The Saffron Surge in Indian Politics: Hindu Nationalism and the Future of Secularism

Abstract

Sn Sn this essay we consider the implications for India's secular tradition of the mounting political success of India's right-wing Hindu nationalist movement, in particular the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). We note in our examination of electoral data that the BJP's strength in the national parliament (Lok Sabha) rose from 2 in 1984 to 119 in 1991, and that following two waves of state legislative elections, ending in April 1995, the BJP is now in power in four states (Maharashtra, Gujarat, Delhi, Rajasthan), while it is the principal opposition party in five others (Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, and Himachal Pradesh). In the case of the critically important and politically tumultuous state of Uttar Pradesh, the BJP's decision in June to support from the outside the minority Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) government placed the BJP, for the moment at least, in the ranks of the friendly opposition. In any event, the states in which the BJP is now formally in power account for 108 (19.8%) of the 545 seats in parliament, and the states where it is either in power or the principal opposition party account for well over half of India's population. This essay addresses two questions: (1) In electoral terms, how strong is the present rightist surge?; and (2) Ideologically, does it threaten the displacement of India's secular tradition by confessional politics?