The Rise of Hindu Nationalism and the Competitive Politics of Offence-Taking

Abstract

The chapter explores the profound strengthening of communal conflicts and ethno-religious politics, particularly in the shape of Hindu nationalism. It is divided into two parts: The first, part explores the evolution of attacks on artists, beginning with the early ones by Hindu nationalists. However, instead of showing this as an unruptured sequence of instances leading to their imminent rise, it underlines their early setbacks and strategic manoeuvres. These initial attempts led to the refinement of the Hindu nationalist techniques for attacking artists, and highlight the relevance of the media’s expansion in the enterprise. Also, the rise in the attacks on artists was not just a sign of the Sangh Parivar’s prowess, but at least partially due to the encouragement provided by the Congress-led government, not just to the Hindu nationalists to continue imposing their rules, but also to similarly self-assigned spokesmen of the Muslim community in India. The second, shorter part of the chapter covers the second half of the 1990s, after the BJP formed its government at the Centre for the first time, and in coalition with the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra. Here we observe the normalization of the influence wielded by non-state actors, and the consolidation of these attacks from lone random instances into sustained campaigns, but also the limits of such an exercise.