The Transformation of Secularism and the BJP’s Hindu Nationalism

Abstract

Since Modi came into power in 2014, secularism has significantly retreated in India’s State machinery, institutions and political discourse. Exploring the history of secularism after India’s independence, it can be concluded that India has never achieved a complete separation between the State and the religion. On the contrary, the State has rebuilt its relationship with religion by social reforms. Secularism advocated by the Indian National Congress was a mixture of both Nehru’s ideal of separation between the State and the religion and Gandhi’s ideal of religious tolerance. On many issues the latter’s stand is similar to what the Hindu nationalists argue for. The opportunistic strategy of the Congress on religion-related issues since the late 1970s further opened the door for Hindu communalism. By stigmatizing and redefining the secularism framed by the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) reconstructed a political discourse about India being a secular State based on Hindu nationalism. At present, the Congress has no intention of reviving the Nehru-style tradition of secularism and other regional parties once advocating secularism have abandoned the ideal. A rightward shift in Indian party politics is inevitable. Under the BJP’s rule, a secular Indian State based on communal (religious) politics is taking shape.