Abstract
This article analyzes the narratives of Islamophobia in Hindu Nationalism (Hindutva). Specifically, it analyzes how Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, from the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), articulates Islamophobia in his speeches, interviews, and podcasts. In total, a discourse analysis of 35 such documents has been conducted. Conceptually, this article applies the notion of language-games to understand how Modi articulates Islamophobia. The article contends that while Modi's Islamophobia is executed subtly, it is nonetheless a function of the way in which Hindutva conceives of Muslims as subordinate to Hindus. Two Islamophobic narratives in Modi's political discourse have been mapped out: (1) the erasure of Indian Muslim histories in Modi's economic development agenda, and (2) the characterization of Hinduism as having a taming effect on Islam in India. The article provides a conceptual overview of language-games and a review of how Hindutva defines Hindus and Muslims, before analyzing how Modi articulates Islamophobia. The article concludes by suggesting that a Hindutva-driven Islamophobia may have permeated into the Hindu mainstream.
Highlights
Hindu Nationalism (Hindutva) is as an ideology premised on otherization
Members of Hindutva groups such as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) have been accused of instigating violence between Hindus and Muslims (Jaffrelot 2009a), forcibly converting Muslims to Hinduism (Eshwar 2009), assaulting and murdering Muslim men because they fear Muslims are attempting to increase their population by duping Hindu women into converting and marrying them (i.e. “Love Jihad”) (Dey 2017), and rallying supporters to lynch Muslims for eating beef because the cow is considered sacred in Hinduism (Ramachandran 2017)
The Islamophobia in his narratives are a reflection of the Hindu–Muslim antagonisms prevalent in Hindutva
Summary
Hindu Nationalism (Hindutva) is as an ideology premised on otherization. It constructs an idealized Hindu as the archetypical citizen of India. Beyond physical acts of violence, Hindutva engages in symbolic assaults against Muslim selfhood by attempting to anchor the history of Muslim predominance in the subcontinent as a period of unrivaled violence (Flåten 2016), characterizing Muslim men as ruthless oppressors of Muslim women (Agnes 2016), and portraying Muslims as the fifth column biding their time before seizing control of India—just as they are deemed to have done 800 years ago (Afzal 2014). In this context, it is clear that Hindutva is Islamophobic by design
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