Kinlore
1989 – today

The rise of Hindu nationalism to power

The Bharatiya Janata Party grows from two seats in 1984 to dominate Indian politics under Narendra Modi, reshaping the meaning of Indian nationhood.

  • Modi's India: Hindu Nationalism and the Rise of Ethnic Democracy — Christophe Jaffrelot, Princeton University Press (2021)
  • The Hindu Nationalist Movement and Indian Politics — Christophe Jaffrelot, Hurst (1996)
  • India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy — Ramachandra Guha, Macmillan / Picador (2007)
  • General Election to Lok Sabha 2024: statistical reports — Election Commission of India (2024)

Debated by historians politicsreligionidentitydemocracy

Part of the story of India and Hinduism.

Hindu nationalism is older than the republic. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a disciplined volunteer organisation founded in 1925, and its political wings, the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (1951) and then the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, founded 1980), argued that India was essentially a Hindu nation. For decades they were on the margins, especially after Gandhi’s assassination by a former RSS member; the BJP won just two seats in 1984.

  • The Hindu Nationalist Movement and Indian Politics — Christophe Jaffrelot, Hurst (1996)
  • India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy — Ramachandra Guha, Macmillan / Picador (2007)

Ayodhya and the breakthrough

The turning point was the campaign to build a temple to Rama on the site of the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya. L. K. Advani’s chariot procession of 1990 rallied millions, and on 6 December 1992 activists tore down the mosque, setting off riots that killed around 2,000 people, mostly Muslims. The BJP became the main rival to Congress, and under Atal Bihari Vajpayee led coalition governments from 1998 to 2004, testing nuclear weapons in 1998.

  • The Hindu Nationalist Movement and Indian Politics — Christophe Jaffrelot, Hurst (1996)
  • India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy — Ramachandra Guha, Macmillan / Picador (2007)
See Ayodhya.

Gujarat 2002

In February 2002, 59 Hindu pilgrims returning from Ayodhya died when a train carriage burned at Godhra in Gujarat. In the anti-Muslim violence that followed, more than 1,000 people were killed according to official figures, and around 2,000 by other estimates, most of them Muslims. Narendra Modi, then chief minister, was accused of failing to stop the killing; a Supreme Court-appointed investigation later found no evidence to prosecute him. The episode shaped his image for both admirers and critics.

  • Modi's India: Hindu Nationalism and the Rise of Ethnic Democracy — Christophe Jaffrelot, Princeton University Press (2021)
  • India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy — Ramachandra Guha, Macmillan / Picador (2007)

The Modi era

In 2014 Modi led the BJP to the first single-party majority in thirty years, combining Hindu nationalism with a promise of development and a powerful personal brand. He won a bigger majority in 2019. His governments built roads, rural toilets and housing, expanded bank accounts and digital payments, and projected India as a rising power. In August 2019 they revoked the special autonomy of Jammu and Kashmir, and in December passed the Citizenship Amendment Act, which offered fast-track citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from neighbouring countries and set off nationwide protests.

  • Modi's India: Hindu Nationalism and the Rise of Ethnic Democracy — Christophe Jaffrelot, Princeton University Press (2021)

In January 2024 Modi led the consecration of the new Ram temple at Ayodhya. Months later, in the 2024 election, in which about 642 million people voted, the BJP fell short of a majority with 240 seats and now governs with coalition partners, a sign that Indian voters remain unpredictable.

Supporters and critics agree on one thing: India’s politics has been remade. Whether Hindu nationalism is restoring the country’s true identity or eroding the secular democracy built in 1950 is the great Indian argument of this generation.

  • Modi's India: Hindu Nationalism and the Rise of Ethnic Democracy — Christophe Jaffrelot, Princeton University Press (2021)
  • India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy — Ramachandra Guha, Macmillan / Picador (2007)

How it's seen
Supporters of the BJP

Decades of Congress rule appeased minorities, tolerated corruption and treated Hindu culture with embarrassment. The BJP has delivered roads, toilets, bank accounts and digital payments, ended Kashmir's special status, built the Ram temple and made India respected abroad. India is plural because it is Hindu at heart.

  • Modi's India: Hindu Nationalism and the Rise of Ethnic Democracy — Christophe Jaffrelot, Princeton University Press (2021)
  • The Hindu Nationalist Movement and Indian Politics — Christophe Jaffrelot, Hurst (1996)

Liberal and secular critics

Hindu nationalism treats Muslims and Christians as second-class citizens. Critics point to lynchings by "cow protection" vigilantes, the Citizenship Amendment Act, demolitions of Muslim homes, and pressure on journalists, universities, courts and NGOs. Bodies such as V-Dem have called India an "electoral autocracy" since 2021, a label the government rejects.

  • Modi's India: Hindu Nationalism and the Rise of Ethnic Democracy — Christophe Jaffrelot, Princeton University Press (2021)
  • India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy — Ramachandra Guha, Macmillan / Picador (2007)

Many Indian Muslims

Many Muslims describe feeling increasingly unsafe and unwelcome in their own country, under- represented in parliament and government, and blamed for history they had no part in.

Why it matters today

India

This is the defining political story of today's India. Supporters see a confident, decisive nation finally proud of its Hindu civilisation; critics, including most Muslims and many liberals, see the secular republic of 1950 being turned into a majoritarian state. Families, friendships and diaspora communities are divided over it.

Hinduism

Hindutva's success has made Hindu identity central to Indian public life. Many Hindus welcome this as long-overdue respect for their faith; others feel their religion is being turned into a political weapon against minorities.