Humour from the Right: Authoritarian populism and ‘punching down’ laughter in India

Abstract

This paper examines India’s authoritarian populist politics through a study of humorous speeches made by the nation’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, known for his Hindu supremacist right-wing stance. It qualitatively analyses Modi’s strategic use of humour that targets marginalised groups, including intellectuals, women, people with disabilities, and the Muslim community. The act of suicide and the state of widowhood have also been targets. By employing textual analysis of specific jokes and insults delivered by Modi in public forums, the study demonstrates how carnivalesque speech is used to ‘punch down’ on individuals and groups based on their identity. The paper draws a comparison with Donald Trump’s use of similar humour, noting how both leaders utilise it to destabilise their opposition and mock minorities. Using Mikhail Bakhtin’s carnival theory as a lens, which originally posits a democratic and inclusive potential to subvert power, the study argues that the ‘inverted carnival’ employed by leaders like Modi and Trump serves to consolidate power and undermine minority rights. This research introduces the concept of ‘inverted carnival’ as a new framework for analysing the use of humour in authoritarian populist governance globally.