</a> is now more widely known and accepted than ever before.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-uttar-pradesh-election-result-is-important-for-narendra-modis-plans-177192">Why the Uttar Pradesh election result is important for Narendra Modi's plans</a>
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<p>Of those images of Gandhi named in the essay, some are now seen as enemies <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/pm-modi-talks-of-narmada-a-day-after-rahul-gandhis-walk-with-medha-patkar/articleshow/95646275.cms?from=mdr">of the vision of progress</a> of India’s current prime minister, Narendra Modi. Others have been refined to sit comfortably within <a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=245762184196590">the cultural nationalism</a> of Hindutva, the project of creating a constitutional Hindu state and institutionalising its version of Hindu culture and social order in contradiction to Gandhi’s vision of a <a href="https://www.mkgandhi.org/articles/gandhi_religion.html">multi-faith nation</a>. </p>
<p>Those using Gandhi’s methods of protest are now likely to be labelled “<a href="https://www.sundayguardianlive.com/news/am-i-an-urban-naxal">urban Naxal</a>”, a Hindutva shorthand for intellectuals and activists involved in struggles of the rural poor, and have draconian legal charges slapped on them. </p>
<p>Gandhi’s international influence and reputation is now much diminished. Gandhi’s use of <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-34265882">racist words</a> for black Africans has fuelled righteous outrage against him. <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-46051184">Malawi’s government stopped construction</a> of a Gandhi statue after these accusations, though pressure from Modi’s government resulted in the <a href="https://www.nyasatimes.com/lilongwe-mahatma-gandhi-statue-unveiled-at-indian-high-commission/">completion of the statue</a> later. </p>
<p>In Ghana, Gandhi’s statue was <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/12/14/676691788/university-of-ghana-removes-gandhi-statue-after-faculty-outcry">pulled down</a>. <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/black-lives-matter-protests-gandhi-statue-targeted-in-london/story-PhDYQb8WxzhAwJySGpRhsM.html">Black Lives Matter movements in the US</a> and <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-53025407">in the UK </a> also branded him a racist, and called for removal of his statues.</p>
<h2>How Modi uses Gandhi</h2>
<p>The most far-reaching bid to move India away from the nation that Gandhi imagined has come from India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) and its parent organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). The RSS was briefly <a href="https://thewire.in/history/sardar-patel-rss-ban-1948">banned after Gandhi’s killing</a> for its involvement in the crime. It espouses a violent communal polarisation with an anti-minority politics, and several episodes of <a href="https://scroll.in/article/912533/the-modi-years-what-has-fuelled-rising-mob-violence-in-india">mob lynching</a> with impunity, have been the fertile ground for its rise. </p>
<p>While Gandhi emphasised truth, <a href="https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/two-faces-editorial-on-bjp-govts-manipulative-ways-to-spread-fake-news/cid/1870851">fake news</a> has been has been used to mobilise mass support for Hindutva. The RSS also tries to quote <a href="https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2022/sep/16/mohan-bhagwat-quotes-gandhi-says-west-looks-at-indian-philosophy-2498732.amp">Gandhi in support</a> of their political approach.</p>
<p>However, Hindutva organisations organise tableaux annually to <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/hindu-mahasabha-recreates-mahatma-gandhis-assassination-in-up-1985761">re-enact</a> the assassination on January 30 1948. Those elements of the RSS who supported “Gandhian socialism” are in political hibernation.</p>
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<img alt="Men sitting at a long table wearing medical masks, with an image of Gandhi behind." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506804/original/file-20230127-26-sutezm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506804/original/file-20230127-26-sutezm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=249&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506804/original/file-20230127-26-sutezm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=249&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506804/original/file-20230127-26-sutezm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=249&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506804/original/file-20230127-26-sutezm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=313&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506804/original/file-20230127-26-sutezm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=313&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506804/original/file-20230127-26-sutezm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=313&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Indian prime minister Shri Narendra Modi chairing a meeting of the cabinet, in New Delhi on July 14 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">YashSD/Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>Modi, the Hindutva state and the new official nationalism, though, still need Gandhi. Under Modi’s modernisation fetish, major Gandhian ashrams, like <a href="https://www.gandhiashramsabarmati.org/en/">Sabarmati</a>, have been given such a <a href="https://frontline.thehindu.com/the-nation/un-gandhian-makeover/article36535134.ece">tourist-friendly facelift</a>, seemingly stripped of all historical gravitas. </p>
<p>Modi launched his <a href="https://www.pmindia.gov.in/en/government_tr_rec/swachh-bharat-abhiyan-2/">Swachh Bharat</a> (or Clean India] campaign using Gandhi as the logo. Home minister Amit Shah <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/india-had-diverted-from-ideals-of-mahatma-gandhi-pm-narendra-modi-got-it-back-amit-shah-2818626">claims</a> that Modi is Gandhi’s true modern manifestation. </p>
<p>Modi supports the construction of Gandhi statues worldwide. <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/every-indian-proud-to-see-mahatma-gandhi-s-bust-at-un-says-pm-modi-122121501237_1.html">At the UN</a>, Modi said he represented the land of Gandhi, claiming that erecting a bust at the UN headquarters was a matter or pride for all Indians. <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2019/10/2/bjps-gandhi-paradox">Modi’s Gandhian paradox</a> is that the only Gandhi he wants to assimilate into his project is a Gandhi shorn of his core beliefs, principles and modes of political action. </p>
<p>Is the influence of Gandhi’s ideals finished then? Not quite. Activists from the <a href="https://www.businesstoday.in/panorama/photo/the-activists-and-leaders-who-were-detained-while-protesting-against-the-citizenship-amendment-act-5943-2019-12-19">anti-Citizenship Amendment Act</a> movement (an attempt by Modi to end Muslims’ <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/1/30/gandhis-death-anniversary-galvanises-indias-anti-caa-protesters">constitutional equality with Hindus</a>) claimed to be follow Gandhian principles of popular protest. The farmers’ movement against Modi’s plans to give corporations power over <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/periscope/farmers-peaceful-protests-and-mahatma-gandhi/">Indian agriculture</a> also tried to mobilise Gandhi’s legacy to their cause.</p>
<p>Perhaps, with the benefit of hindsight, there is a clearer picture now of the man, stripped of much of the myth and mystique. A resource for many social movements forging alternative ways to meet contemporary challenges.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198185/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Subir Sinha does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Seventy five years after his killing, Gandhi’s image is under scrutiny, but the Indian government likes to use it for political gain.Subir Sinha, Reader in the Theory and Politics of Development, SOAS, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1611012021-05-25T19:37:46Z2021-05-25T19:37:46ZFarmers in India have been protesting for 6 months, have they made any progress?<p>For six months now, images of Indian farmers protesting on Delhi’s roads have been <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/30/world/asia/india-farmers-protest.html">beamed</a> around the world. </p>
<p>Farmers have been protesting changes to India’s agricultural laws they say would undermine their autonomy as cultivators. </p>
<p>The new laws would create monopolies in the grain markets and trap farmers into contract farming arrangements with corporate buyers. </p>
<p>But after six months of protests, has anything changed? </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/indian-farmers-strike-continues-in-the-shadow-of-covid-19-159454">Indian farmers' strike continues in the shadow of COVID-19</a>
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<h2>What’s happening in Delhi?</h2>
<p>Beginning with the north-western state of Punjab in July 2020, the protests gradually <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-farms-protests-idUSKBN2A605V">spread</a> to other regions of the country. The most spectacular of these protests occurred when farmers <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/india/delhi-chalo-on-nov-26-27-farmers-protest-march-call-gets-support-of-472-farm-outfits-7057772/">arrived</a> in large numbers at the borders of the national capital in late November, 2020. </p>
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<p>Estimates of their numbers at this point vary, but they were certainly in excess of 50,000, and their numbers swelled to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/30/indian-farmers-march-on-delhi-in-protest-against-agriculture-laws">around 300,000</a> within a week or so. It peaked in January, when nearly a million more of them arrived from across the country and drove their tractors on the roads of the Indian capital.</p>
<p>They have been sitting on the roads since their arrival, <a href="https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/national/hundreds-of-farmers-block-highways-in-punjab-haryana-protest-farm-bills">surrounding Delhi</a> from all four sides, and occupying the major highways connecting the national capital to different parts of the country. Their sit-ins covered so large an area they began to look like <a href="https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/national/farmers-protest-takes-deeper-roots/article33439147.ece">distinct townships</a>, covering an area of 10-15 kilometres at each site. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/women-take-lead-roles-in-indias-farmers-protest-151981">Women take lead roles in India’s farmers’ protest</a>
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<p>They have been sleeping in the trolleys they brought along tied to their tractors and have set-up huge pandals (temporary auditoriums made of canvas tents) for their protest speeches. They also play <a href="https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/opinion-lift-as-we-sing-the-role-of-songs-during-farmers-protests/376454">protest music</a>, most of which is composed and sung by their own, the Punjabi singers from Punjab, Bombay and Canada. </p>
<p>Their resilience has been remarkable. They have <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/farmer-protest-day-40-delhi-rain-cold-wave-1756016-2021-01-05">sat through</a> the harsh winter, when night temperatures in Delhi are as low as 1-2°C. They are now sitting in protest in the scorching heat, <a href="https://www.newslaundry.com/2021/05/13/if-we-get-covid-its-modis-fault-why-farmers-at-delhis-borders-arent-leaving">undeterred</a> by a deadly second wave of COVID raging across India.</p>
<p>This has been no picnic, as has been <a href="https://www.firstpost.com/india/so-called-farmers-enjoying-picnic-in-delhi-conspiring-to-spread-bird-flu-bjp-mp-on-agrarians-protest-9187281.html">reported</a> by some news channels in India. More than 400 protesting farmers <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/chandigarh-news/189-punjab-families-who-lost-kin-during-farm-protests-given-5-lakh-relief-101620418742719.html">have died</a>, mostly at the protest sites around Delhi, unable to bear the hardships of the weather and living conditions.</p>
<p>Some have also died at the local protest sites in different states, and a few in road accidents while travelling from their villages to the protest sites on Delhi’s borders.</p>
<h2>Remind me, what are they protesting about?</h2>
<p>The national government of India introduced a set of new laws that would change the way farmers sell their farm produce. Affairs relating to agriculture are legally a domain of the provincial or state governments. But the national government took the extraordinary step of pushing these three new laws through as trade and commerce bills. </p>
<p>The government not only ignored all objections raised by the opposition parties, they also held no meaningful discussions with the farm unions and other stakeholders to allay their concerns.</p>
<p>The professed motivation behind the introduction of these laws was the liberalisation of the agricultural market by incentivising large corporates to engage with farmers and farm produce directly. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/indias-farmers-are-right-to-protest-against-agricultural-reforms-152726">India's farmers are right to protest against agricultural reforms</a>
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<p>The first of the new laws proposes to deregulate the purchase of agricultural goods, bypassing the existing marketing arrangements where grains such as wheat and rice could not be sold below a certain price. </p>
<p>The second provides a framework for “contract farming” where the farmer enters an advanced contract with a buyer and the buyer gets to decide what seeds to use and how to grow the crop. </p>
<p>The third is an amendment to a pre-existing law, which abolishes the previous restrictions on the storage of food grains and other agricultural goods to discourage large-scale hoarding. </p>
<p>Together they open up the agricultural sector of India to active commercial engagement by the big corporates, enabling them to purchase and hoard produce and sell it later at a much higher price than what they pay to the farmers for their crops. It also means these large corporates could be in charge of deciding what crops a farmer must produce.</p>
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<p>More than 85% of Indian farmers have <a href="https://www.livemint.com/Politics/k90ox8AsPMdyPDuykv1eWL/Small-and-marginal-farmers-own-just-473-of-crop-area-show.html">small holdings</a>, less than two hectares. This means it would be hard to engage, and compete, with the large corporates.</p>
<p>The farm unions see these laws as the Indian government <a href="https://thewire.in/agriculture/farmers-protests-agriculture-laws-corporate-interests">pandering to the corporates</a>, and fear the end of independent farmers.</p>
<p>Indian agriculture has been in a state of <a href="https://www.theindiaforum.in/article/changing-modes-agriculture-punjab">crisis</a> for the past two decades or more. The most painful manifestation of this has been the rising rate of suicides among farmers across the country (<a href="https://ncrb.gov.in/sites/default/files/Chapter-2-Suicides_2019.pdf">28 per day in 2019</a>), many of whom are indebted to informal sources such as relatives or usurious money lenders. </p>
<p>Various governments over the years have promised to help agriculture by raising farm incomes. The current government, led by Narendra Modi, promised to <a href="https://theprint.in/india/doubling-farmers-income-is-modi-govts-biggest-priority-says-amit-shah/587149/">double farm incomes</a> by implementing the recommendations of a 2006 pro-farmer <a href="https://www.prsindia.org/report-summaries/swaminathan-report-national-commission-farmers">report</a> prepared by a government-appointed committee.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/india-farmers-protests-internet-shutdown-highlights-modis-record-of-stifling-digital-dissent-154287">India farmers' protests: internet shutdown highlights Modi's record of stifling digital dissent</a>
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<h2>Have the protesters achieved anything so far?</h2>
<p>The farm unions have had <a href="https://theprint.in/india/eleventh-round-of-talks-between-modi-govt-and-farmers-fails-no-date-for-next-meeting/590520/">11 rounds of talks</a> with representatives of the central government, but the <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/centre-refuses-to-budge-cold-to-farmers-demand-for-talks/articleshow/82871213.cms">stalemate continues</a>. </p>
<p>Farmers hope if they keep the pressure on, the government will be forced to concede to their demands. But perhaps their biggest achievement so far has been putting farming back on the national agenda.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/india-protests-farmers-could-switch-to-more-climate-resilient-crops-but-they-have-been-given-no-incentive-154700">India protests: farmers could switch to more climate-resilient crops – but they have been given no incentive</a>
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<h2>Where to now?</h2>
<p>The second wave of COVID-19 has dampened the farmers mobilisations. But they continue to sit on the borders of the national capital, just in lesser numbers. </p>
<p>Farmer leaders <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/elections/west-bengal-assembly/teach-bjp-a-lesson-farm-unions-tell-voters-in-bengal/article34056035.ece">campaigned against</a> the BJP (the current ruling party) during the recent state elections in West Bengal. They see the BJP’s defeat as <a href="https://thewire.in/politics/farmers-protest-bengal-bjp-defeat">their victory</a>. </p>
<p>Their protests continue <a href="https://scroll.in/video/995622/watch-farmers-gather-in-huge-numbers-in-hisar-haryana-to-stage-protest-about-firs-against-them">locally</a>, across the states of Haryana, Punjab, western Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and elsewhere.</p>
<p>They have <a href="https://theprint.in/india/farmers-prepared-to-protest-till-may-2024-says-bku-leader-rakesh-tikait/587285/">said</a> they will protest until the next national election in 2024 if they have to, where they would be hoping their campaigning would defeat the Modi government. If West Bengal is anything to go by, perhaps Prime Minister Modi would do well to heed their demands.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-indian-farmers-protests-are-being-called-a-satyagraha-which-means-embracing-the-truth-155101">Why Indian farmers' protests are being called a 'satyagraha' – which means 'embracing the truth'</a>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Surinder S. Jodhka does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>For 6 months farmers in India have been protesting new laws which could destroy their livelihoods, but still the government is refusing to back down.Surinder S. Jodhka, Professor of Sociology, School of Social Sciences., Jawaharlal Nehru University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1608762021-05-19T10:28:51Z2021-05-19T10:28:51ZIndia: why it’s so hard to get a coronavirus vaccine<p><em>This is a transcript of episode 15 of The Conversation Weekly podcast <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-indias-covid-19-vaccine-rollout-is-faltering-podcast-160800">Why India’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout is faltering</a>. In this episode, as India’s COVID-19 crisis continues, we look at what’s holding back the country’s vaccination programme and how a shift in strategy on distribution and pricing is causing concern. And we speak to a researcher who went hunting for fungi in the world’s largest seed bank.</em> </p>
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<p><em>NOTE: Transcripts may contain errors. Please check the corresponding audio before quoting in print.</em></p>
<p>Gemma Ware: Hi everyone, before we get into this week’s episode, we’ve got a little request for you. </p>
<p>Dan Merino: The Conversation is a non-profit organisation. By bringing together academics and journalists, we generate articles and podcasts that are grounded in expertise, but also engage with and set the news agenda. </p>
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<p>Dan: We appreciate you spreading the word, and bringing more and more people into The Conversation. Thank you! Now on to the episode.</p>
<p>Gemma: This week, as India’s COVID crisis deepens, we look at what’s holding back its vaccination rollout.</p>
<p>R. Ramakumar: This is vaccine is not like a soap or a toothpaste. It is a public good.</p>
<p>Dan: And an interview with a researcher who went hunting for fungi in the worlds largest seed bank. </p>
<p>Rowena Hill: Our human society is hugely reliant on these microbial fungi. </p>
<p>Gemma: I’m Gemma Ware in London </p>
<p>Dan: And I’m Dan Merino in San Francisco. You’re listening to The Conversation Weekly, the world explained by experts. </p>
<p>Gemma: India is submerged in the middle of a brutal and deadly second wave of COVID-19. </p>
<p>Dan: On May 12, the country reported 348,421 new cases of COVID-19 and 4,205 new deaths, taking the total to over a quarter million dead. But many observers think these official figures could be substantial underestimates. </p>
<p>Dan: While some Indian states have imposed their own restrictions, calls are growing for India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, to impose a nationwide lockdown. </p>
<p>Gemma: Much has been written, including on The Conversation, about why India’s second wave has been so big and so deadly. Experts point to complacency that India had beaten COVID … to the spread of more transmissible new variants … and to large public gatherings that acted as superspreader events.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/each-burning-pyre-is-an-unspeakable-screeching-horror-one-researcher-on-the-frontline-of-indias-covid-crisis-160055">'Each burning pyre is an unspeakable, screeching horror' – one researcher on the frontline of India's COVID crisis</a>
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<p>Dan: In this week’s episode we’re taking a look at the bottlenecks in India’s vaccine programme, and why it’s currently really difficult to get a vaccine there. </p>
<p>Gemma: We’ve talked to three experts in India to find out more. </p>
<p>Gemma: India began its COVID-19 vaccination rollout on January 16, starting out with healthcare workers first. Then it moved on to other frontline workers, like the police and army, and then to people over the age of 60. In April, anyone over 45 became eligible. </p>
<p>Rajib Dasgupta: There has certainly been a very steady increase in the numbers being vaccinated each day, which moved roughly at 2.5 million per day in the second half of March to 3.5 million per day by the middle of April and, in between, rising to nearly 4.5 million per day.</p>
<p>Gemma: This is Rajib Dasgupta. </p>
<p>Rajib: I’m a medical doctor and a public health specialist. I am professor and chairperson at the Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.</p>
<p>Gemma: Rajib told me that despite the ramp up in the number of people getting vaccinated in March and April, the coverage across the population remains relatively low.</p>
<p>Rajib: So data available till the May 3, indicates that vaccine coverage has been less than 10%, which is one dose, mind you, in nearly 58% of the districts and between 10% to 20% in another 30% of districts. And the relatively low coverage of the less than 10% is largely in the northern and central Indian states with very sizeable populations. So translated to the national level, it means that roughly 2% of the population have received two doses. </p>
<p>Gemma: At the start of the year there weren’t that many cases and there was some hesitancy in the take-up of vaccines amongst the first eligible groups.</p>
<p>Rajib: The acceptance, even among these groups who were actually at highest risk, even there it was certainly sluggish, at least til the middle of April. </p>
<p>Dan: Cases continued to rise though. And as as the hospital and oxygen crisis worsened and death rates soared, on May 1 the government opened up vaccination appointments to all Indians over the age of 18. </p>
<p>Rajib: In one sense, this is the big leap in vaccination. </p>
<p>Dan: But this big leap has been held back by a shortage in vaccines. Much like other countries with short supplies of vaccines, Rajib says that this has led many Indian states to focus on giving people their second dose.</p>
<p>Rajib: Not enough vaccine is available now to those groups, which are due for second doses, even. In many cities or districts, vaccination programs have been either put on hold or trickled down from the large volume that it was doing even a couple of weeks back and therefore actually very little vaccination, relatively speaking, is going to happen in the 18-to-44 age group. </p>
<p>Gemma: He’s optimistic that the situation should stabilise by July. </p>
<p>Rajib: Given that multiple efforts are on to increase the supply, which includes direct imports, ramping up production, plus authorisation to more vaccines. But the next few weeks, or even a couple of months is likely to see difficulties in supply and therefore the actual uptake of immunisation. </p>
<p>Dan: It wasn’t meant to be this way. India’s proud of its label as the “pharmacy of the world”. Over the past few decades, the country has become a world leader in vaccinations – both in giving them to children, and manufacturing doses.</p>
<p>Rajib: The watershed moment of India’s vaccination is around 2002. </p>
<p>Gemma: When India failed to eradicate polio in the country by the year 2000, Rajib says the government realised it would only succeed if it expanded the coverage of its free immunisation programmes for children. </p>
<p>Rajib: The immunisation program really got a renewed phase of strengthening that that finally culminated in polio being eliminated in 2013-14 … but also the vaccination coverage steadily improving to the extent that most of the laggard states now actually have coverage above 80% and nearing the full immunisation coverage target of 90% in many cases.</p>
<p>So on one hand, it’s a remarkable story. And therefore there has been a lot of optimism around the COVID vaccine coverage in India, which is in addition to the fact that there are very large, vaccine producers in the country. But for a mix of reasons, the coverage hasn’t really kept up to that optimism.</p>
<p>Dan: While the paediatric vaccination programme has improved dramatically, it’s a different story for adults. </p>
<p>Rajib: India does not have any adult vaccination programme, particularly influenza vaccines, which is quite well established in many countries of the world, particularly Europe, UK, USA. </p>
<p>Dan: And Rajib says that the figure that is often quoted about India’s vaccine manufacturing capacity – that it produces 60% of the world’s vaccines – is actually misleading. </p>
<p>Rajib: India is a very big manufacturer, but what got a bit misconstrued is this magical 60% figure, which is actually India’s contribution to the UNICEF procurement of childhood vaccines. This is not 60% of all vaccines. Indeed, in the adult vaccination category, particularly influenza of vaccines that contribution globally from the Indian manufacturers is about 20%. </p>
<p>Dan: This distinction between prowess at vaccinating children and inexperience in vaccinating adults matters when it comes to COVID-19.</p>
<p>Gagandeep: I’m Gagandeep Kang. I’m a professor at the Christian Medical College in Vellore in southern India and I’m a public health microbiologist with an interest in mucosal infections and in vaccines.</p>
<p>Dan: When I spoke to Gagandeep in early May, she told me she was concerned about India’s ability to deliver vaccine to those who are underprivileged, or who live in hard-to-access places. </p>
<p>Gagandeep: We’ve managed to get to nearly 90% of routine immunisation, which has coverage of our children with childhood vaccines, but we’ve never been able to push beyond the 90%. And when this is the first adult immunisation programme that we are rolling out, my worry is we are not going to get to 90% with adults because we just don’t have a system for this. We are building a new system and trying to do it very quickly. So that’s challenging. And if the goal is going to be herd protection and you’re not currently immunising children effectively you need every adult to be immunised, and that I don’t think is likely to happen.</p>
<p>Dan: The lack of expertise in adult vaccination is by just a small part of the reason for the bottlenecks in India’s vaccination programme. Before we jump into that, I asked Gagandeep to set out which vaccines are currently licensed for use in India. There are two main ones. </p>
<p>Gagandeep: Covishield is essentially the AstraZeneca vaccine when it is made in India. And that is the vaccine that has so far been used for 90% of the immunisation that has been carried out.</p>
<p>Dan: Covishield is being manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, which is based in Pune in western India. The second is Covaxin, made by a company called Bharat Biotech. </p>
<p>Gagandeep: And this has been used in about 10% of the people who have been immunised so far.</p>
<p>Dan: A third option is the Russian Sputnik V vaccine, which was recently licensed for use in India. </p>
<p>Gagandeep: And a few doses of that are arriving from Russia – 150,000 I believe.</p>
<p>Dan: There are a two other homegrown Indian vaccine candidates on the horizon, including a DNA vaccine called ZyCov-D and another is being developed by the firm Biological E in collaboration with Baylor College of Medicine in the US. Discussions are also underway to begin manufacturing the Novavax vaccine and the Johnson and Johnson vaccine in India. </p>
<p>Gagandeep: It’s possible, that if things go according to plan, that both of these vaccines will also be manufactured in India by the end of the year and available to our population as well as potentially populations outside the country.</p>
<p>Dan: One of the biggest concerns about vaccinations globally right now has been the emergence of new variants. And India’s no different. There are two main variants in the country: B117, the variant now common in the UK, Europe and the US. And a second variant. </p>
<p>Gagandeep: The so-called Indian variant, B1617, which is also spreading all over the country. It started in western India and is now found everywhere. We don’t yet have data on severity, but I think it’s very likely that it will be a variant that has increased transmissability.</p>
<p>Dan: The main question is: do the vaccines work against these variants? Gagandeep said new data was published in early May from the University of Oxford.</p>
<p>Gagandeep: That confirmed data that had previously been reported from India, that both of the vaccines, Covishield and Covaxin, are able to neutralise both of these variants. Now, obviously the more labs and the most sera you evaluate the clearer, the picture will become, but at the moment it’s looking pretty good. </p>
<p>Dan: This is hopeful news. Current vaccines, if they can be injected into people’s arms, will protect most people from serious COVID-19.</p>
<p>Gemma: And that’s why the current difficulties in getting a vaccine are so worrying. </p>
<p>Ramakumar: Some people joke that it’s easy to climb Mount Everest than getting a vaccine in India. </p>
<p>My name is R. Ramkumar.</p>
<p>Gemma: R. Ramkumar is a professor of economics at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai. </p>
<p>Ramakumar: There is a mobile app that people have to use to register and then get an appointment. However, to begin with people are not allowed to register, sometimes the mobile app hangs or times out. When they manage to register and they try for an appointment what happens is that there are no appointments, til June or July of this year. So that’s the kind of difficulty people are facing even in majors, cities like Mumbai. So if you go to the rural areas of India, you will see that the situation would have become even more serious.</p>
<p>Gemma: The sheer size of India’s population makes the rollout a massive undertaking. </p>
<p>Ramakumar: The government made serious miscalculations as to how much vaccines would be required to inoculate about 1,380 million people in India. As a result of which, it made a huge number of policy mistakes as it went by over the last one year, because of which we are currently faced with a serious problem of supplies.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/charging-indians-for-covid-vaccines-is-bad-letting-vaccine-producers-charge-what-they-like-is-unconscionable-160529">Charging Indians for COVID vaccines is bad, letting vaccine producers charge what they like is unconscionable</a>
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<p>There is increasing acceptance now to the point that the central government could have given approvals to more numbers of vaccines in January or February of this year, when they stuck to just two Indian vaccines. It had a policy of Atma Nirbhar Bharat or what is called a self-reliance, whereby, they wanted to display India as some kind of a Vishnu guru, the guru of the world in terms of providing vaccines to everybody. So they wanted to stick to the two vaccines produced in India, Covishield and Covaxin, and not give permission to either the Pfizer vaccine or the Sputnik vaccine or any other vaccine. It is only when the shortage of vaccines hit them harder April did they agree to these approvals, though belated.</p>
<p>Gemma: Changes to the way the COVID vaccines are priced in recent weeks has added more confusion to these supply issues. Traditionally vaccines have been available for free in India under the paediatric programme, although some private providers sell them too. Until April 30, R Ramakumar told me that COVID vaccines were available for free for everyone over the age of 45. </p>
<p>Ramakumar: After May 1, there is no clarity as to whether free vaccines would continue to be available for everyone above the 45 years age group also. But certainly those between 18 and 45 years of age, it is not free. They have to pay. If it is Covishield, you have to pay 300 rupees per dose or 600 rupees for two doses.</p>
<p>Gemma: 300 rupees is about US$4.</p>
<p>Ramakumar: Covaxin, you have to actually pay about 400 rupees per dose. Now, this is if you go to a state government vaccination centre. If you are actually going to a private hospital, you will have to pay more than double these rates.</p>
<p>Gemma: The price also varies depending where in India you live. </p>
<p>Ramakumar: So in some states it is free. Some states it may be subsidised, but in some states you people have to pay the full rates.</p>
<p>Gemma: In early May, as well as introducing a change to the pricing system, the government also changed the way that vaccines were delivered around India, opening it up to private providers too. </p>
<p>Ramakumar: Before that the central government was the sole purchaser of all vaccines at a regulated price. So what they did was they liberalised vaccine sales and also deregulated vaccine prices alongside. What did this mean? The vaccine production in India, or for each company, would be divided in two parts.</p>
<p>Gemma: The first 50% are now reserved for the central government, who purchase them at a lower price to give to everybody over the age of 45. The second 50% are now shared by different state governments and private companies, who have to purchase them directly from the vaccine companies. </p>
<p>Ramakumar: Now this meant that at least half of vaccine production in India would be sold through market channels, negotiations that will happen between state governments and private hospitals on the one hand and monopolistic vaccine producers on the other hand.</p>
<p>Gemma: Before May the price of vaccines distributed by the central government had been regulated, but this regulated price is no longer applicable to the 50% of vaccines now being distributed by states and private providers. </p>
<p>Ramakumar: In other words, they were given full freedom to fix the price of vaccines as they pleased.</p>
<p>Gemma: He says this happened largely because vaccine companies were unhappy the profits they were making from the regulated price. </p>
<p>Ramakumar: Their own spokespersons and CEOs have come on television and said that they were unhappy with that normal profit. </p>
<p>Gemma: Here’s Adar Poonawalla, CEO of the Serum Institute of India, <a href="https://youtu.be/T6gSk0GsQE4">speaking to NDTV in early April</a> …</p>
<p>Ramakumar: But the government negotiated with them, that you should not make it rupees thousand per dose and so on. So they agreed to lower it a little bit. So they fixed different prices for different purchases.</p>
<p>And the only the reason why this policy shift appears to have been undertaken is to succumb to the pressure of these monopolistic vaccine companies who have wished for super profits to be made even as the economy is in crisis, unemployment is rising, government revenues are falling and so on and so forth.</p>
<p>Gemma: But R. Ramakumar believes the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi also made a political calculation here too.</p>
<p>Ramakumar: A lot of blame for the vaccine shortage was being placed at the door of the central government and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party government. This was politically expensive.</p>
<p>Gemma: And that’s when it introduced the new policy, pushing the responsibilities onto the states to directly purchase vaccines. </p>
<p>Ramakumar: Given that vaccine shortage would continue, there would be anger among people. The central government can always say that: “It is because the state governments did not place orders in time, or did not order for adequate vaccines that you are facing a vaccine shortage. We are not culpable in this regard.” So this kind of shifting the blame onto state governments and the political parties ruling them was the implicit reason why the politics of this policy has played out in this particular way. Basically the central government has withdrawn from the functions of an enlightened welfare state.</p>
<p>Gemma: R. Ramakumar says there are two ways he thinks the changes in the vaccination rollout could play out. </p>
<p>Ramakumar: One is the vaccine shortage is going to continue and in an overall sense, the coverage of vaccination in India is very low and it will continue to be low. Number two, because of the high prices that are being charged for vaccines,
the poor, the working people, the lower-middle-class are going to be extremely excluded from the vaccine access. Some calculations using the present vaccine prices will show that if you look at an average agricultural household in India, they have to pay about half of their monthly income to vaccinate their entire family with two doses. </p>
<p>Gemma: He worries that this could exacerbate the existing vaccine hesitancy in India.</p>
<p>Ramakumar: You see vaccine hesitancy already exists because of issues related to overconfidence, et cetera. But the question of affordability comes in it complicates and makes the problem of vaccine hesitancy even more acute among the population. As a result, millions of people are likely not to get vaccinated because they don’t have enough income to purchase the vaccines.</p>
<p>Gemma: He says that this will just lead to a situation where richer Indians can go to private hospitals and get vaccinated, but the poor are excluded. </p>
<p>Ramakumar: What is missed in this is vaccine is not like a soap or a toothpaste. It is a public good. It is not just providing private benefits to people. It also provides social benefits. If some people remain without vaccination and a small section, gets vaccinated such as the rich, the problem is going to get worsened because the large unvaccinated population would mean that more and more possibilities exist for the virus to get mutated further. </p>
<p>Gemma: The government’s vaccination rollout has caught the attention of the Supreme Court of India. </p>
<p>Ramakumar: It has asked the government to say why it failed to procure adequate number of vaccines for the population in time. Second, it has asked the central government why it is not fixing the price at a regulated level rather than giving vaccine companies full freedom to set vaccine prices at the levels that they wish to fix them at. The third question is why is it not that the central government is becoming the sole purchaser of these vaccines, purchasing it in bulk from the vaccine companies. It is well known that the vaccine market is prone to market failures. Despite this knowledge, that vaccine markets are highly imperfect, why is it that the central government has gone on to rely on markets as the best mechanism to distribute vaccines?</p>
<p>Gemma: It’s not just the vaccine rollout that the government has been criticised for. They’ve been taken to task for a complacency, and a lack of preparedness for the second wave. I asked R. Ramkumar what he thought this all meant, politically, for Modi and his ruling BJP party. </p>
<p>Ramakumar: It has already damaged the reputation of the prime minister, who always likes to carefully cultivate a particular kind of a positive image for himself and his government, globally, and this is also so domestically.</p>
<p>In the midst of the COVID crisis you had the elections to a few states and except in one state, the BJP was not elected to power. In fact, opposition parties were elected to power in Kerala in Tamil Nadu, in West Bengal. So there is very clear unhappiness among the public on the way the government has managed to deal with the COVID crisis. All of this is building up slowly and we have not yet reached the peak of the second wave.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/india-election-loss-in-west-bengal-may-be-start-of-a-backlash-against-modis-handling-of-covid-crisis-159985">India: election loss in West Bengal may be start of a backlash against Modi's handling of COVID crisis</a>
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<p>Dan: For now, India’s top priority is to make sure that everybody who is sick can get the oxygen and medicines they need. Vaccines won’t help stop this second deadly wave. But I asked Gagandeep Kang what roll the vaccine would play in longer term.</p>
<p>Gagandeep: It’s always possible to arrest the pandemic without vaccination. We’ve seen that in New Zealand, in Taiwan, but those are short-term solutions. The longer-term solution has to be vaccinating populations. We shouldn’t be comparing ourselves in absolute numbers to other countries. We should be looking at the percentage of the population that is being immunised, and there we are not doing particularly well if we want to achieve control in the near term. We really need to do better. </p>
<p>Gemma: You can <a href="https://theconversation.com/charging-indians-for-covid-vaccines-is-bad-letting-vaccine-producers-charge-what-they-like-is-unconscionable-160529">read stories by R. Ramakumar</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-variants-are-most-likely-to-blame-for-indias-covid-surge-159911">Rajib Dasgupta</a> on The Conversation, where academics across the world are writing <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/india-covid-102982">about the situation in India</a>. Find the links in our show notes. </p>
<p>Gemma: So Dan, what’s the second story we’re talking about this week?</p>
<p>Dan: OK, so I want to introduce it with a little anecdote. I was visiting my mom – mother’s day – and as moms always do, she asked me take care of a few small chores. She asked me to clean up what she thought were a few wasps nests growing in the yard. </p>
<p>Gemma: I would not have said yes to that. </p>
<p>Dan: Well thankfully it turns out they were not wasp nests. Actually they were a kind of mushroom called <em>Clathrus ruber</em>, or the caged stinkhorn. I’m a bit of a mushroom guy, so I was very excited to find these in the yard.</p>
<p>Gemma: OK Dan, I’m googling it. <em>Clathrus ruber</em>. Wow. Wow. It looks like something from Star Trek. </p>
<p>Dan: So they’re this crazy looking thing about the size of a large grapefruit. They’re full of big holes and they’re this like demonic red colour. And they’re called stinkhorns because they smell bad so there was actually flies flying in and out of them, not wasps. </p>
<p>Gemma: This is a great mother’s day gift for your mum, Dan. </p>
<p>Dan: Well, I got rid of it, so you know, gotta do what you gotta do. But anyways, it was a fun surprise – cool fungus growing in an unexpected place. And this is exactly what our next story is actually about. Except that instead of looking for mushrooms in my mother’s yard, this researcher went to the world’s largest seed bank and found not just cool fungus but some entirely new species.</p>
<p>Rowena Hill: I’m Rowena Hill and I’m based at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and Queen Mary University of London. And I study the diversity and evolution of fungi. Science knows of about 150,000 species currently. And the latest estimate is that there’s over 6 million species out there. So there’s a massive gap in what we know about fungi. And these will be, you know, microscopic things that we can’t even see with the naked eye. So we’re not aware of them cause they’re in the soil, they’re in the air, they’re inside us, they’re on us.</p>
<p>Dan: So what is it exactly that you are studying and how did you kind of first get into this? </p>
<p>Rowena: In a way I have no idea how I ended up working on fungi. The thing about them is we don’t really hear about them. They’re not really present when we learn about the natural world at school, or even when I was at university studying biology, I didn’t really hear much about fungi. And so the summer of my first year of my undergraduate degree, I think I just decided they were cool and weird and interesting. And I contacted the mycology department at Kew and asked if I could volunteer or shadow somebody and learn a bit about fungi. And the rest is history really and I’ve been stuck with them since. </p>
<p>And, the fungi that I am interested in are fungal endophytes and this is the technical term for fungi which we find inside plants. So in the same way that us humans, we have a microbiome, we have micro organisms living inside us that are important for our health. It’s the same in plants. They have a natural microbiome and fungal component of that.</p>
<p>Dan: OK so we’ve got these fungal endophytes. You know, people know that fungi can break down leaves in the woods and stuff, and they’ll mould in your shower. What do these fungal endophytes do?</p>
<p>Rowena: We know much less about plant microbiomes compared to human ones. But we think that this balance of fungi that are inside plants is important for their health. And this will be a huge functional range, right? So some things will have the capacity maybe to become pathogens and cause disease. Other things will be actively beneficial to the plant.</p>
<p>Dan: Where do they grow in plants? I’m imagining little tendrils of fungus growing surrounding the cells. Is that an accurate representation? </p>
<p>Rowena: Yeah, basically the hyphae, which is what you can think of as like the tissue of the fungus that’s made up of is growing in between the plant cells. And this is in the leaves and the stem and in this case, in this study that we looked at, in the seeds.</p>
<p>Dan: You went looking for them, not out in plants growing in the world, but somewhere else. Can you explain to me where that place is and what does it look like? </p>
<p>Rowena: As I said before, you know, I work at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and Kew is a collections-based institute so that means it has these amazing natural history collections. It has dried plants, dried fungi, and it has the Millennium Seed Bank. The Millennium Seed Bank is based in the UK countryside. Much more quaint than like an Arctic vault, but it’s called Wakehurst Place where the seed bank is located and it’s just a big building that has a big underground vault where all of these billions of seeds are stored frozen.</p>
<p>Dan: Tell me about how are we looking for the little fungus.</p>
<p>Rowena: As is often the case when we work with micro fungi, so microscopic fungi, we’re just usually relying on DNA. So these aren’t often tangible things that we can sort of see and hold. We’re just having to sequence the DNA from inside seeds and then from that, we can discover what fungi might be inside.</p>
<p>Not all fungi can grow in the lab, some are a bit fussier. But for the ones that we could, we would sterilise the outside of seeds to make sure we weren’t just getting any old fungus that was a contamination from outside. Once we’ve sterilised the outside of the seed, we can put that straight on an agar dish and then hopefully something grows. And for the ones that we were sequencing the DNA, we would crush the seeds up and just extract any DNA that we could from inside the seed. And then we use what is called a barcode. So in the same way that in a shop, you have a unique barcode identifier on a product and you scan it and you can know what that product is, we use a gene which we call a barcode. In fungi, it’s called ITS. And if we sequence that specific barcode gene, we can then try and figure out what fungi you might be present inside. </p>
<p>Dan: How many seeds have you guys looked at to date?</p>
<p>Rowena: I believe the number is 1,710.</p>
<p>Dan: Oh you gave me the exact number!</p>
<p>Rowena: Yeah. Well, you know, science.</p>
<p>Dan: OK. So you’ve got these 1,710 seeds. You crush up some of them to extract the genetics and then do some sequencing. And then these other ones, you just kind of plop on the agar gel and starts to grow. What does that look?</p>
<p>Rowena: When you study microfungi and you’re growing them in what we call cultures.
When you grow them on, agar, you’d be amazed how the numbers can add up. You end up with hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of petri dishes stacked up on the lab benches. And you also have to sort of be on top of them, cause these are living fungi. You know, you have to keep checking back and making sure they’re not getting contaminated, re-plate them onto new petri dishes. So you end up with quite an impressive array of towers of fungi and also all sorts of different colours, all sorts of different textures. They’re really what I think, I’m probably biased, but they’re quite beautiful. </p>
<p>Dan: You have all these fungi growing in your lab and you did all this genetic sequencing. What did you find? </p>
<p>Rowena: Yeah, so, a major question was can we find fungal endophytes? Are they alive? Can we grow them? And what does that diversity look like? And so in looking at just six species of wild bananas we found almost 200 species of fungi. And what we found was that the habitat that the seeds had been collected from in the wild actually dictated partially what kind of fungi we were finding.</p>
<p>So it will be quite important in the future maybe for when seed collectors are out there in the wild collecting seeds to think about what habitat they’re collecting from, and maybe collect from a mixture of habitats to ensure that we’re going to store a good range of microbiomes. </p>
<p>Dan: So we found 200 species. A lot of these are probably mysterious. Are you like, “Oh, this one might be the next anthrax”? Are you like running around scared in your lab or something? </p>
<p>Rowena: Yeah. I mean, the big question with endophytes is, yeah, what are they doing in the plant? We did a bit of exploratory analysis where we basically had a look at the germination of the stored seeds and whether or not they were alive, and we could see actually from this analysis that whether or not these seeds managed to germinate, and if they were alive or not, correlated with certain endophyte species that we were recovering. So there’s sort of an implication there that there might be some interaction where yeah, some of these species are helping the seeds germinate and some aren’t. But that, going on, that will require sort of further analysis where we do experimental tests where you inoculate, maybe the fungus in the plant to figure out if it’s helping or hindering. And also looking at the whole genome of the fungi to figure out if there’s genetic elements that we can identify.</p>
<p>Dan: What are some of the potentials here that this work could unlock? </p>
<p>Rowena: So there is research ongoing out there that is looking out the potential for these fungal endophytes to be used on crops in agriculture. The idea is that in the same way that we like preserving the wild relatives of crops in that maybe we can breed some useful plant genes into our crops, there’s a similar idea that maybe we can use the microbiome of the wild relatives and inoculate that into our crops and get added benefits. So there’s a lot of interest in the idea that maybe we can use fungal endophytes, microorganisms, as sustainable bio-control measures instead of having to use, you know, so many pesticides and damaging things like that. Maybe we could use natural solutions. </p>
<p>Ultimately antibiotics, immunosuppressants, statins and things like these were all found in fungi originally. And also our human society is hugely reliant on these sort of cryptic microbial fungi. We use fungi in detergents and in manufacturing.
And of course like a huge part of our food industry is based on fungi. You know every time you have a beer or you have some bread, you’re enjoying the labours of fungi.</p>
<p>Dan: You can read <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-we-discovered-a-hidden-world-of-fungi-inside-the-worlds-biggest-seed-bank-156051">Rowena’s story</a> about her research as part of The Conversation’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insights-series-71218">Insights series</a> by clicking on the link in the show notes. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><strong><em>This story is part of Conversation Insights</em></strong>
<br><em>The Insights team generates <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insights-series-71218">long-form journalism</a> and is working with academics from different backgrounds who have been engaged in projects to tackle societal and scientific challenges.</em> </p>
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<p>Gemma: Now to end the show we’ve got some recommended reading from one of our colleagues in Australia about a special series that she’s been working on.</p>
<p>Carissa: Hello, my name is Carissa Lee and I’m the Indigenous and public policy commissioning editor for The Conversation, based in Melbourne. The story I’ve chosen to look at has been part of our Royal Commission into Deaths in Custody series, because we had the 30th anniversary of the Royal Commission into Deaths in Custody report as of April 15 this year. Since the royal commission, there have been 474 more deaths of Aboriginal people in custody. And that is said to be an underestimation because we’ve had about five in the last month, which is just shocking. </p>
<p>The articles that I’m highlighting are by Alison Whittaker from University of Melbourne and Amanda Stoker for the University of Technology Sydney.</p>
<p>Alison Whittaker’s piece is a focus on the <a href="https://theconversation.com/indigenous-deaths-in-custody-inquests-can-be-sites-of-justice-or-administrative-violence-158126">inquests into these deaths</a> and why they’re so important and why they also need to be possibly reshaped. There needs to be a bit more consultation with the families involved as they feel often that they’ve been sidelined by court procedures. </p>
<p>The other article is about the media representation of Aboriginal people, particularly Aboriginal deaths in custody, and Amanda Porter and Eddie Cubillo investigate <a href="https://theconversation.com/not-criminals-or-passive-victims-media-need-to-reframe-their-representation-of-aboriginal-deaths-in-custody-158561">how insensitive reporting has led to catering to really bad stereotypes</a> of Aboriginal people and how it’s gone against the report into deaths in custody’s recommendation of how Indigenous people should be represented in the media.</p>
<p>I think one takeaway from both of these stories and a reoccurring theme throughout Royal Commission series is that First Nations people or Aboriginal people need to be part of the processes into looking at how we can address deaths in custody. For example, it’s been recommended that when First Nations people are being arrested, they’re taken to see health professionals rather than taken to see police because a lot of these deaths that are happening from chronic illnesses. The deaths could have been avoided. </p>
<p>So thanks for listening and keep reading The Conversation.</p>
<p>Gemma: Carissa Lee there in Australia. That’s it for this week. Thanks to all the academics who’ve spoken to us for this episode. This episode would not have been possible without the help of Namita Kohli in New Delhi. And thanks to The Conversation editors Alexandra Hasen, Josephine Lethbridge, Carissa Lee, Sunanda Creagh and Stephen Khan. And thanks to Alice Mason, Imriel Morgan and Sharai White for our social media and marketing.</p>
<p>Dan: You can find us on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/TC_Audio">@TC_Audio</a> or on Instagram at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theconversationdotcom/?hl=en">theconversationdotcom</a> or email us at podcast@theconversation.com. And if you want to learn more about any of the things we talked about on the show today, there are links to further reading in the <a href="https://theconversation.com/cubas-race-to-make-its-own-coronavirus-vaccine-podcast-160324">show notes</a>. You can also sign up to our <a href="https://theconversation.com/newsletter?utm_campaign=PodcastTCWeekly&utm_content=newsletter&utm_source=podcast">free daily email</a>.</p>
<p>Gemma: The Conversation Weekly is co-produced by Mend Mariwany and me, Gemma Ware, with sound design by Eloise Stevens. Our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. </p>
<p>Dan: And I’m Dan Merino. Thanks for listening and we’ll talk to you next week.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/160876/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
This is a transcript of episode 15 of The Conversation Weekly podcast, which includes a story on the discovery of microscopic fungi at the world’s largest seed bank.Gemma Ware, Host, The Conversation Weekly PodcastDaniel Merino, Associate Breaking News Editor and Co-Host of The Conversation Weekly PodcastLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1576662021-03-25T14:30:39Z2021-03-25T14:30:39ZHow women in India reclaimed the protest power of ripped jeans<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391695/original/file-20210325-15-1jxqpcr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C41%2C1637%2C827&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">After an Indian politician recently tried to shame a woman for wearing ripped jeans, women's responses were swift and sharp.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Twitter/@prag65043538, @sherryshroff, @ruchikokcha)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A recently-elected Indian chief minister associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government sparked a swift and impassioned social media storm after he made a negative comment about a woman wearing ripped jeans on March 17. </p>
<p>While <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ru93HCjh7EQ">speaking at a workshop</a> organized by the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat said he was shocked and outraged after he encountered a woman on his flight wearing ripped jeans. The minister took issue with her exposed knees. Rawat also pointed out that the woman was with her children and a leader of an NGO. He said these two facts combined with the ripped jeans put her moral values even further into question. The clip was <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/tirath-rawat-ripped-jeans-controversy-all-you-need-to-know-1781166-2021-03-19">circulated widely</a> in the Indian press. </p>
<p>Maybe it was the creepy way Chief Minister Rawat described himself scanning the woman’s body with his gaze or the shaming tone he used when he asked her where her husband was. Or perhaps it was the judgemental way he expressed his opinion that ripped jeans were incommensurate with running an NGO and being a mother, and not in line with his version of Indian values. Or it could even have been the casual way he felt he had the right to interrogate her clothing choice at all.</p>
<p>But women across India responded in protest with alacrity and speed as they <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-56453929">posted photos of themselves in ripped jeans</a> on social media. Some even cut holes into their jeans before posting the defiant images. At one point, <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/ripped-jeans-jibe-continues-to-draw-flak-people-flood-twitter-for-2nd-day/articleshow/81580095.cms">#RippedJeans was top trending on Twitter in India</a>. </p>
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<p>As an art historian of South Asian visual culture, I am interested in the ways images convey meaning. Why did ripped jeans cause such a stir? What are the codes contained in this seemingly simple but ubiquitous fashion trend? </p>
<p>Historians and writers such as <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/opinion/why-i-believe-modi-is-indira-gandhi-on-steroids-by-ramachandra-guha-2262369">Ramchandra Guha</a> have acknowledged how serious affronts to civil rights occurring in India today have been steadily eroding India’s democracy. Within these deep and structural challenges, the recent ripped-jeans demonstrations offer a glimmer of hope. The online storm is a sign that India’s democracy is resilient and that protest can emerge in unexpected ways.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/in-india-modis-nationalism-quashes-dissent-with-help-from-the-media-125700">In India, Modi’s nationalism quashes dissent with help from the media</a>
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<h2>The meaning of clothing</h2>
<p>India has a history of using clothing to convey political meaning and even as a strategy to incite change. As anthropologist Emma Tarlo explains in <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/C/bo3629913.html"><em>Clothing Matters: Dress and Identity in India</em></a>, what one chooses to wear has long been understood as a maker of meaning, a way of both expressing and shaping personal identity. </p>
<p>For example, in 1903 (as I’ve written about <a href="https://books.google.ca/books/about/Power_and_Resistance.html?id=GRe4uAAACAAJ&redir_esc=y">elsewhere</a>) the wealthiest man in India at the time, the Nizam of Hyderabad, chose to wear a simple western suit to the 1903 Delhi Durbar, a ceremony marking the coronation of the British monarch. In so doing, he instigated the displeasure of a British colonial administration who liked to see their native rulers dressed as spectacles of South Asian finery. </p>
<p>Later, Mohandas K. Gandhi wore a dhoti to have tea at Buckingham Palace in 1931. The dhoti, made out of hand-spun cotton, was part of <a href="https://books.google.ca/books/about/Clothing_Gandhi_s_Nation.html?id=XxtuAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y">the larger khadi movement</a> to protest the import of cheaper-than-local machine-made British products that led to the decline of the Indian textile industry. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Gandhi walks in his dohti next to men in suits." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391523/original/file-20210324-19-1jrrt73.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391523/original/file-20210324-19-1jrrt73.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391523/original/file-20210324-19-1jrrt73.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391523/original/file-20210324-19-1jrrt73.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391523/original/file-20210324-19-1jrrt73.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=589&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391523/original/file-20210324-19-1jrrt73.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=589&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391523/original/file-20210324-19-1jrrt73.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=589&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Mohandas K. Gandhi in England, 1931.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/Collection/Landing/Mahatma-Gandhi/4fd6c5ff3482499b9457140fb6495a74/5">(James Mills Collection/AP)</a></span>
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<h2>Jeans go global</h2>
<p>In <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/global-denim-9781847886323/"><em>Global Denim</em>,</a> scholars explore the different contexts of jean wearing around the world. Jeans in India have a specific history and context — and the meaning of a pair of jeans has evolved since the 1970s when they were first popularly introduced.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.economist.com/united-states/2016/03/26/the-meaning-of-blue-jeans">Jeans</a> have humble beginnings. They were developed as a durable attire for mine workers in the United States in the 1930s, but grew in popularity through association with cowboy films. In 1955, James Dean secured the jean’s association with youth culture, rebellion and counterculture when he wore them in <em>Rebel Without A Cause</em> to arousing effect. By the 1970s, this popularity had expanded. Punk and grunge bands put gaping holes in jeans to convey anger toward convention and society’s obsession with material things. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two men lean against a rock. Both wear jeans." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391512/original/file-20210324-17-15ckbmk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391512/original/file-20210324-17-15ckbmk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391512/original/file-20210324-17-15ckbmk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391512/original/file-20210324-17-15ckbmk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391512/original/file-20210324-17-15ckbmk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391512/original/file-20210324-17-15ckbmk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391512/original/file-20210324-17-15ckbmk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A movie still from ‘Sholay,’ 1975.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Sippy Films)</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>As a kid, whose family had migrated from India to the U.S. in the mid 1970s, I recall being a wide-eyed ‘80s teenager in a New York City store. The shop carried two floors of nothing but ripped jeans. I was shocked that the store had been able to source so many second-hand jeans. Only later, did I understand that clothing manufacturers had started producing new jeans with holes in them as part of their product line. In this way, they had turned dissent into a marketable fashion statement.</p>
<p>In India, the jean was popularized in the post-independence period with exposure to western films. The clamour for jeans received a huge boost when irresistible bad boy film star <a href="https://www.thequint.com/news/india/denims-are-not-just-an-american-legend-but-an-indian-one-too">Amitabh Bachchan</a> wore jeans in the 1975 mega-blockbuster, <em>Sholay</em>. The jeans were a reflection of the youthful and rebellious nature of his character. </p>
<p>But jeans were still inaccessible to the majority of India’s youth. India’s self-sufficient economic policies made access to foreign brands difficult or very expensive. Indians eventually turned to tailors <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/fashion/the-evolution-of-jeans-from-19th-century-californian-mines-to-everyday-indian-wardrobes/article6643869.ece">to stitch</a> their jeans. Finally, by the '90s there were domestic brands of jeans to be had, although foreign brands still had cachet, especially in urban areas. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1372173221978542081"}"></div></p>
<p>After India’s economic liberalization in the 1990s, foreign brands became more available, albeit still expensive. Ripped jeans came soon after with the increased exposure to international trends. </p>
<p>So in India, jeans were associated with the West, modernity and youth culture. That is to an extent still true. But jeans with holes have the added association with protest and dissent. </p>
<h2>Protest power</h2>
<p>Chief Minister Rawat has since apologized. But the backlash to his comments seems to be as much about his and his party’s policing of women’s bodies as about their policing of free speech, which ripped jeans have come to symbolize in general. </p>
<p>Today, shopping for my 14-year-old daughter in Toronto, it is hard to find anything but ripped jeans. In fact, ripped jeans are so mainstream that in some sense their association with rebellion and dissent has been muted by the process of commodification. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1373984055411150850"}"></div></p>
<p>This is a market that even <a href="https://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/how-sanskaari-is-your-jeans-baba-ramdev-launches-ripped-jeans-which-is-sanskaari-enough-to-keep-our-indianness-intact-356435.html">BJP allies have invested in</a>. One company, owned by a yoga guru that sells ripped jeans tweeted: “Our jeans are ripped, but we haven’t ripped them so much also so as to lose our Indian-ness and our values.” </p>
<p>Ironically, Chief Minister Rawat’s comments, which sound out of touch not only for their arcane notions of modesty but also the agency they ascribe to ripped jeans, have infused new vigour into an old symbol. At least for a moment in India, it seems, ripped jeans have reclaimed their protest power.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1372118646403731460"}"></div></p>
<p><em>This is a corrected version of story originally published on March 25, 2021. It was James Dean who starred in 'Rebel Without a Cause,’ not Marlon Brando.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157666/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Deepali Dewan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>After an Indian politician disparaged a woman for her lack of morals because she was wearing ripped jeans, an online protest erupted, reviving the original protest-culture of the ripped jean.Deepali Dewan, Dan Mishra Curator of South Asian Art & Culture, Royal Ontario Museum / Associate Professor, Department of Art History, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1545372021-02-16T13:26:51Z2021-02-16T13:26:51ZIndian farmers are a powerful force in Indian politics, and here’s why their protests matter<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383857/original/file-20210211-20-1prnd2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C17%2C3799%2C2483&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A large number of women have joined the protests against new farm laws in India.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/farmers-congregate-at-tikri-during-the-ongoing-protest-news-photo/1231087392?adppopup=true">Sanchit Khanna/Hindustan Times via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For over two months, farmers in India have been on <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/1/26/22242395/india-farmer-protest-republic-day-delhi">a largely peaceful</a> <a href="https://qz.com/india/1920840/a-timeline-of-the-months-long-farmer-protests-in-india/">protest</a> over <a href="https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1656929">three laws</a> the Indian Parliament passed in September 2020 to liberalize how and to whom farmers can sell their produce. </p>
<p><a href="https://apnews.com/article/international-news-india-new-delhi-coronavirus-pandemic-9985c84b0ea70aba6331ba16bba4982a">Men and women</a>, young and old, have been participating in these protests and show no signs of giving up. Tens of thousands of farmers from all over India came together on Feb. 6 <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/2/6/22270309/india-protests-farmers-blockades">to set up blockades across all main roads</a> in the country, shutting down all traffic for nearly three hours.</p>
<p>As a scholar of the <a href="https://www.ifpri.org/publication/political-economy-agricultural-policy-reform-india-0">political economy</a> of India’s agricultural sector, I argue that farmers in India, though not organized, have nonetheless been a formidable political force in the country. In the past, they <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03066159408438553">brought the nation’s cities to a near standstill</a> in disputes with the government, and they could do so again. </p>
<h2>India’s regulated farm markets</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1656929">government claims</a> that the new laws are meant to raise farmers’ incomes and transform Indian agriculture. According to the government, they will also end “<a href="https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1657657">excessive regulatory interference</a>” and thereby encourage the private sector to invest in storage, transportation and other parts of the agriculture supply chain. The laws will, officials say, offer farmers the opportunity to market their produce to various groups of buyers – processors, retailers, exporters and so on.</p>
<p>In the past, the Indian government has played a major role in providing <a href="https://www.ifpri.org/publication/political-economy-agricultural-policy-reform-india-0">farm infrastructure in India</a>. </p>
<p>In response to persistent food insecurity in the 1960s, the government put in place a set of policies that would increase agricultural production through the use of inputs such as high-yielding seeds, <a href="https://www.ifpri.org/publication/political-economy-agricultural-policy-reform-india-0">chemical fertilizers and adequate water and electricity supply</a>. </p>
<p>On the demand side, the government bought grain and other commodities from the farmers, <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/minimum-support-price-msp-farmers-explained-6706253/">guaranteeing floor prices</a>, and then distributed the food to consumers throughout the country. </p>
<p>To maintain price stability and to protect farmers from being ripped off by middlemen, the government created <a href="https://www.ncaer.org/events/ipf-2016/IPF-2016-Paper-Chatterjee-Kapur.pdf">regulated markets</a>. These policies, which began within two decades of India’s independence in 1947, were consistent with the socialist model of governance India had adopted.</p>
<p>However, according to experts, these regulated markets, created to protect farmers, emerged as <a href="https://www.ncaer.org/events/ipf-2016/IPF-2016-Paper-Chatterjee-Kapur.pdf">obstacles to growth</a> in the farm sector. </p>
<h2>Farmers’ apprehensions</h2>
<p>Under the Indian Constitution, regulation of agriculture happens at the state level. During the last two decades, <a href="https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/agri-business/model-apmc-act-adopted-by-16-states-pawar/article23072759.ece">several states</a> have changed policies to make it easier for farmers to sell outside those regulated markets, but those policy changes were not enough to attract the private sector to invest in the <a href="https://www.theindiaforum.in/article/three-farm-bills">agricultural supply chain</a>. The government claims that the new laws <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/explained-why-farmers-fear-losing-msp-under-new-laws/articleshow/79523591.cms">will create uniform legislation</a> across the country. </p>
<p>Farmers, however, are <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/farmers-protest-talks-with-centre-sucha-singh-gill-7091057/">afraid</a> that the new laws will drive down prices and drive the farmers off their lands.</p>
<p>They are also concerned about the unbalanced negotiating power with a powerful corporate sector, which would own infrastructure such as warehouses and refrigerated transportation. </p>
<h2>The power of farmers</h2>
<p>While farmers may not have much power individually, they have been a force to contend with in Indian politics. </p>
<p>Most notably, in the 1980s, farmers protesting low crop prices and demanding free electricity supply <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03066159408438553">brought New Delhi to a standstill</a>. At the time, farmers’ groups with diverse political ideologies from various parts of the country quickly unified behind their common demands.</p>
<p>At that time, in New Delhi, they held protest marches as a show of power; in rural India, they <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03066159408438553">restricted entry</a> of government officials into their own offices; and nationally, they blocked food transportation routes. </p>
<p>The federal government yielded to their pressure and raised the minimum support price of crops; <a href="https://www.epw.in/journal/2001/35/special-articles/power-politics.html">many state governments</a> offered free electricity to farmers. </p>
<p>Farmers also demonstrated their power on several occasions when the Indian government was engaged in negotiations to form the World Trade Organization. Pressure from farmers led India to demand <a href="https://econpapers.repec.org/article/oupajagec/v_3a84_3ay_3a2002_3ai_3a3_3ap_3a754-761.htm">high tariff protection</a> – ranging from 100% to 300% – as a way to lessen the competition from imports. </p>
<p>India’s rural economy is still largely dependent on <a href="http://www.fao.org/india/fao-in-india/india-at-a-glance/en/">farming and related activities</a>, and the farm sector accounts for nearly <a href="https://www.financialexpress.com/budget/india-economic-survey-2018-for-farmers-agriculture-gdp-msp/1034266/">50% of the workforce</a>. Farmers also constitute an important voting bloc.</p>
<h2>Nationwide support</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Indian farmers blockade roads" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383859/original/file-20210211-17-1lqcfxo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383859/original/file-20210211-17-1lqcfxo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383859/original/file-20210211-17-1lqcfxo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383859/original/file-20210211-17-1lqcfxo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383859/original/file-20210211-17-1lqcfxo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383859/original/file-20210211-17-1lqcfxo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383859/original/file-20210211-17-1lqcfxo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Farmers participate in a road blockade as part of their protests.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/farmers-shout-slogans-as-they-take-part-in-a-three-hour-news-photo/1231003795?adppopup=true">Mayank Makhija/NurPhoto via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>The current protests are being led by farmers mainly from the northern states of <a href="https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/trends/current-affairs-trends/farmer-protests-heres-why-punjab-and-haryana-farmers-are-on-the-warpath-6190521.html">Haryana and Punjab</a>, states that are central to India’s food supply. These are the states from which the Indian government buys a majority of the wheat and rice that is eventually <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-farms-protests-explainer-idCAKBN28E1WI">distributed at subsidized prices to consumers</a> in the rest of India. In the past, farmers from these states have enjoyed enormous political clout as well. To add to the power of these protests, farmers from other states have been been joining the protests. </p>
<p>The current administration, thus far, has indicated that it <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-55744967">will not roll back the laws</a>. Prolonging the protest, in my view, makes the administration appear ineffective, a risk it can scarcely take with major state elections looming ahead. The protest is costly to farmers as well.</p>
<p>Although the protests have been largely peaceful so far, on Jan. 26, India’s Republic Day, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/1/26/22242395/india-farmer-protest-republic-day-delhi">clashes took place</a> between farmers and the police. If that happens again, it would be an alarming prospect for all concerned.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/154537/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Surupa Gupta received funding from International Food Policy Research Institute during 2005-2006.
</span></em></p>India’s farmers have been protesting for months. An expert on India’s agricultural sector explains why governments in the past have paid heed to their demands.Surupa Gupta, Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, University of Mary WashingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1444412020-09-03T13:54:40Z2020-09-03T13:54:40ZIndian Matchmaking: a show about arranged marriages can’t ignore the political reality in India<p>Sima Aunty, the central figure in Netflix’s Indian Matchmaking, facilitates the tradition of the arranged marriage by finding suitable matches. As she meets with clients and their families, the programme outlines the parameters of what constitutes a suitable and desirable match and how to find one. According to her:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If you want a good and happy family, you have to adjust, have to compromise </p>
</blockquote>
<p>While men are told to lower their standards and women to be less “choosey”, the show’s biggest compromise is not made by those looking for their ideal match. Instead, it comes with how it glosses over the politics of contemporary India to fit the format of a reality dating show and appeal to a wide international audience. </p>
<p>The programme gives the appearance of prioritising how well people get on rather than how socially (and politically) acceptable matches are. Instead, social conservatism and <a href="https://scroll.in/global/970262/casteism-continues-to-thrive-among-indians-abroad-through-surnames">casteism</a> (a system of social stratification, based on a hierarchy of social status and ritual purity or pollution) are surreptitiously promoted to an unaware international audience. These ideas are shrouded within notions of family love, cultural affinity and desires for children to be happy. </p>
<p>While advertised as a dating show, it is questionable whether Indian Matchmaking should wade into this territory at all. However, with the unsightly social context and political reality in India omitted from the discussion, Indian Matchmaking covertly upholds the ideas of Hindu nationalism.</p>
<h2>The family lines of authoritarianism</h2>
<p>Indian Matchmaking was filmed and aired during a time of deep fascism in India.</p>
<p>The last two years have seen <a href="https://scroll.in/article/966775/from-planning-murder-to-praising-modi-whatsapp-chats-offer-a-window-into-the-minds-of-delhi-rioters">violent pogroms</a>, far-reaching <a href="https://scroll.in/article/962526/in-delhi-violence-investigation-a-disturbing-pattern-victims-end-up-being-arrested-by-police">state orchestration and complicity</a> and <a href="https://thewire.in/education/jnu-public-university-system">the dismantlement of liberal institutions</a>.</p>
<p>The <em>Sangh Parivar</em>, or the “family” of Hindu nationalist organisations in India, includes the ruling far-right Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The party, led by Narendra Modi, has been implementing its vision of a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/23/opinion/modi-india-election.html">Hindu nation</a> since its electoral landslide in 2014. </p>
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<p><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-50670393">Exclusionary citizenship laws</a>, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-51382414">anti-Muslim hate speech</a>) and <a href="https://time.com/5617161/india-religious-hate-crimes-modi/">hate crimes</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/aug/05/devastating-siege-kashmir-colony-india-crushing-dissent">the illegal abolition of Kashmir’s special status</a> are some of the key features of the BJP’s platform. It has welded social conservatism, caste ideology, territorial sovereignty and Hindu supremacy together to create India’s brand of fascism and authoritarianism called <em>Hindutva</em>. </p>
<p>By not featuring any conversations about the fraught politics of this time, the programme by default contributes to the denial of the violence being <a href="https://www.trtworld.com/opinion/73-years-on-violence-is-reimagined-in-modi-s-india-38919">perpetrated against minorities</a>. These groups are also excluded from the show to present a quaint and simplistic picture of love in India and the diaspora. </p>
<p>It could be understood that such omissions were made to fit within the genre of reality TV. The protocols and idiosyncrasies of this system of matchmaking provide a source of entertainment for viewers – such as first dates where parents and other relatives are embarrassingly present. However, while it might seem odd for what is essentially a dating show to wade into such political territory, these omissions propagate and normalise some of the dangerous thinking espoused by <em>Hindutva</em>.</p>
<h2>Love and hate in a time of fascism</h2>
<p>The programme’s honesty lies in how it exposes how social boundaries and preferences are brazenly stated at the onset. Clients name their traits and then identify those they desire in potential matches. Going against the wishes of parents or crossing social boundaries by considering a match outside of the categories of acceptability is beyond the realm of possibility. </p>
<p>Instead, <a href="https://www.hloom.com/resume/templates/biodata">biodatas</a>, which function as dating profiles or personal CVs, are shared and examined in great detail. Religion, education, regional or ethnic background, height, age, profession and more are listed for participants and viewers to scrutinise.</p>
<p>In this process, viewers come to understand the codes and categories of suitability and desirability. Personal and parental foibles distract viewers from considering which groups are missing and what traits are placed on a pedestal. </p>
<p>The stigmatisation of inter-community cohesion and relationships under <em>Hindutva</em> has been a key feature of the BJP government’s social agenda. Many of these ideas lurk across the episodes of the programme. </p>
<p>One particular desire that repeatedly comes up is for a “fair skin” match. This is an idea of beauty that can be <a href="https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/unfair-love-skin-colour-and-caste-bias/cid/1784266">traced back to caste ideology</a> and a desire to move upward or maintain status in a society where caste oppression is a daily reality.</p>
<p>Marriages across caste or religion are predominantly frowned upon in India. According to the India Human Development Survey, only around <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-47823588">5% of Indian marriages are across caste</a>.</p>
<p>This deeply held and entrenched idea of maintaining caste “purity” is part of the BJP’s social agenda for a Hindu nation. The party loudly seeks to stigmatise and stoke violence against those who transgress caste and religious boundaries. </p>
<p>One popular conspiracy theory shared by the Hindu right is “<a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1057/s41305-018-0120-0?casa_token=duvcP3dSvggAAAAA:w0NgK4Or1WgkmoSMVRJ6U5djrFwO2XgS3ddFnmojrzhVzr6S2ClFJYD03EMefpATNVQ-NVPyilHr">Love Jihad</a>”. This is the idea that Muslim men target women belonging to non-Muslim communities to convert them to Islam by feigning love. It is an invention to incite suspicion and hatred against Muslims in India. </p>
<p>Love Jihad is based on the idea that mixed relationships between Muslims and Hindus will threaten the “purity” of the Hindu nation. In Indian Matchmaking, <em>Hindutva</em> as a social and political project prevails as an international and subtle follow-up to Love jihad.</p>
<p>Social conservatism’s preference for and adherence to categories go hand in hand. Many viewers would have laughed at the behaviour of anxiety-ridden Preeti from Mumbai whose unabashed ambition is to settle her younger son Akshay with a “homely” match who will look after the family. Despite his reluctance, towards the end of the programme her son admits that he wants a wife who will not only please his mother but also be like her. He, like many other clients, are looking for someone just like him and his kin. </p>
<p>All in all, the programme is disingenuous for suggesting that a system of matchmaking in an era of fascism, without naming or referring to the broader political backdrop, can do anything but collude with the forces of <em>Hindutva</em>. Instead, the implicit social conservatism of the family, which actively fuels supremacist politics, goes completely unexplored and unchecked.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144441/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Navtej K Purewal does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>While a lighthearted dating show, can Indian matchmaking get away with not exploring the turbulent politics of caste oppression and violence against Muslims in India?Navtej K Purewal, Professor of Political Sociology and Development Studies, SOAS University of London, SOAS, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1297142020-01-13T14:23:41Z2020-01-13T14:23:41ZIndia’s economy: how the world’s fastest growing nation went off the rails<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/309637/original/file-20200113-103974-ptq7na.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Not first class. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/jaisalmer-india-february-24-unidentified-man-182338229">happystock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>India celebrates the traditional harvest festivals of <a href="https://www.sahapedia.org/bihu-the-festival-of-assam">Bihu</a>, <a href="https://www.tripsavvy.com/guide-to-celebrating-pongal-festival-1539253">Pongal</a>, <a href="https://www.news18.com/news/lifestyle/makar-sankranti-the-way-it-is-celebrated-in-states-across-india-1335352.html">Makara Sankranti</a> and <a href="https://www.ganeshaspeaks.com/festival-calendars/information/lohri-festival-punjab-jammu-kashmir-significance/">Lohri</a> across different states in the second week of January. The festivities have become lavish in recent years as the economy has enjoyed high growth rates. But change is in the air. </p>
<p>India’s GDP was <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.KD.ZG?locations=IN&most_recent_year_desc=true">growing at</a> between 7% and 8% for the past few years, the <a href="https://www.verdict.co.uk/how-india-became-the-worlds-fastest-growing-economy/">fastest rate</a> in the world. But in the last year it has been decelerating markedly: the growth rate <a href="https://tradingeconomics.com/india/gdp-growth-annual">slumped to 4.5%</a> in the third quarter of 2019, the slowest in six years. </p>
<p>The IMF, World Bank and OECD all <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/indicators/imf-revises-indias-growth-projection-to-6-1-per-cent-in-2019/articleshow/71600157.cms?from=mdr">sounded the alarm</a> in October after the Reserve Bank of India trimmed the country’s <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/rbi-sharply-cuts-gdp-growth-forecast-to-6-1-from-6-9-for-2019-20/articleshow/71436999.cms">projected growth rate</a> to 6.1% for 2019-20. This was on the back of a sharp decline in private consumption and weakening growth in industry and services. Despite numerous cuts to interest rates in 2019, the central bank <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/gdp-shocker-rbi-cuts-fy20-growth-forecast-to-5/articleshow/72379884.cms?from=mdr">again cut</a> its forecast in December, this time to 5%. So what is going wrong, and where does India go from here?</p>
<h2>Economic woes</h2>
<p>A host of factors have contributed to India’s economic malaise. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) party was originally elected to run the country in 2014, it inherited a <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/ec1fbbe4-9988-11e9-98b9-e38c177b152f">weak banking and finance sector</a> saddled with too much bad debt and serious problems <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/banking/finance/banking/why-bankers-are-hesitant-to-report-frauds/articleshow/71496811.cms?from=mdr">with fraud</a>. This had made lending more difficult and triggered declines in consumer spending, business investment and exports. </p>
<p>The government has made reforms such as providing the banks with <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/banking/finance/modi-govt-announces-mega-rs-2-lakh-11-thousand-crore-bank-recapitalisation-and-rs-7-lakh-crore-road-plan/articleshow/61202075.cms">extra capital</a>, introducing <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/bankruptcy-law-is-kick-indian-firms-needed-to-pay-up-says-chairman-of-the-insolvency/articleshow/64927323.cms?from=mdr">new bankruptcy rules</a> to give extra protection to lenders, and <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-30/india-to-announce-a-mega-merger-among-state-run-banks">consolidating</a> the state-owned institutions that dominate the sector. Nonetheless, the banks <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/india-banks-bad-loans/indias-bad-debt-pile-eased-by-write-offs-underlying-problem-far-from-resolved-idUSL3N2731MH">remain fragile</a>, amid a <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/ec1fbbe4-9988-11e9-98b9-e38c177b152f">perception that</a> the reforms have not been aggressive enough. </p>
<p><strong>India’s economy</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/309480/original/file-20200110-97178-116x4k8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/309480/original/file-20200110-97178-116x4k8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309480/original/file-20200110-97178-116x4k8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309480/original/file-20200110-97178-116x4k8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309480/original/file-20200110-97178-116x4k8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309480/original/file-20200110-97178-116x4k8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309480/original/file-20200110-97178-116x4k8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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</figure>
<p>In the face of this problem, much of the demand for credit has been picked up by the so-called <a href="https://www.nelito.com/blog/the-top-10-nbfcs-in-india.html">non-banking financial corporations</a>. They are now responsible for <a href="https://www.frbsf.org/banking/asia-program/pacific-exchange-blog/indias-non-bank-financial-companies-emerge-from-the-shadows/">about a fifth</a> of all lending in the country, but they have been through <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/banking/finance/imminent-crisis-in-nbfc-sector-corporate-affairs-secretary/articleshow/69293052.cms?from=mdr">turbulent times</a> themselves lately, having become over-extended and due to <a href="https://gulfnews.com/business/banking/shadow-banking-crisis-to-continue-to-haunt-indias-financial-system-1.64197857">problems with</a> their funding model. This has made it harder for people to get loans for vehicles and mortgages. One knock-on effect has been a slump in the residential property market. Once again, the government has <a href="https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-india-economy-budget-banking/india-plans-10-billion-bank-recapitalization-help-for-shadow-lenders-idUKKCN1U01VZ">stepped in</a> to recapitalise these institutions. </p>
<p>At the same time, Modi’s plan to raise the economic contribution of manufacturing from 15% to 25% of GDP is not making much progress. The flagship Make in India initiative, which aims to attract more manufacturing contracts from foreign companies, has produced <a href="https://www.worldfinance.com/featured/modis-grand-manufacturing-vision-looks-to-be-falling-flat">disappointing results</a>. </p>
<p>It has partly been held back by other BJP reforms such as the <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/goods-and-services-tax-how-pm-modi-transformed-indias-economy/a-45256163">goods and service tax (GST) system</a> introduced in 2017, which has been cumbersome and unfriendly to business. It requires companies to file separate returns for every state in which they have a presence, for instance. State governments <a href="https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/gst-rate-cut-on-hotel-tariffs-hailed-but-falls-short-of-industry-expectations/article29475861.ece">agreed several years ago</a> to reduce the tax burden in certain categories after coming under fire from business leaders. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/309475/original/file-20200110-97171-mvn3kp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/309475/original/file-20200110-97171-mvn3kp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/309475/original/file-20200110-97171-mvn3kp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309475/original/file-20200110-97171-mvn3kp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309475/original/file-20200110-97171-mvn3kp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309475/original/file-20200110-97171-mvn3kp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309475/original/file-20200110-97171-mvn3kp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309475/original/file-20200110-97171-mvn3kp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Manufacturing football equipment at Jalandhar in north India.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://webgate.epa.eu/webgate">EPA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>India’s lacklustre performance has also been aggravated by the global economic downturn and ongoing international trade disputes between the US, China and the EU. In a climate of <a href="https://www.trtworld.com/business/imf-predicts-bleak-economic-outlook-amid-growing-protectionism-24091">growing protectionism</a>, India’s exports <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/exports-fall-for-4th-successive-month-in-november-imports-for-6th-119121400040_1.html">have declined</a>. The country’s current account deficit, which is the measure of imports vs exports, <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/indicators/fy19-cad-inches-up-to-2-1-but-more-than-halves-in-q4/articleshow/69992114.cms?from=mdr">widened</a> from 1.8% in 2017-18 to 2.1% in the most recent year, the highest in six years. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, unemployment has soared. It hit an <a href="https://tradingeconomics.com/india/unemployment-rate">all-time high</a> of 8.5% in October 2019, with the labour participation rate <a href="https://www.ceicdata.com/en/indicator/india/labour-force-participation-rate">falling to</a> barely half of adults. There are mounting concerns that this <a href="https://www.livemint.com/opinion/columns/opinion-the-seriousness-of-the-problem-of-unemployment-in-india-1564679281965.html">could lead</a> to <a href="https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/unemployed-educated-youth-are-a-potential-danger-to-society/cid/1717101">political instability</a>. </p>
<h2>What next?</h2>
<p>The solutions to India’s economic crisis are unlikely to be straightforward or speedy. When the IMF and others <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/indicators/imf-revises-indias-growth-projection-to-6-1-per-cent-in-2019/articleshow/71600157.cms?from=mdr">raised concerns</a> in October, they weren’t just reacting to the slowdown. They were questioning the quality of growth, which included very little private sector investment and was <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/indicators/imf-revises-indias-growth-projection-to-6-1-per-cent-in-2019/articleshow/71600157.cms?from=mdr">flattered by</a> cheap oil imports; and they were also calling for long-term structural reforms to make the country more efficient and less dependent on the state. </p>
<p>Modi, who was re-elected as PM in 2019, has initiated various reforms in recent months. These include <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-49764964">lowering</a> corporation tax rates from 30% to 22%; slashing corporation tax rates for investments in greenfield manufacturing plants to 15% from 25%; <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/new-norms-to-ease-restrictions-on-fdi-by-joint-ventures-of-indian-companies/articleshow/72098511.cms?from=mdr">raising</a> foreign direct investment restrictions in a range of sectors; and <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/58222fb6-e655-11e9-9743-db5a370481bc">sanctioning reductions</a> to interest rates. His administration has also successfully cut red tape, which has seen India <a href="http://ptinews.com/news/10148037_India-jumps-23-notches-to-77th-rank-on-World-Bank-s--ease-of-doing-biz--ranking.html">climb from</a> 134th to 77th in the World Bank’s rankings for ease of doing business. </p>
<p>So far, this has failed to invigorate the economy. The current <a href="http://www.businessworld.in/article/Labour-Regulations-And-Laws-In-Indian-Manufacturing-Industry-/13-10-2019-177366/">labour</a> and <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/new-india-leader-should-prioritize-easing-land-acquisition-rules/articleshow/69438986.cms">land acquisition laws</a> are archaic and need addressing urgently to rebuild business confidence. For instance, manufacturing firms that employ more than 100 employees have to obtain official approval before making staff redundant, which makes it difficult for firms to improve productivity and adapt to innovation. </p>
<p>The government also needs to go further in improving the banking sector, including stricter regulations over lending and enhanced supervision from regulators. Until such matters are addressed, it is difficult to see India living up to its vast potential.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/129714/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sangeeta Khorana has received funding from ESRC, FCO and several other organisations. She is on the Board of Trustee Directors of Institute of Exports and International Trade and non-executive Director on the board of Satin Creditcare Network Ltd, a leading NBFC in India.</span></em></p>The Modi boom was built on sand – and now the tide has come in.Sangeeta Khorana, Professor of Economics, Bournemouth UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1293322020-01-06T20:09:56Z2020-01-06T20:09:56ZWhy is Indian Prime Minister Modi attacking student protesters?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/308487/original/file-20200104-11919-19g80va.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=274%2C114%2C4811%2C3210&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Indian students of Jamia Millia Islamia University shout slogans as they march during a protest, in New Delhi, India, Dec. 18, 2019. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Altaf Qadri</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/30-injured-as-masked-thugs-go-on-rampage-inside-jnu/articleshow/73114321.cms">News and social media reports have circulated videos</a> from India of masked attackers beating up students in the dorms of New Delhi’s prestigious public university, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). One JNU teacher told the <em>Times of India</em> “For one and half hour the police did not do anything …” News reports say <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/india/jnu-violence-police-watch-as-ambulances-smashed-leaders-heckled-6201469/">the violence lasted close to three hours</a>. </p>
<p>This attack by thugs follows <a href="https://frontline.thehindu.com/the-nation/education/article30147073.ece">years of unrelenting attacks</a> by the Modi government and its allies on JNU, and a month of police violence at Jamia and Aligarh Muslim universities.</p>
<p>For Prime Minister Narendra Modi, <a href="https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/03/india-students-jnu-protest-narendra-modi-bjp">dissent is the enemy of democracy</a>. </p>
<p>Public universities encourage critical thinking and cultivate politically informed citizens. And university students as political interlocutors have <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/why-narendra-modis-government-is-at-war-with-students/a-19051656">repeatedly borne the wrath of his government</a>. </p>
<p>Modi’s antidemocratic attitudes have been <a href="https://scroll.in/article/669178/modis-biography-of-golwalkar-suggests-rss-leader-was-vital-influence">cultivated through his training</a>. He rose through the ranks of the male-only <a href="http://rss.org//Encyc/2012/10/22/rss-vision-and-mission.html">Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)</a>, the parent organization of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Rashtriya-Swayamsevak-Sangh">RSS was founded in 1925</a> and is <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/05/03/706808616/the-powerful-group-shaping-the-rise-of-hindu-nationalism-in-india">a prominent proponent of “Hindutva — Hindu-ness and the idea that India should be a ‘Hindu nation.’”</a></p>
<h2>Unprecedented state violence against students</h2>
<p>Last month, police unleashed violence <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-citizenship-protests-university/night-of-horrors-inside-the-indian-university-stormed-by-police-idUSKBN1YL0KH">on Jamia Millia Islamia University</a> and <a href="https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/when-police-went-hunting-in-hostels-of-amu/cid/1727691">Aligarh Muslim University</a> students. Students were protesting the exclusion of Muslims from the scope of the recently passed <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/citizenship-amendment-bill-decoded-what-it-holds-for-india/articleshow/72466056.cms?from=mdr">Citizenship Amendment Act</a> (<a href="http://164.100.47.4/BillsTexts/LSBillTexts/Asintroduced/370_2019_LS_Eng.pdf">CAA</a>) as discriminatory and unconstitutional. </p>
<p>The CAA grants fast-tracked citizenship to members of religious minorities, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians, who have fled from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/indias-new-citizenship-act-legalizes-a-hindu-nation-129024">India's new citizenship act legalizes a Hindu nation</a>
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<p>For striving to play an active role in shaping democracy, students were beaten, tear gassed, detained, arrested and denied medical attention.</p>
<p>Such unprecedented <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/17/india-protests-students-condemn-barbaric-police">state violence against student protesters</a> provoked a <a href="https://scroll.in/latest/946953/citizenship-act-protests-jamia-students-start-leaving-campus-amu-to-be-evacuated-today">pan-Indian solidarity of students</a> and galvanized <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/anti-caa-protests-1-113-arrests-5-558-preventive-detentions-19-dead-in-up-1631814-2019-12-27">widescale resistance</a> to the CAA. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/308486/original/file-20200104-11946-1jvlb7s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=112%2C74%2C4693%2C3241&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/308486/original/file-20200104-11946-1jvlb7s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308486/original/file-20200104-11946-1jvlb7s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308486/original/file-20200104-11946-1jvlb7s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308486/original/file-20200104-11946-1jvlb7s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308486/original/file-20200104-11946-1jvlb7s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308486/original/file-20200104-11946-1jvlb7s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Indian students of JNU shout slogans during a protest march against massive fee hikes for dorms and other services, along with their other demands as they march towards the Parliament in New Delhi, India, Nov. 23, 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Altaf Qadri</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘Uncritical obedience’</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Narendra-Modi">Modi joined the RSS</a> in his teens and then worked as a RSS <em>pracharak</em> (leader) for 15 years. A <em>pracharak</em> is a full-time worker dedicated to disseminating RSS ideology. As a <em>pracharak</em>, Modi dedicated his life educating Indian youth in RSS culture, which expects <a href="https://books.google.ca/books/about/Spotlights.html?id=5fgrAAAAIAAJ&redir_esc=y">obedience and reverence of authority</a>.</p>
<p>The RSS recruits schoolboys and college youth for its local branches (<em>sakhas</em>). They train youth to dedicate themselves towards establishing a Hindu nation through physical activities and spiritual lessons.</p>
<p>For their book <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1490272.Khaki_Shorts_and_Saffron_Flags"><em>Khaki Shorts and Saffron Flags</em></a>, scholars Tapan Basu, Tanika Sarkar and Sumit Sarkar interviewed RSS members to understand the hierarchical, deferential structure of the RSS local branches (<em>sakhas</em>). They explain how young boys receive lessons in scriptures and mythology to inculcate values of “absolute loyalty” to the leader and to the organization. </p>
<p>This results in an <a href="https://frontline.thehindu.com/static/html/fl1922/stories/20021108002209000.htm">uncritical obedience</a> to the leader. </p>
<p>Modi has hailed M.S. Golwalkar (1906-73), a spiritual founder of the RSS, as his “<a href="https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/push-to-idolise-modi-mentor-golwalkar/cid/1520838">ideological mentor</a>.” In Golwalkar’s 1966 book, <em><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/2931370">Bunch of Thoughts</a></em> the chapter “Internal Threats” has three subheadings: “The Muslims,” “The Christians” and “The Communists.” Muslims and Christians were considered to be threats because of their religion, that is, for not being Hindus. Dissenters were branded as “Communists” for questioning the Hindu Right’s attempts to Hinduize the nation.</p>
<h2>Punishing ‘anti-nationals’</h2>
<p>University students are just the latest entry in Modi government’s list of potential <a href="https://www.thecitizen.in/index.php/en/NewsDetail/index/8/11005/Indias-Newest-Scapegoat-The-Anti-National">anti-nationals</a>.</p>
<p>To justify the use of state violence against students, the Modi government has routinely represented them as discontent and violent. <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/about/what-is-section-144">Section 144</a> of the Indian Criminal Procedure Code prohibits the assembly of four or more people in an area. This colonial-era regulation has been used to criminalize student dissent and to delegitimize student protesters as “anti-nationals.”</p>
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<p>
<em>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-laws-weaponize-citizenship-in-india-129027">New laws weaponize citizenship in India</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The violence unleashed on university campuses and against civilians protesting the CAA over the past month is an attempt by the Modi government to <a href="https://theprint.in/pageturner/excerpt/vigilantism-is-central-to-rss-mission-of-organising-hindus-defending-their-interests/231655/">discipline both Hindus and non-Hindus</a>. The intent is to create fear to thwart, control and surveil protests.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/308679/original/file-20200106-123395-dqrcut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/308679/original/file-20200106-123395-dqrcut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308679/original/file-20200106-123395-dqrcut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308679/original/file-20200106-123395-dqrcut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308679/original/file-20200106-123395-dqrcut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308679/original/file-20200106-123395-dqrcut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308679/original/file-20200106-123395-dqrcut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A protest against a new citizenship law outside Gandhi Ashram in Ahmadabad, India, Dec. 17, 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Ajit Solanki</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>British colonialism and Hindu nationalism</h2>
<p>On Dec. 29, 2019 a street play called <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/art-banners-plays-take-over-street-outside-jamia-6190702/">Jamiawala Bagh</a> was performed outside Jamia university campus. The play highlighted the parallels between British colonial violence and current Hindu Right violence in India. </p>
<p>It drew on the story of British colonial violence against a public gathering in 1919, in Amritsar, Punjab. At a public park, the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Jallianwala-Bagh-Massacre">Jallianwala Bagh</a>, a British general ordered his troops to gun down unarmed civilians. The Jallianwala Bagh massacre was a critical turning point in India’s independence movement. After the massacre, <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/india/mahatma-gandhi">Mohandas K. Gandhi (popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi)</a> rejected British justice, and launched the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/noncooperation-movement">Non-Cooperation Movement in 1920</a>.</p>
<p>Gandhi called for an abandonment of government educational institutions, government service and foreign goods, and for resistance to colonial laws. In his arrest and trial for the leadership of the movement, <a href="https://www.mkgandhi.org/speeches/gto1922.htm">Gandhi explained</a> that he believed dissent would ensure the colonial state responded to the demands of the Indian people for independence from foreign rule. </p>
<h2>Dissent and democracy</h2>
<p>At great personal risk, the students today are also resisting Hindu Right violence and demanding a democratic public culture. They are publicly registering their dissent hoping to prompt the government to listen to its citizens. </p>
<p>Universities can equip students with the knowledge to talk back to power rather than become docile subjects of the state. The anti-CAA protests that have spread across India are at least in part initiated by university students. </p>
<p>This suggests that Indian universities have done well in educating youth of their civic obligations and social responsibilities and have enabled them to exercise leadership. </p>
<p>This is contrary to notions of obedient citizenship ingrained in the RSS <em>pracharak</em>. At the helm of the world’s largest democracy, Modi is not interested in cultivating thinking youth or engaging in dialogue with them. He considers thinking and questioning youth a threat to his government. The threat is to be controlled through the use of brute force. </p>
<p>The Modi government seems to have successfully tutored the <a href="https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/jnu-violence-masked-men-allegedly-block-and-attack-ambulance-outside-university-115420">police and its supporters to loathe university student protesters</a>. This is turning India’s public universities into spaces to display Hindu Right vigilantism.</p>
<p>[ <em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/ca/newsletters?utm_source=TCCA&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/129332/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chandrima Chakraborty receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.</span></em></p>Indian student protests suggest Indian universities have successfully educated youth to participate and lead in public life. For exercising this right, students have been beaten and detained.Chandrima Chakraborty, University Scholar and Professor of English and Cultural Studies, McMaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1290242019-12-18T21:43:24Z2019-12-18T21:43:24ZIndia’s new citizenship act legalizes a Hindu nation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307740/original/file-20191218-11924-1p60o42.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=172%2C159%2C4438%2C2765&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">India's new citizenship law has sparked massive protests across the country. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Anupam Nath</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>India’s recently passed <a href="http://164.100.47.4/BillsTexts/LSBillTexts/Asintroduced/370_2019_LS_Eng.pdf">Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019</a> is a frontal assault on the idea of India as a secular, pluralist democracy. </p>
<p>For the first time, legal sanction has been given to <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/12/11/secularism-is-dying-in-india/">the recasting of India as a Hindu majoritarian nation</a> where minorities, especially Muslims, are second-class citizens. Signed into law after rushed debates in the parliament, the act is a stark regression of the trajectory of India as a mature constitutional democracy.</p>
<p>The new law makes religious affiliation one of the grounds for citizenship, violating the <a href="https://thefederal.com/opinion/citizenship-act-may-find-it-tough-to-clear-basic-structure-doctrine/">basic structure</a> of the Indian constitution. It infringes on Articles 14 and 15, which guarantee equality before the law and non-discrimination on religious grounds. </p>
<p>The act <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/12/11/india-citizenship-bill-discriminates-against-muslims">targets and further marginalizes India’s beleaguered Muslim minority</a> by intentionally omitting Muslim migrants who have lived in India for decades and their India-born descendants from its scope. Muslim migrants will now have a harder time acquiring Indian citizenship. By extension, the act makes it easier for the government to terrorize, imprison and deport Muslim migrants. </p>
<h2>A new (unequal) path to citizenship</h2>
<p>The new act amends the <a href="https://indiankanoon.org/doc/305990/">Citizenship Act of India (1955)</a>. The original legislation offers essentially two grounds for citizenship: Indian origin (based on birth and descent) and long and continuous residence in India. </p>
<p>The 1955 law makes no reference to religion or religious affiliation as a basis for citizenship. In fact, neither the word religion nor the names of religious groups are mentioned in the act. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307753/original/file-20191218-11929-7lx0xw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307753/original/file-20191218-11929-7lx0xw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307753/original/file-20191218-11929-7lx0xw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307753/original/file-20191218-11929-7lx0xw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307753/original/file-20191218-11929-7lx0xw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307753/original/file-20191218-11929-7lx0xw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307753/original/file-20191218-11929-7lx0xw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was re-elected in a landslide victory in May 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo</span></span>
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<p>Despite the religiously-charged political context of post-partition years, <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/12/17/india-citizenship-law-protests-narendra-modi-amit-shah-founding-fathers/">India’s founding fathers</a> adopted a secular and inclusive constitutional framework. It was a deliberate rejection of the two-nations theory: the idea that the population inhabiting undivided India contained two distinct nations, one Hindu and one Muslim, deserving two separate homelands. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/indian-elections-will-indias-divider-in-chief-win-again-117546">Indian elections: Will India's 'divider in chief' win again?</a>
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<p>The current act is a sharp departure from that position and validates the two-nations theory. It sets up a hierarchy of rights based on religious affiliation and fundamentally alters the secular basis of India’s citizenship regime. </p>
<h2>Illegal migrants</h2>
<p>Under the original act, “illegal migrants” are ineligible to apply for Indian citizenship. An illegal migrant is a foreigner who entered India without a valid travel document or remained in India beyond the permitted period of time. </p>
<p>The new amendment declares that any person belonging to the Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian communities and who entered India from one of three neighbouring countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan) before 2015, is not an “illegal migrant,” and is eligible for fast-tracked citizenship. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/modi-ushers-in-a-new-intolerant-india-and-revokes-multicultural-democracy-121688">Modi ushers in a new intolerant India and revokes multicultural democracy</a>
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<p>In contrast, Muslim migrants with similar origins and migratory backgrounds would be considered illegal migrants. Muslim migrants would also be far more likely to be detained, imprisoned and deported for doing nothing more than their counterparts who would now receive expedited citizenship.</p>
<p>In fast-tracking citizenship, the act reduces the residency requirement for non-Muslim applicants to five years from twelve. Citizenship for non-Muslim migrants from the three neighbouring countries is retroactive from the date they entered India. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307751/original/file-20191218-11914-5r7c1n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307751/original/file-20191218-11914-5r7c1n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307751/original/file-20191218-11914-5r7c1n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307751/original/file-20191218-11914-5r7c1n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307751/original/file-20191218-11914-5r7c1n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307751/original/file-20191218-11914-5r7c1n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307751/original/file-20191218-11914-5r7c1n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Police chase protesters following the passage of a new citizenship law in New Delhi, India, on Dec. 17, 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Manish Swarup</span></span>
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<p>This is a change from the usual provisions of the act, where citizenship begins when one receives their naturalization certificate. Non-Muslim migrants also receive immunity from ongoing legal proceedings that may adversely impact their eligibility for citizenship. </p>
<p>Muslim migrants looking to become citizens face a wholly different world and have a far lower chance of establishing their claim for citizenship. Excluded from the scope of the amendment, they must wait 12 years before making a citizenship application and receive no immunity from adverse legal proceedings. Poor record-keeping in rural India makes the process of document verification highly complicated and susceptible to discrimination against minorities. </p>
<h2>Refugee protection</h2>
<p>The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government argues that the act is intended to <a href="https://scroll.in/article/946418/the-daily-fix-amit-shahs-citizenship-bill-is-not-about-refugees-it-is-all-about-a-hindu-rashtra">give sanctuary to non-Muslim minorities fleeing religious persecution</a> from Muslim-majority neighbouring countries. The act assumes every migrant of a non-Muslim persuasion from the three neighbouring countries is a refugee in need of protection. </p>
<p>However, the act does not require them to undergo a process to establish a fear of persecution. Nor does it consider that Muslims might fear persecution in neighbouring countries, such as the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, Ahmadiyya Muslims in Pakistan and Uighur Muslims in China.</p>
<p>While refugee protection is admittedly a noble goal, it is inexplicable why religious minorities facing persecution near India are excluded. The Sri Lankan Hindus and Bhutanese Christians are also excluded. And what of the victims of other forms of persecution beyond religious persecution? </p>
<h2>National Register of Citizens</h2>
<p>The Citizenship Amendment Act is closely related to another pet project of the BJP government — the updating of the <a href="https://scroll.in/article/930482/explainer-what-exactly-is-the-national-register-of-citizens">National Register of Citizens</a>. The register aims to identify genuine Indian citizens so the government can detect and deal with illegal migrants.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/in-indias-assam-a-solidarity-network-has-emerged-to-help-those-at-risk-of-becoming-stateless-128558">In India's Assam, a solidarity network has emerged to help those at risk of becoming stateless</a>
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<p><a href="https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3024155/assam-edge-indias-rohingya-moment-threatens-millions-modis-hindu">In the state of Assam</a>, where anti-migrant tensions have been long simmering, a recent drive to update the citizenship register identified close to two million residents without proper documents, putting them at risk of being stateless or deported. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307748/original/file-20191218-11929-17230f0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307748/original/file-20191218-11929-17230f0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307748/original/file-20191218-11929-17230f0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307748/original/file-20191218-11929-17230f0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307748/original/file-20191218-11929-17230f0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307748/original/file-20191218-11929-17230f0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307748/original/file-20191218-11929-17230f0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">An Indian police officer aims his gun before firing at stone-throwing protesters in Gauhati, India, on Dec. 12, 2019. No one was hurt.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Anupam Nath</span></span>
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<p>Soon after the registration process was completed, it became clear that the majority of those identified as non-citizens were Hindu migrants from Bangladesh, key voters for the BJP. It put the ruling BJP in a political conundrum: How would it uphold the sanctity of the citizen’s register process without dampening its electoral prospects? </p>
<p>The amendment to the citizenship act is a legislative solution to this political dilemma. It allows the Hindu migrants and their India-born offspring to access expedited citizenship as refugees, while Muslim migrants remain illegal and subject to incarceration and deportation. </p>
<h2>Vast implications</h2>
<p>The act clearly undermines the basic tenets of India’s democracy. Attaching citizenship rights to religious affiliation runs counter to the letter and spirit of India’s constitution and constitutional morality. </p>
<p>It goes against a long and rich history of <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/12/11/secularism-is-dying-in-india/">religious pluralism, secularism</a> and defensible right to equal treatment before law. It will permanently damage India’s pluralistic social fabric.</p>
<p>This act, <a href="https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/modi-hundred-days-democracy-by-shashi-tharoor-2019-09?barrier=accesspaylog">along with other recent BJP government initiatives</a>, will generate lasting mistrust among the 200 million Muslims living in India and kindle the fires of extremism, and it risks starting a vicious cycle of violence. </p>
<p>There is also legitimate fear that the act will change the unique ethnic make-up and Indigenous way of life in <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2019/12/frustrations-flare-in-indias-northeast-over-citizenship-bill/">India’s northeastern states</a>. It has already thrown large sections of India into turmoil. </p>
<p>The constitutional order in India has successfully endured many challenges. But the current onslaught looks more perilous than anything before given the expanded mandate for the BJP government in the May 2019 election, and its unabashed agenda to turn India into a Hindu nation. The updated citizenship act is the <a href="https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/nrc-and-the-citizenship-bill-are-the-greatest-threat-to-indian-democracy-today/cid/1695315">institutional inauguration</a> of this process.</p>
<p><em>This is a corrected version of a story originally published on Dec. 18, 2019. Due to an editing error, the earlier story said Myanmar and China were Muslim-majority countries when they are not.</em></p>
<p>[ <em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/ca/newsletters?utm_source=TCCA&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=youresmart">You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/129024/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anil Varughese receives funding from Carleton University, Ottawa. </span></em></p>India’s updated citizenship act violates its constitution by allowing discrimination on religious grounds.Anil Varughese, Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Administration, Carleton UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1257002019-10-28T20:33:33Z2019-10-28T20:33:33ZIn India, Modi’s nationalism quashes dissent with help from the media<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298623/original/file-20191024-170449-imadt6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=155%2C146%2C5449%2C3405&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Before the election that secured his second-term victory, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi waves to the crowd during a political campaign road show in Varanasi, India.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/ Rajesh Kumar Singh, File)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>This summer, Narenda Modi’s government, emboldened by its phenomenal success in the Indian national election, announced it had revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir. This signalled the fulfilment of the Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party‘s (BJP) historical-ideological agenda of creating one nation, one India. This agenda is the pursuit of Hindu nationalism which has consistently remained the BJP’s ideological foundation since 1947 in post-independence India.</p>
<p>In 1950, India was the first country to experiment constitutionally with multicultural democracy (an attempt to reconcile individual and collective rights plus the creation of a federal asymmetry). It has now become the <a href="http://theconversation.com/modi-ushers-in-a-new-intolerant-india-and-revokes-multicultural-democracy-121688">first country to kill that experiment, legally and constitutionally</a>.</p>
<p>More significantly, the BJP has turned its historical-ideological platform into a populist mission. The BJP has seemed to silence its critics by invoking a populist rhetoric of protecting India and Kashmir against both internal and external security threats and from a corrupt leadership. </p>
<p>We have seen those who question the BJP’s actions and its total clampdown on the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley <a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/10/03/deconstructed-podcast-kashmir-india-arundhati-roy/">publicly shamed as being anti-national</a>. They have been accused of encouraging Pakistan in its cross-border terrorism activities and obstructing the government’s efforts to “<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2017/02/03/what-these-four-global-leaders-have-in-common-with-trump/#5756faef4960">drain the swamp</a>” of corrupt politicians. Punitive populism is fully operational in Modi’s new India.</p>
<h2>What is punitive populism?</h2>
<p><a href="https://upittpress.org/books/9780822945826/">Punitive populism</a> is a political strategy that is used by political leaders in many countries. It refers to leaders’ use of tough-on-crime rhetoric and policies to win elections and gain popular support. </p>
<p>While this concept has developed out of the criminology literature and is, thus, focused on crime, we suggest here that the strategy is consistent with attempts to make many other types of groups into security threats. The populist leader first creates the “people” through rhetoric and symbolism. The rhetoric represents diverse public demands that have resulted from some sort of rupture with the past (for example, the partition of India in 1947 and the creation of Pakistan, or in many other countries, including the United States, the implementation of neoliberal economic policies). </p>
<p>Next, the leader uses what Argentine political theorist Ernesto Laclau calls an “<a href="https://www.versobooks.com/books/2811-on-populist-reason">empty signifier</a>” to unite these disparate demands around a single vague idea that justifies a punitive response. This could be, for example, security, tough-on-crime concepts or even human rights (such as the human right to security). The leader then juxtaposes the people or citizens with criminals who threaten the security of the former. </p>
<p>The leader offers solutions to the people’s insecurity that are not based in criminological research or human rights commitments but are in direct response to the leader’s perceived or constructed idea of public opinion demands. </p>
<p>The policies and rhetoric call for, among other things: more police on the streets and with more powers to use discretion and possibly violence, more criminal laws, less oversight of the police and harsher punishments for those judged by courts to be criminals. </p>
<p>It is correlated with a significant rise in prison populations.</p>
<h1>Modi’s security rhetoric</h1>
<p>The Modi government has seemed to have convinced the Indian public that its decisive Kashmir action protects India against both internal and external security threats, and that the BJP is being appropriately tough on Kashmir, Muslims and Pakistan. In this populist agenda, the Modi government has deemed Kashmiri Muslims as symbols of terrorist violence or as operating with zealous Islamic religiosity through seditious activities. </p>
<p>This is effectively a deployment of Kashmiri Muslims as the embodiment of the enemy. The public’s response is evident in millions of Indians adopting Twitter hashtags <a href="https://twitter.com/TimesNow/status/960901461935706112#_blank">#ServeIndiaNotPak</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/republic/status/867430844352180225#_blank">#NationLovesIndianArmy</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/republic/status/1037245660217651201#_blank">#KashmirForAll</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/republic/status/868855221413335040#_blank">#IndiaAgainstAntiNationals</a>.</p>
<p>Moreover, as reported in the book, <a href="https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/majoritarian-state"><em>Majoritarian State</em></a>, the public is being told that “economic well-being requires a strong nation, which requires, in turn, overcoming hurdles to the nation’s strength such as minority appeasement, anti-nationalism,” or stone-pelting Kashmiri youth. </p>
<p>Punitive populism is evident in <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/amit-shah-kashmir-article-370-move-tribute-to-indian-soldiers-1604671-2019-09-30">India’s Home Minister Amit Shah’s remarks in <em>India Today</em></a>: “Kashmir will now move on the path of development. If anyone tries to create any disturbance in Kashmir, remember our soldiers are standing by.” </p>
<p>The Modi government has been defending its total two-and-a-half-month clampdown in the Kashmir valley precisely for two reasons: preventing violence against civilians and convincing the Kashmiris that this decision will bring them economic well-being and prosperity. It proudly claims that since this decision was taken, not a single life was lost in the valley. </p>
<p>Of course, there is no violence when eight million Kashmiri Muslims have been living under security lockdown, with no internet connectivity, draconian restrictions on the movement of the people and gatherings and with more than 3,000 people in jails. For all that, the Modi government seems convinced that the Kashmiri public, upon reflection, will come to believe that Article 370 was responsible for keeping them economically backward.</p>
<p>In punitive populism half-truths often become full truths. The BJP unrelentingly repeats its claim that the revocation of the state of Jammu and Kashmir was done to provide gender equality. They claim it was meant to give women of the state the same rights to acquire property and seek employment as their counterparts in the rest of India and the male permanent residents of the state enjoy. </p>
<p>It is correct that until 2002, the female citizens of the state who married a non-permanent resident lost their status as citizens. However, in 2002 the Jammu and Kashmir High Court declared that a daughter of a permanent resident, by marrying a non-permanent resident, cannot thereby lose her permanent residency. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298621/original/file-20191024-170499-mf230s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298621/original/file-20191024-170499-mf230s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298621/original/file-20191024-170499-mf230s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298621/original/file-20191024-170499-mf230s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298621/original/file-20191024-170499-mf230s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298621/original/file-20191024-170499-mf230s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298621/original/file-20191024-170499-mf230s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Supporters of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party celebrate outside their party office in Mumbai, India, Oct. 24, 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h1>Homogenization of public opinion</h1>
<p>Similarly, with regard to economic development, the Modi governments’ characterization is not even half-true. The Indian government’s own poverty statistics for 2011-12 show that the Jammu and Kashmir poverty level, at 10.4 per cent, is actually much lower than the 21.9 per cent in the rest of India. A similar differential appears in terms of employment levels.</p>
<p>Finally, punitive populism benefits from a largely favourable relationship with the media. A neo-liberalized media system <a href="https://books.google.ca/books/about/Tough_on_Crime.html?id=ZOXDwQEACAAJ&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y">encourages journalistic practices that decrease the role of the media in holding leaders to account</a>. Reporting then serves to homogenize public opinion for the Modi government and against Muslim Kashmiris.</p>
<p>In India, significant private and corporate funding supports the Indian news media which has developed a cozy relationship with the Modi government. <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/television/top-stories/story/article-370-scrapped-here-s-how-tv-celebs-reacted-to-the-decision-1577509-2019-08-05">Almost all mainstream TV news channels have celebrated and endorsed the actions of the current government</a>, each outdoing the other in vaunting the government’s patriotic and nationalist credentials. </p>
<p>The rare channel that has <a href="https://qz.com/india/1570899/how-narendra-modi-has-almost-killed-indian-media/">dared to be critical of the Modi government has found itself denied access to the government and to information</a>.
That dissent or criticism of the government is construed as an anti-national activity, which has so far seemed to have pushed the Indian media to submissiveness and self-censorship.</p>
<p>[ <em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/ca/newsletters?utm_source=TCCA&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/125700/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Reeta Tremblay has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) on her research on Kashmir . </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle D. Bonner has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) for her research on punitive populism. </span></em></p>India’s Modi government has used populist rhetoric to scare the public and turn Kashmiri Muslims into symbols of terrorist violence. The news media in India seems to be following along.Reeta Tremblay, Professor, Political Science, University of VictoriaMichelle D. Bonner, Professor, University of VictoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1188482019-06-19T13:47:58Z2019-06-19T13:47:58ZSpatial analysis of India’s 2019 elections reveals the unique geography of the Hindu Right’s victory<p>Much ink has already been spilled on the 2019 general elections in India. The sheer scale of the triumph of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the defeat of the Indian National Congress (INC) has impressed commentators as the NDA, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), gained 353 seats among the total of 542 seats in the Lok Sabha (the Indian parliament). The NDA has secured seats in almost all Indian state and the BJP clearly ceased to be the strictly north Indian party <a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Wahlergebnisse_Indien_1991.svg">it once was</a>.</p>
<p>In this paper, we want to show how a formal <a href="https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Spatial_analysis">spatial analysis</a> of the election results shows the unique geographical footprint of the BJP vote and how its recent progression follows obvious spatial patterns.</p>
<h2>The strength of the BJP in the Lok Sabha does not reflect its real vote share</h2>
<p>India’s <a href="https://aceproject.org/main/english/es/esy_in.htm">“first-past-the-post” electoral system</a> favours the largest parties, and as a result, the strength of the BJP and its allies in the parliament (63% of 542 seats) does not reflect its vote share (45%). This system also grants an advantage to smaller regional parties since their electors are geographically concentrated, as illustrated in Punjab, West Bengal, or Andhra Pradesh. Keeping these features in mind, it is important to examine the actual percentage of votes won by the NDA rather than just the distribution of seats.</p>
<p>Our map shows the share of votes for the NDA based on the official data published by <a href="http://lokdhaba.ashoka.edu.in/LokDhaba-Shiny/">Ashoka University</a>, with additional information on the NDA Lok Sabha seats.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280014/original/file-20190618-118535-1planls.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280014/original/file-20190618-118535-1planls.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280014/original/file-20190618-118535-1planls.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=723&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280014/original/file-20190618-118535-1planls.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=723&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280014/original/file-20190618-118535-1planls.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=723&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280014/original/file-20190618-118535-1planls.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=909&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280014/original/file-20190618-118535-1planls.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=909&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280014/original/file-20190618-118535-1planls.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=909&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Vote shares in the 2019 Indian legislative elections.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.demographie.net/MapNDA2019HD.png">Guilmoto, Opigez</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A heterogeneity of voting behaviour</h2>
<p>The map first shows the heterogeneity of voting behaviour across India, with scores by the NDA ranging from less than 5% in the south to more than 70% in its strongholds of Western India. Yet in spite of the NDA progressing nationwide by more than 5%, the geography of its votes has only marginally changed over the last five years.</p>
<p>Unlike in regional elections characterised by the <a href="https://thelogicalindian.com/tli-explains/anti-incumbency/">“anti-incumbency” phenomenon</a> – when voters express their dissatisfaction against the incumbent party by voting against it – the NDA retained the vast majority of seats obtained in 2014.</p>
<p>The highest NDA scores remain concentrated in a few states of western and northern India, the coalition having in particular gained all the seats in a single regional block, stretching from Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Uttarkhand in the northwest to Rajasthan and Gujarat.</p>
<p>When studied through the lens of spatial analysis, the singular geographical impact of the NDA vote appears unmistakable.</p>
<h2>Constituencies influencing each other</h2>
<p>The national index of spatial autocorrelation (<a href="https://www.statisticshowto.datasciencecentral.com/morans-i/">Moran’s <em>I</em></a>, which measures the strength of similarities between adjacent observations), has reached 0.73: this means that the correlation between NDA votes in one constituency and those in the neighbouring constituencies is as high as 73%.</p>
<p>This is a very strong level of spatial dependence compared to other <a href="https://iussp2005.princeton.edu/papers/51529">social, religious or economic indicators</a>, which confirms the pronounced geographic patterning of the NDA votes in 2019.</p>
<p>This stable and regular distribution of voting behaviour contradicts the proverbial volatility of India’s regional politics last illustrated in 2018, when the BJP lost the local elections in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. This geographic structure also demonstrates that these spatial patterns owe less to the vagaries of local political coalitions and candidates than suggested by media reports.</p>
<p>constituency</p>
<p>In addition, the NDA vote has spread over the years to new regions of India, loosening up the geographical concentration around its historical bastions. Votes for the coalition are now more evenly distributed from one constituency to the next, mirroring the gradual regional spread of the BJP’s influence toward the east and the south.</p>
<p>The index of spatial autocorrelation has in fact increased since 2014 (I=0.69) and previous research shows that it has been on the increase since 1999 (<a href="https://journals.openedition.org/samaj/2795">I=0.43</a>).</p>
<h2>Discontinuity</h2>
<p>Yet <a href="http://www.demographie.net/MapNDA2019HD.png">if you look closer</a>, you can still distinguish areas of distinct spatial discontinuity, which are contiguous constituencies where the NDA strength drops significantly.</p>
<p>The most pronounced discontinuity line corresponds to southern and eastern Karnataka, a state where the NDA recorded an almost flawless victory: its vote share abruptly falls from around 50% to less than 20% when one crosses the boundaries to Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.</p>
<p>The NDA share declines slightly less dramatically in Tamil Nadu, thanks to its local alliance with the local AIADMK. Similar steep declines in voting shares are also on display in the northeast (Meghalaya, Mizoram and Sikkim) as well in the Muslim-dominated constituencies of Kashmir. The NDA percentage also drops by half when one enters Andhra Pradesh from Odisha or Punjab from neighbouring Rajasthan and Haryana.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280064/original/file-20190618-118543-1v9xhzf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280064/original/file-20190618-118543-1v9xhzf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280064/original/file-20190618-118543-1v9xhzf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280064/original/file-20190618-118543-1v9xhzf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280064/original/file-20190618-118543-1v9xhzf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280064/original/file-20190618-118543-1v9xhzf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=597&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280064/original/file-20190618-118543-1v9xhzf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=597&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280064/original/file-20190618-118543-1v9xhzf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=597&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Discontinuity in the south.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">C. Guilmoto, E. Opigez</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These cases of discontinuity contradict the otherwise high level of spatial autocorrelation highlighted earlier and points to the presence of strong regional parties that rejected any alliance with the BJP or to the presence of strong social heterogeneity along religious or ethnic lines.</p>
<p>More broadly, this corresponds to vigorous regional political traditions away from the Hindi belt, the states where Hindi is used as <em>lingua franca</em>. In such areas, local parties, including the Congress and Communist parties, fight against each other for local dominance and the BJP’s nationalist and conservative agenda appears somewhat irrelevant to Hindu voters.</p>
<h2>Several islands of organised resistance</h2>
<p>Apart from these <a href="http://www.hypergeo.eu/spip.php?article243">clear-cut regional break lines</a> acting as barriers to the progression of the BJP-led alliance, the map also points to several islands of organised resistance to the NDA. Three small such clusters of non-NDA MPs emerge in BJP-dominated states: two in northwest and eastern Uttar Pradesh and one in western Maharashtra.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280065/original/file-20190618-118501-v2pgqd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280065/original/file-20190618-118501-v2pgqd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280065/original/file-20190618-118501-v2pgqd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280065/original/file-20190618-118501-v2pgqd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280065/original/file-20190618-118501-v2pgqd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280065/original/file-20190618-118501-v2pgqd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280065/original/file-20190618-118501-v2pgqd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280065/original/file-20190618-118501-v2pgqd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pockets of resistance in the north.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">C. Guilmoto, E. Opigez</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Note the near absence of isolated non-NDA constituency in northern India. The resistance to the pressure of the NDA’s campaigning and ideology is organised around local bastions in which opposition parties have been able to preserve a dense network of politicians and activists. The combined strength of mobilization in adjacent localities and consistencies appears crucial for political survival in front of the BJP juggernaut.</p>
<p>Do these spatial patterns correspond to <a href="http://www.geocurrents.info/geopolitics/elections/regional-patterns-indias-2014-general-election">unchanging features of Indian politics</a>? The relatively stable contours of the BJP votes over several elections and the permanence of its strongholds would suggest so.</p>
<h2>Securing peripheral regions to build a new political geography</h2>
<p>Our mapping also points to the interesting geography of the NDA’s recent progression since 2014. New seats taken by the NDA coalition in 2019 are not randomly distributed on the map and illustrate its spatial diffusion away from the BJP core areas.</p>
<p>For instance, the NDA had gained its new sets in peripheral Karnataka, with two new seats in the northeast and five in its southeast tip. Similarly, the seven new seats grabbed in Bihar by the NDA in 2019 are all located in the state’s most eastern tracts next to West Bengal while the five seats gained in the northeast form a <a href="https://www.livemint.com/politics/news/how-bjp-breached-the-eastern-front-in-2019-1560090546957.html">contiguous block</a> from Manipur to southern Tripura.</p>
<p>The BJP’s foray into West Bengal (eight seats gained) follows clear spatial patterns from adjacent states to the south of the state, with the Kolkata metropolitan area now encircled. The NDA has also gained ground in Telangana (three new seats) from its porous northwest border with Madhya Pradesh and in western Odisha (four new seats) from nearby Jharkhand. It notably established for the first time a bridgehead by reaching the Bay of Bengal in northern Odisha (two new seats).</p>
<h2>Grassroots organisations at the forefront</h2>
<p>With the exception of south India’s current sanitary cordon, this geographical propagation is a unique feature of the BJP’s progress over the last three decades.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280066/original/file-20190618-118522-yrazm6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280066/original/file-20190618-118522-yrazm6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280066/original/file-20190618-118522-yrazm6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=835&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280066/original/file-20190618-118522-yrazm6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=835&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280066/original/file-20190618-118522-yrazm6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=835&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280066/original/file-20190618-118522-yrazm6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1050&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280066/original/file-20190618-118522-yrazm6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1050&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280066/original/file-20190618-118522-yrazm6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1050&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Progression in the East.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">C. Guilmoto, E. Opigez</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is very different from the segmented regional patterns of the Congress vote, which are <a href="http://www.hypergeo.eu/spip.php?article243">scattered over India</a>, with strongholds in the north, the south and east. It also underscores the role of local processes of political conversion through <a href="https://carnegieendowment.org/files/BJP_In_Power_final.pdf">grassroots organisations</a>, in addition to the national media blitz and regional coalition building.</p>
<p>As to the tight barriers to BJP progression in southern India, there is no reason to believe that they will withstand indefinitely the pressure from India’s hegemonic party.</p>
<p>Not only could the BJP join forces with local partners – as it did in <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/elections/lok-sabha-2019/story/election-results-2019-bjp-nda-performance-south-india-kerala-karnataka-tamil-nadu-andhra-pradesh-telangana-1533789-2019-05-24">Andhra Pradesh in 2014 and Tamil Nadu in 2019</a> – but also the spatial divides noticeable earlier along the West Bengal or the Telangana borders seem to have all but collapsed during the latest election.</p>
<p>It is time to recognise the map of the NDA’s electoral success for what it is: the signature of a successful diffusion drive of a consistent political ideology across the country that might, in the absence of organised resistance, incorporate in the near future more territories of south and east India. Without a consistent spatial perspective, we risk losing sight of its actual momentum.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118848/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christophe Z Guilmoto ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>A spatial analysis of India’s election results shows a unique geographical footprint of the BJP vote and how its recent progression follows obvious geographic patterns.Christophe Z Guilmoto, Senior fellow in demography, Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1172382019-05-30T22:44:30Z2019-05-30T22:44:30ZNGOs need international protection from Hindu nationalism in India<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/276603/original/file-20190527-193510-16e4o0p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5613%2C3731&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">This 13-year-old boy from India’s Bihar state who worked 15 hours a day making bread was rescued by the workers of the Bachpan Bachao Andolan or Save Childhood movement in 2014. India's far-right BJP is taking aim at NGOs.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The return to power of Narendra Modi’s right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) creates uncertainty about the future of advocacy in India.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.legislative.gov.in/sites/default/files/A1976-49.pdf">Since 1976</a>, civil society organizations have faced multiple operational challenges as successive governments have tried to undermine their work with accusations of “<a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/india/centre-to-states-track-ngos-for-anti-national-activities-5430272/">anti-nationalism</a>” and “<a href="https://scroll.in/latest/814225/sedition-laws-being-misused-and-misapplied-prashant-bhushans-ngo-moves-supreme-court">sedition</a>.” </p>
<p>It’s important to examine the role of Hindu nationalism — also BJP’s founding ideology — since <a href="https://www.bjp.org/en/articledetail/2722440/Article-The-Choice-of-Political-Funding-Cheque-Electoral-Bonds-or-Blackmoney-from-Contractors-and-middlemen-by-Hon-ble-Union-Minister-Shri-Arun-Jaitley">it regards</a> NGOs as undemocratic and anti-Indian. But it’s equally critical to remember there are provisions guaranteed under international law to protect NGO activity in India.</p>
<h2>Hindutva politics and NGOs</h2>
<p>BJP’s Hindutva ideology <a href="https://www.theweek.in/news/india/2018/04/25/bjp-and-its-hindutva-politics-the-slow-saffronisation-of-india.html">is based on</a> the advancement of a Hindu <em>rashtra</em>, or Hindu kingdom. The underlying tenet is to regulate the working of civil society through Hindu religious doctrine that imposes vigilantism, violence and punishment on those who defy order. </p>
<p>Hindu nationalism reinforces the glorification and revivalism of Hinduism, the supremacy of a nation and invokes intolerance towards other non-Hindu groups that seek sociocultural change and justice in society. </p>
<p>The BJP views NGO activists as defiant because they challenge conventional notions of power, social structures and hierarchies that conflict with the idea of Hindu majoritarianism and status quo culture. </p>
<p>For instance, the <a href="https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/jan/27/narendra-modi-selectively-targeting-western-christ/">Modi government targeted</a> faith-based organizations in 2017 for their alleged involvement with religious conversions. Compassion International, a foreign-funded Christian charity group, <a href="https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/responses/the-hindu-bjp-and-restrictions-on-faith-based-ngos">was shut down and asked</a> to partner with other religious organizations apart from Christians if it wanted to re-register as a legal enterprise again. </p>
<p>Similarly, several local as well as transnational NGOs <a href="https://amnesty.org.in/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/ACT3096472019ENGLISH.pdf">seeking justice</a> for Muslims in Gujarat in 2002 were threatened with investigation and bank account closures if they continued their work. </p>
<p>While previous governments have been intolerant towards NGOs in the past, the BJP is taking it further, polarizing civil society with far-right politics. Transnational NGOs <a href="http://www.pratirodh.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/IB-Report-NGO.pdf">have been targeted</a> for “serving as tools for foreign policy interests of western governments,” but local NGOs that don’t fall under the <a href="https://fcraonline.nic.in/home/PDF_Doc/FC-RegulationAct-2010-C.pdf">Foreign Contributions Regulation Act</a> (FCRA) mandate are also experiencing repression and harassment.</p>
<p>In 2018, <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/india/tuticorin-sterlite-protests-protesters-killed-by-shots-to-head-chest-half-from-behind-reveal-autopsies-5505282/">13 activists were killed</a> during the Sterlite protests in Toothukudi, Tamil Nadu. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/276606/original/file-20190527-193510-1ft7hqn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/276606/original/file-20190527-193510-1ft7hqn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276606/original/file-20190527-193510-1ft7hqn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276606/original/file-20190527-193510-1ft7hqn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276606/original/file-20190527-193510-1ft7hqn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276606/original/file-20190527-193510-1ft7hqn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276606/original/file-20190527-193510-1ft7hqn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Indian activists hold placards during a protest against Sterlite Industries outside the company’s office in Bangalore in May 2018. Police opened fire on protesters demanding the closure of a south Indian copper plant, killing 13 of them.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Pune, several lawyers, academics and poets <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/pune-police-raid-activists-homes-across-four-states/article24799729.ece">were arrested</a> for their alleged involvement as “[<a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/urban-naxals-its-not-such-a-new-thing/articleshow/65598483.cms">Urban Naxals</a>]” practising unlawful activities last year. Additionally, <a href="http://haryanaforest.gov.in/Portals/0/documents/ifa.pdf">recent amendments</a> to the Forest Rights Act proposes restoring authoritative powers to forest authorities. This will deny land ownership rights of forest dwellers and reduce accessibility to tribal land through force and vandalism. </p>
<h2>Systematic dismantling of NGOs</h2>
<p>The BJP has meticulously orchestrated a systematic dismantling of NGOs (non-governmental, non-profit organizations) that has put the future of Indian advocacy surrounding socioeconomic and environmental issues in jeopardy. </p>
<p>Congressional amendments to the FCRA in 2010 made it clear that there would be stricter oversight and monitoring of foreign-funded NGOs that engage in critical discourse. </p>
<p>These amendments included:</p>
<ol>
<li>Regular registration renewals;</li>
<li>Setting up of separate bank accounts for foreign and domestic contributions;</li>
<li>Prescribing various offences and penalties for defaulters, including suspension and cancellation of registration licences. </li>
</ol>
<p>In effect, the FCRA crippled the NGO sector, subdued critical dialogue and restricted transnational partnerships in civil society deemed crucial for effective policy-making. </p>
<p>However, with the BJP in power, the scope of transnational advocacy has been even further reduced. </p>
<p>Since 2014, local activists have been finding it difficult to obtain financial, technological or capacity-building support from abroad or from local officials because external NGOs and local philanthropic organizations are reluctant to aid rights-based advocacy. While the FCRA curtails foreign funding, philanthropists currently <a href="https://www.bain.com/insights/india-philanthropy-report-2017/">shy away from supporting critical activity</a> for the fear of appearing anti-government. </p>
<p>Activists are now concerned about the prospects for activism in India, and are worried about their day-to-day survival in the state as the BJP continues to penalize dissenters. </p>
<p>In this light, what can international and local organizations do to safeguard the interests of NGOs in the future? </p>
<h2>International intervention is crucial</h2>
<p>In 2016, the United Nations Special Rapporteur <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=20112&LangID=E">pointed out</a> that India was placing unreasonable restrictions on transnational advocacy networks by silencing them on obscure grounds. It asked the Indian government to repeal the FCRA, which didn’t happen.</p>
<p>This is because currently, UN regulations aren’t rigorously enforced to prevent governments from dismantling civil society operations in the Global South. If enforced, they could guarantee and promote NGO rights surrounding freedom of assembly and association. Sanctions should also be imposed to keep non-compliant and exploitative governments in check. </p>
<p>A common platform for discussion can help NGOs review government policies and deal with repressive actions. For instance, certain <a href="https://www.sangoco.org.za">South African states</a> allow NGOs to gather once a year to discuss issues of common interest. In India, that doesn’t happen.</p>
<p>There’s also a need for change in the culture of Indian philanthropy to ensure NGOs are supported and not questioned about their credibility. Activists must be treated as equal stakeholders in society so that money is distributed for civic education, legal literacy and accountability-related work.</p>
<p>Amid this cultural ecosystem change is the need for NGOs, in turn, to be fully transparent about their funding and operations. </p>
<p>Now that the BJP has won the election with a majority, it gives the Indian government the legitimacy to act freely and bend laws without being questioned because acquiring an electoral mandate by the state means complete adherence to government policies and structures. </p>
<p>But democracy isn’t just about winning elections. It is about equal participation. Socioeconomic and environmental reforms cannot be left exclusively for the government to manage. The international community must help ensure that civil society and the citizenry are being heard to counter India’s conservative policies and right-wing politics.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/117238/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Roomana Hukil does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Narendra Modi’s BJP views NGO activists as defiant because they challenge conventional notions of power, social structures and hierarchies that conflict with the idea of Hindu majoritarianism.Roomana Hukil, PhD Candidate, Department of Political Science, McMaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1178022019-05-26T13:52:20Z2019-05-26T13:52:20ZNarendra Modi’s victory speech delivers visions of a Hindu nationalist ascetic<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/276479/original/file-20190526-20851-17rysyl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=509%2C107%2C3176%2C1528&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses party supporters, standing next to his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah at their headquarters in New Delhi, India, May 23, 2019. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP/Manish Swarup)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the recently concluded Indian parliamentary elections, the electorate gave a thumping majority to current Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the Hindu right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/awaits-india-narendra-modi-sweeping-victory-190525104312697.html">to lead the nation for another five years</a>. In his victory speech at the BJP headquarters, Modi <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/22/world/asia/india-election-results.html">addressed the nation</a>. </p>
<p>Throughout his speech, <a href="https://www.apnews.com/d551f9335136428ab1abd22ad7cb5b6c">Modi crafted an image of himself as a Hindu ascetic</a> who renounces worldly possessions, not for personal liberation but to serve the nation’s needy — a <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/society/faith/faith-column-jamadagni-speaks-on-the-essence-of-karma-yoga/article19365340.ece"><em>karmayogi</em></a>. This image of the selfless Hindu ascetic devoted to the nation has been carefully <a href="https://www.postcolonial.org/index.php/pct/article/view/446/841">cultivated over decades by the Hindu right.</a></p>
<p>The creation of this figure is partly a response to the British colonial <a href="https://www.forgottenbooks.com/en/books/TheCrownofHinduism_10002254">denigration of Hindu ascetics</a> as <a href="https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/H/bo25135790.html">wilfully idle, otherworldly, apathetic and apolitical</a>. It is also a response to the secular middle class derision of monks in saffron robes entering politics. </p>
<p>India has seen a remarkable public resurgence of Hindu ascetics in politics since the 1980s, with the ascendance of the Hindu right. Notable political figures include the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath, MP Sakshi Maharaj and MP Uma Bharati, among others. </p>
<p>Although not dressed in saffron robes like his compatriots, Modi’s biography speaks to nationalist ascetic virtues: celibacy, renunciation of family and service for the nation. He left his home in his teenage years and <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/trending-news/story/narendra-modi-humans-of-bombay-interview-part-2-1427633-2019-01-10">wandered the Himalayas for two years</a>, <a href="https://www.biography.com/political-figure/narendra-modi">joined the militant Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the parent organization of the BJP,</a> and <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/narendra-modi-admits-he-has-a-wife-but-says-he-knows-little-about-her-9251870.html%20to%20work%20for%20the%20national%20good">abandoned his wife</a> for the nation. </p>
<p>Symbolically, Modi chose <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Varanasi">Varanasi</a>, one of Hinduism’s holiest cities and the spiritual home for Hindu ascetics, <a href="https://www.firstpost.com/politics/narendra-modi-chose-varanasi-in-2014-lok-sabha-election-in-2019-the-holy-city-returns-the-favour-6689551.html">as the constituency to represent at the close of his election</a>.</p>
<p>Nationalist asceticism is valourized by the Hindu right, but it also holds appeal for a broad section of Hindus. Modi’s victory speech impresses the audience with the popular image of the Hindu ascetic devoted to the nation’s cause.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/276442/original/file-20190525-187179-5gp0xq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/276442/original/file-20190525-187179-5gp0xq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276442/original/file-20190525-187179-5gp0xq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276442/original/file-20190525-187179-5gp0xq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276442/original/file-20190525-187179-5gp0xq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276442/original/file-20190525-187179-5gp0xq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276442/original/file-20190525-187179-5gp0xq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers celebrate outside BJP headquarters in New Delhi India on May 23, 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP/Altaf Qadri)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Performance of ascetic humility</h2>
<p>Amit Shah, national president of the BJP, set the stage for the prime minister’s address with a heart-pumping, chest-thumping victory speech offering data on states, towns and personalities that had suffered unprecedented losses for the Congress party. Rejoicing over the BJP’s continued supremacy in the Hindi heartland in the 2019 elections, Shah was exuberant about the party’s electoral successes in eastern India. </p>
<p>Following these high-pitched, triumphalist accounts of electoral victories, which the audience greeted with thunderous applause, Modi took the podium to address his supporters as the crowd chanted “Modi-Modi.”</p>
<p>What ensued was a spectacular public performance of humility. Reminding the masses of his <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2014/06/25/from-chaiwallah-to-chief-minister-modis-eventful-journey/">humble origins</a>, Modi repeatedly applauded the generosity of the voters for filling his <em>fakir’s jholi</em> (ascetic’s bag). In sharp contrast to Shah, he instructed his supporters to move ahead with humility. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/276441/original/file-20190525-20851-18uy0er.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/276441/original/file-20190525-20851-18uy0er.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276441/original/file-20190525-20851-18uy0er.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276441/original/file-20190525-20851-18uy0er.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276441/original/file-20190525-20851-18uy0er.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276441/original/file-20190525-20851-18uy0er.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276441/original/file-20190525-20851-18uy0er.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Narendra Modi is blessed by his 90-year-old mother, Hiraben, in the western Indian state of Gujarat. Modi, who worked in his father’s tea shop at the local railway station, began his political rise as a teenager after he joined the militant Hindu organization Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Ajit Solanki, File)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Modi made <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xC3ooUmAkqg">three promises</a> and asked the people to hold him accountable on these promises for the tenure of his public office. First, he said he would not do anything with ill intent. Second, he vowed not do anything for himself. That is, he would not make any personal gains from his public office. Third, he promised he would dedicate every moment of his time and every cell in his body to serving the country.</p>
<p>Modi’s self-deprecating speech — replete with references to Hindu mythology (god of clouds), Hindu practices (cleansing oneself with a bath in the river Ganga) and the Hindu epic <em>Mahabharata</em> — speaks to a receptive Hindu majority. </p>
<h2>Using Hindu religious texts in politics</h2>
<p>Modi’s three promises consolidate the image of the <em>karmayogi</em> — articulated in one of Hinduism’s primary texts, the <a href="https://www.ancient.eu/Bhagavad_Gita/"><em>Bhagavad Gita</em></a> — without having to name it. </p>
<p>The <em>Bhagavad Gita</em> is the Hindu right’s religious text of choice. The book starts at the beginning of an epic war and reveals a battlefield discussion between prince Arjun and his charioteer Lord Krishna. Arjun feels squeamish going to war against his own family. Lord Krishna encourages him to think of himself as a <em>karmayogi</em>: someone who works with detachment without anticipating the fruits of his labour. </p>
<p>In his speech, Modi informed his listeners that he had a busy day. Therefore he did not have the opportunity to look through the poll results and would look later that night. Thus, he put forth himself as a detached and selfless worker for the nation.</p>
<p>As Modi publicly rededicates himself to serve the nation at the beginning of his second five-year political mandate, this coded messaging will appeal to his <a href="https://thewire.in/politics/election-results-2019-narendra-modi-new-india">Hindu sympathizers</a>. Many of them are fed up with corrupt politicians and feel marginalized by privileged liberal elites. A humble, Hindi-speaking prime minister elicits their trust. Others feel encouraged to uphold their religious identity. </p>
<p>Many of these same people believe that secularism is an <a href="https://carnegieendowment.org/2019/04/04/fate-of-secularism-in-india-pub-78689">unmanly appeasement of religious minorities, especially Muslims</a>. </p>
<h2>Crafting images of devotion</h2>
<p>A few days before the election results were declared, images of Modi draped in a saffron shawl <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/prime-minister-narendra-modi-offers-prayers-at-kedarnath/article27175547.ece">meditating in a cave</a> emerged. His election victory speech fleshed out this <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/sns-bc-as--india-elections-modi-20190524-story.html">self-representation as an ascetic</a>. Modi presents himself as a Hindu ascetic walking from door to door seeking alms (votes), thankful for the generosity of the masses.</p>
<p>In an ironic twist, the voter becomes the kind benefactor, rather than the prime minister, who can improve the lives of the poor. Such skillful use of imagery also tells the Indian public that while Modi may be the prime minister of India, he continues to be one of them. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/276478/original/file-20190526-187153-7eewg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/276478/original/file-20190526-187153-7eewg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276478/original/file-20190526-187153-7eewg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276478/original/file-20190526-187153-7eewg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276478/original/file-20190526-187153-7eewg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276478/original/file-20190526-187153-7eewg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276478/original/file-20190526-187153-7eewg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi waves to the crowd during a political campaign road show in Varanasi, India on April 25, 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP / Rajesh Kumar Singh])</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/alms">This alms-seeking</a> ascetic narrative invokes Modi’s humble origins. It emphasizes his strong personal virtues of dedication and hard work. This is what allowed him to climb through the ranks of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh to become the leader of the largest democracy in the world. </p>
<p>It’s a reminder to those frustrated with the Congress Party’s dynastic politics that this humble son of the soil, with limited English fluency, has proven his ascendancy over the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-48391041">privileged, English-speaking Gandhis</a>. </p>
<p>More so, it offers assurances to his supporters, many of whom speak a variety of vernacular tongues — but especially to his Hindi speakers — that the days of the liberal, English-educated elite are over.</p>
<p>Modi’s carefully crafted, religiously coded public enactment of unabashed patriotic loyalty is a dog whistle that those who support his vision of a Hindu majoritarian “new India” can hear loud and clear.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/117802/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chandrima Chakraborty receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p>India’s re-elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered a victory speech that presented himself as a selfless and humble ascetic. This vision goes far to promote a Hindu nationalist ‘new’ India.Chandrima Chakraborty, Professor of English and Cultural Studies, McMaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1177692019-05-24T18:32:51Z2019-05-24T18:32:51ZIndia Tomorrow part 7: what Narendra Modi’s landslide victory means for India<p>After the world’s largest ever democratic exercise, Narendra Modi has been re-elected as prime minister of India for another five year term. His Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured an <a href="https://theconversation.com/india-election-how-narendra-modi-won-with-an-even-bigger-majority-117476">even bigger majority</a> than in 2014. </p>
<p>In this, the final part of our <a href="https://theconversation.com/india-tomorrow-a-podcast-series-from-the-anthill-episode-guide-114654">India Tomorrow</a> series from The Anthill podcast, we analyse the results with a panel of academics to find out what such a large majority – of <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/05/indian-general-elections-2019-latest-updates-190521080547337.html">more than 300 seats</a> – means for India.</p>
<hr>
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<hr>
<p>Mujibur Rehman, assistant professor at the Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy at Jamia Milia Islamia University in New Delhi, says the size of the victory has taken many analysts in the media by surprise. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The question is not about winning 300 seats, but the huge margin through which the BJP candidates defeated their nearest rivals … that is a huge, huge surprise.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Nikita Sud, associate professor of development studies at the University of Oxford, says the fact that Modi ran an almost presidential campaign, harks back to the slogans of the 1970s, when prime minister Indira Gandhi ran on the slogan, “Indira is India and India is Indira”.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It is to be commended on the part of the BJP that we are back to this very, person-centric politics where (in) every constituency people are talking about Modi … In 2014, people were testing him, but now that he’s a known entity, I think this personality-centricness can go both ways … because everything now centres even more on him, especially after this thumping victory. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The opposition Congress Party, suffered a crushing defeat at the polls, winning fewer than 50 seats and its leader Rahul Gandhi <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/05/rahul-gandhi-loses-amethi-seat-biggest-upset-2019-polls-190523134545989.html">even lost his own parliamentary seat</a> in Amethi, a traditional stronghold of India’s Nehru-Gandhi dynasty and the Congress in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Rehman said the defeat was “massive” for Gandhi and the Congress party:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It signals that they are almost a non-entity today in the northern India politics, the heartland of Indian politics. Because he has a huge victory in (the southern state of) Kerala, but in the north they are almost a non-entity now.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Indrajit Roy, co-host of The Anthill’s India Tomorrow series and lecturer in politics at the University of York, says that while Modi’s victory is an example of populism, it also a victory for what he calls a “politics of passion”. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I think if you look at the results, you just look at the huge majorities that the BJP has won, not only at the country level, but in the constituencies that they’ve won … that’s not possible unless you’ve touched people’s hearts.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>He stresses how different Modi’s journey to power is from that of US President Donald Trump, or Jair Bolsonaro, the newly elected president of Brazil – though he says there are similarities with Reccip Tayip Erdoğan, the president of Turkey. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Like Erdoğan, Modi very much belongs to the political system. He’s not an outsider. He was a chief minister of a state, he’s a fully fledged member of the party. He was groomed by the RSS [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh], which is the ideological mentor of the BJP, so he’s very much a part and parcel of the political system. I do think that these elections were of course about Modi, but it was also about the ideas that Modi holds and that the ideas that he expressed, which is something which his party and the RSS have been working on for nearly 90 years – the ideas of India being a Hindu nation. </p>
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<p>To find out more about the big issues facing India as Modi settles into his second term as prime minister, check out our <a href="https://theconversation.com/india-tomorrow-a-podcast-series-from-the-anthill-episode-guide-114654">episode guide</a> for this series. Do get in touch with any questions via podcast@theconversation.com or reach out on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/anthillpod">@anthillpod</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Credits</strong></p>
<p><em>The Anthill is produced by Gemma Ware and Annabel Bligh. Editing by Alex Portfelix. Thank you to City, University of London’s Department of Journalism for letting us use their studios to record The Anthill.</em></p>
<p><em>Picture source: BJP handout/EPA</em></p>
<p><em>Music: <a href="http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tranko/VA_-_Clinical_Jazz_excerpt_3/Flying_Cat_amp_Sitar">Flying Cat & Sitar by Tranko</a> via <a href="http://freemusicarchive.org/">Free Music Archive</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>News clips:</em></p>
<p><em>India PM Modi wins landslide victory in world’s largest election, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odvN_nuJTzI&t=31s">France 24</a></em></p>
<p><em>Election Results: Total BJP Sweep, India Chooses Modi 2.0, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuYpojVJirM">NDTV</a></em></p>
<p><em>Narendra Modi thanks voters for ‘historic mandate’, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-48389130">BBC News</a></em></p>
<p><a href="https://pca.st/5Hul"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321533/original/file-20200319-22598-afljnr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=212&fit=crop&dpr=1" alt="Listen on Pocket Casts" width="268" height="68"></a> <a href="https://castbox.fm/channel/The-Anthill-id2625863?country=gb"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321531/original/file-20200319-22632-t8ds9t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=232&fit=crop&dpr=1" width="268" height="70"></a> </p>
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<p><a href="https://tunein.com/podcasts/Technology-Podcasts/The-Anthill-p877873/"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233723/original/file-20180827-75984-f0y2gb.png" alt="Listen on TuneIn" width="318" height="125"></a> <a href="https://radiopublic.com/the-anthill-GOJ1vz"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-152" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233717/original/file-20180827-75990-86y5tg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=268&fit=clip" alt="Listen on RadioPublic" width="268" height="87"></a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/117769/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
A panel of academic experts assess Narendra Modi's victory in the final episode of our India Tomorrow series.Annabel Bligh, Business & Economy Editor and Podcast Producer, The Conversation UKGemma Ware, Host, The Conversation Weekly PodcastLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1174762019-05-23T16:08:27Z2019-05-23T16:08:27ZIndia election: how Narendra Modi won with an even bigger majority<p>The stunning majority for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2019 Indian election is a massive political achievement for its leadership: the prime minister, Narendra Modi, and the party’s president, Amit Shah. Early results from the world’s biggest democratic exercise show the BJP is <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-48347081">likely to win</a> more than 300 seats in India’s parliament, the Lok Sabha, more than the 282 it won in 2014 and the 272 needed for a majority. </p>
<p>In early 2019, such a result had looked uncertain in the wake of state election <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/11/modi-bjp-election-defeats-hindi-heartland-rajasthan-chhattisgarh-madhya-pradesh">defeats</a> in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan – part of the Hindi heartland that had helped Modi to victory in 2014. Opponents of the BJP dared to think that the Congress Party – the former “Grand Old Party of India” which had been reduced to only 44 seats in 2014 – was sufficiently revitalised to mount a credible challenge in 2019. </p>
<p>As the early months of 2019 dawned, scandals about the allocation of a defence contract as well as rising unemployment figures – and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/economic-growth-inequality-and-jobs-india-tomorrow-part-5-podcast-transcript-116688">suppression of these figures</a> – made a bad start to the campaign. The <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/web-exclusive/story/20190204-motn-poll-nda-seat-share-lok-sabha-election-2019-1439262-2019-01-25">Mood of the Nation</a> survey conducted in December 2018 and January 2019 concluded that the National Democratic Alliance, the coalition the BJP heads, would not win a majority in the general elections. </p>
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<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/india-tomorrow-a-podcast-series-from-the-anthill-episode-guide-114654">Read our episode guide for India Tomorrow, a podcast series from The Anthill.</a></em></p>
<h2>Security</h2>
<p>We will have to wait for results from post-election surveys to get detailed analysis of the segments of society that voted for the BJP, but several points are clear about Modi’s victory.</p>
<p>Modi benefited tremendously from the fallout from a suicide attack in <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-47302467?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/cgmkz7g3xn0t/pulwama-attack&link_location=live-reporting-story">Pulwama</a> in Jammu and Kashmir that killed 40 Indian soldiers in February 2019. Although responsibility for the attack was claimed by a Pakistani terrorist group, it was carried out by a local Kashmiri. One reading of this could have been that Modi’s policies in the Kashmir valley, such as the increase <a href="http://time.com/longform/pellet-gun-victims-kashmir/">in the use of pellet guns</a>, <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/IN/DevelopmentsInKashmirJune2016ToApril2018.pdf">blinding hundreds</a> and killing at least 14, had led to the attack. But Modi swiftly turned it to his advantage. </p>
<p>Not only did he pursue an aggressive course of action with airstrikes against militants on Pakistani territory, he also successfully sold it as a huge success, <a href="https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/indias-strike-on-balakot-a-very-precise-miss/">despite some evidence</a> that the fighters had missed their target. The national security narrative took centre stage in the 2019 election, something that the opposition parties were unable to counter. </p>
<h2>Opposition failings</h2>
<p>The second factor was the Congress campaign. The party’s leader, Rahul Gandhi, has come a long way since his debut in a national election in 2014. But the Congress campaign failed on two fronts. The first was the messaging: it was a mistake to try and attack Modi on <a href="https://www.bloombergquint.com/politics/congress-vs-bjp-on-rafale-deal-four-key-questions-answered">allegations of corruption</a> rather than focusing on the economic failures of his first term. Focusing on corruption only served to remind the electorate of the Congress party’s involvement in previous (very large) corruption scandals. </p>
<p>Yet, even had Congress focused solely on the economy, this may not have led to a very different result. The BJP <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/12/bjp-landslide-in-uttar-pradesh-a-boost-for-india-prime-minister-narendra-modi">swept the board</a> in the 2017 Uttar Pradesh state elections, held only a few months after Modi’s disastrous demonetisation policy which saw <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/08/india-withdraws-500-1000-rupee-notes-fight-corruption">the withdrawal of 86%</a> of India’s currency. The second failure was the high-handedness with which Congress approached the formation of its own political alliances. The BJP was extremely accommodating of its alliance partners in states such as Bihar and Maharashtra, but Congress did not manage to agree a deal with its potential partners in <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/elections/lok-sabha-2019/story/arvind-kejriwal-rahul-gandhi-congress-aap-alliance-failed-inside-story-1511415-2019-04-27">Delhi</a> and in <a href="https://www.bloombergquint.com/politics/congress-out-of-sp-bsp-alliance-in-up-but-theres-little-reason-for-bjp-to-cheer">Uttar Pradesh</a>.</p>
<h2>NaMo appeal</h2>
<p>The third factor was the presidential nature of the campaign. Modi successfully portrayed the campaign as Modi v Rahul. Such a framing benefited Modi – a fantastic campaigner. He built on the national security narrative by framing himself as a <a href="https://twitter.com/narendramodi/status/1131539657794183168"><em>Chowkidar</em>, or watchman</a>, who would protect India. This built on his reputation as someone who would make India great – something that played extremely well in the campaign. </p>
<p>Modi’s profile in India is huge – he takes personal credit for all initiatives, and his picture appears multiple times in the same editions of the daily newspapers when government initiatives are flagged.</p>
<p>But curiously, for such an effective campaigner, he held his first <a href="https://thewire.in/media/narendra-modi-press-conference">press conference</a> as prime minister in the final weeks of the 2019 campaign. And even then it was dominated by Shah – and Modi didn’t <a href="https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/india-news-the-narendra-modi-press-conference-that-really-wasnt/330509">answer a single question</a>.</p>
<p>The BJP has had extraordinary control of the political narrative during this election, aided by its extremely <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/india-election-spending-bjp-congress/modis-war-chest-leaves-india-election-rivals-in-the-dust-idUSKCN1S7390">large war chest</a> which has helped it penetrate even deeper into traditional and social media. While only a <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/9fe88fba-6c0d-11e9-a9a5-351eeaef6d84">quarter of Indians</a> use WhatsApp – still 300m people – the creation of promotional material <a href="https://qz.com/india/1553765/bjps-whatsapp-ops-is-what-cambridge-analytica-can-only-dream-of/">specifically targeted</a> at different segments of society has played a huge role in advancing a particular political narrative. </p>
<p>In addition, the Election Commission has been criticised <a href="https://scroll.in/article/924268/the-silent-army-10-reasons-why-public-trust-in-the-election-commission-stands-eroded">for clearing</a> BJP leaders of many alleged election code violations, and only <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/elections/news/election-commission-bans-screening-of-biopic-on-pm-modi-during-election-period/articleshow/68810315.cms">belatedly banning</a> the showing of a biopic about Modi on the eve of the elections. It also allowed the BJP’s TV channel, NaMo TV, to run without challenge <a href="https://thewire.in/media/as-polls-draw-to-a-close-namo-tv-slips-off-air">throughout the campaign</a>. It has now gone off air. </p>
<h2>Concerns for minorities</h2>
<p>The final point to make relates to the opinions of voters. The BJP ran a very <a href="https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/south-asia/modi-party-chief-raises-anti-muslim-rhetoric-as-polls-kick-off">polarising campaign</a>. In 2014, 51% of those who responded to India’s <a href="https://www.lokniti.org/media/PDF-upload/1536130357_23397100_download_report.pdf">National Election Studies</a> said they believed that democracy meant that the will of the majority community should prevail – a steep rise from 2009. This demonstrates a move towards the right and an acceptance of <a href="https://theconversation.com/india-tomorrow-part-2-the-politics-of-hindu-nationalism-115494">Hindu majoritarianism</a> in Indian politics – a position that questions whether religious minorities, particularly Muslims, should have special rights within India. This trend of Hindu majoritarianism is higher among the young – a growing demographic within India – who have grown up in an era in which the BJP has been a national player. </p>
<p>This does not bode well for religious minorities in the world’s largest democracy, 20% of whom are non-Hindu. Although Modi <a href="https://twitter.com/narendramodi/status/1131488026247323648">tweeted</a> after the results that “together we will build a strong and inclusive India”, the attacks on Muslims, both <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/what-is-the-citizenship-amendment-bill-2016/article23999348.ece">political</a> and <a href="https://www.indiaspend.com/2017-deadliest-year-for-cow-related-hate-crime-since-2010-86-of-those-killed-muslim-12662/">actual</a> during his first term cast doubt over the second part of this promise.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/117476/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katharine Adeney has received funding from the Leverhulme Trust and the Economic and Social Research Council for her work on India in the past.</span></em></p>The Bharatiya Janata Party of Narendra Modi has claimed victory in the world’s biggest democratic exercise.Katharine Adeney, Professor of Politics and Director of the Asia Research Institute, University of NottinghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.