1. The Political Economy of Hindutva’s Rise to Prominence
Anja Kovacs
Room 2.73
15 March 2007

2. The Ram Janmabhoomi campaign
Babri Masjid (Babar’s Mosque) - Ayodhya

3. Main Proponents
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)

4. Main Proponents

5. Main Proponents Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)
Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP)

6. Main Proponents

7. Main Proponents Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)
Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP)
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ….
= Sangh Parivar (Sangh Family)

8. What is Hindutva?
Aim: to turn India into a Hindu country
Hindu race is united by common traditions, experiences and memories of glory and disaster
Muslims are considered ‘foreign troublemakers’ and ‘barbarian invaders’

9. What is Hindutva?
The destruction of the Babri Masjid December 1992

10. What is Hindutva? Hindutva = ‘Hindu-ness’
= the form of Hindu nationalism that emphasises the supposed cultural essence of the Hindu nation, backed up by the myth of the Muslim as foreign invader.

11. What is Hindutva? Riots (Pogrom?) in Gujarat (2002) 900-2000 people
killed
people shifted
to relief camps
people
displaced

12. The Political Economy of Hindutva
A ‘shared cultural essence’:
excludes the Muslim community from the nation
erases from view the power relations that continue to exist among Hindus
Main supporters: upper caste, middle class

13. The Political Economy of Hindutva
‘Middle’ class?
National Council for Applied Economic Research ( – urban households):
16%: scooter
21%: colour TV
25%: refrigerator
National Sample Survey Organisation ( – urban households):
33 %: PCC of £50 for family of five
8%: PCC of £95 for family of five

14. The Political Economy of Hindutva
Middle class:
Petty bourgeoisie
Middle ranks of professions and civil service
White-collar employees in private sector
Rich farmers and peasants
Upper caste:
brahmin – kshatriya – vaishya
(not: sudra – dalit)

15. The Political Economy of Hindutva
Vedas: varnas derived from Purusha
Brahmin: head
Kshatriya: arms
Vaishya: thighs
Shudra: feet
Hindu people are Virat Purusha (Almighty Incarnate)

16. The Political Economy of Hindutva
A Changing India, from the 1960s onwards:
‘failure of the Nehruvian model and growing disrepute of the Congress party
rise of the “Other Backward Castes” (OBCs)
Mandal Report
Liberalisation and globalisation

17. The Political Economy of Hindutva
Liberalisation and globalisation:
connections with Hindutva
disinterest in the well-being of the poor
authoritarianism and brutalisation of culture and politics
liberalisation and India’s ‘Great Power’ Ambitions