Virulent Hindutva, Vigilante State: Situating Backlash and its Implications for Women’s Rights in India

Abstract

India is facing a period of seismic backlash against feminist and progressive politics and the pace of change, particularly over the last ten years, has been breakneck with serious consequences for women’s equality and human rights. Drawing on an examination of the reversals and pushbacks against women’s rights in three areas – the citizenship rights of Muslim women, the rights of domestic workers, and the impacts of restrictions on foreign funding on women’s rights organising – this article seeks to contribute not just to an understanding of the nature of the backlash faced by women’s rights in India, but also to the wider debates on backlash from global South feminist perspectives.