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The upsurge of militant Hindu nationalism in the recent past has brought to the fore questions of who a Hindu is, what Hinduism is and what Hindutva and Hinduism mean to Hindus. If Hindutva is a way of life, who are its followers? And for those who are, how necessary is it that its practice should prevail upon all others? These are questions of great relevance in today's India. This revised edition of 'Hindutva', which includes a new introduction, goes beyond the existing inquiry into Hindu identity, nationalism and culture, through the writings of thinkers Dayanandra Saraswati, Sri Aurobindo, Swami Vivekanandra and Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. With characteristic academic rigour and research, Jyotirmaya Sharma offers us original insights into the intellectual traditions that have nourished political Hindutva. The book calls for revisiting those traditions in which Hinduism is seen as being more inclusive and self-critical, at times even of its own fundamental premises." -- rear cover

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently consecrated a Hindu shrine in Ayodhya at a site with a contested religious history. Amit Singh takes a look at the secular foundations of India and how this clashes with Modi’s Hindutva. Religion can be easily manipulated by political leaders and religious extremist organisations to demonise and alienate religious … Continued

In July 2021, a series of gruesome videos exposed a case of brutal torture perpetrated by a guru or leader of the trans feminine hijra community in eastern India. This guru was allegedly of a Bangladeshi Muslim background, and various community members used the case as an alibi to target hijras of such national and religious origin, sometimes even demanding their expulsion from India. This phenomenon paralleled increasing affiliations between certain sections of trans/ hijra communities and the Hindu Right. This article situates this case within the broader rise of queer and trans Hindutva or Hindu nationalism and locates it as indicative of Hindutva's expansion to its erstwhile 'elsewheres': areas outside its traditional strongholds such as eastern India and communities such as hijras who are known for their mixed religious practices and have been historically stigmatised by Hindu society. However, the article also analyses the case to show how hijras and related communities evidence contingently wavering political alliances and complex dynamics of intra-community power and resistance that remain irreducible to typical equations of Hindu right-wing politics. Queer/trans Hindutva might become disrupted by its potential constituents themselves, showing how Hindutva's 'elsewheres' trouble its assimilationist capacities.

A principios de mayo de 2021 se anunciaron los resultados de las elecciones para la Asamblea estatal en Assam. El Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) había repetido la victoria de 2016 y podría nombrar al nuevo gobernador (Chief minister). En las elecciones generales de 2014 y 2019, es decir, para la Lok Sabha, el BJP también había registrado una victoria electoral en el estado. Detrás de estas victorias está un proceso más amplio de expansión de la Hindutva o nacionalismo hindú, una corriente política, social y cultural que define India a partir sólo de esta religión. La Hindutva se ha extendido a lugares nuevos, que habían quedado fuera de su esfera de influencia acostumbrada, tales como el noreste indio. Esta expansión ha hecho que la Hindutva adopte elementos y preocupaciones nuevas y se adapte a las dinámicas de la región. ; In early May 2021, results for the Assam Legislative Assembly elections were announced. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had repeated the 2016 victory and would be allowed to nominate the new Chief minister. In the general elections of 2014 and 2019, i.e., for the Lok Sabha, the BJP had triumphed as well in the state. Behind these victories, there is a wider process of expansion of the Hindutva or Hindu nationalism, a political, social and cultural movement which sees India as primarily a Hindu country. Hindutva has spread to new places, which had remained outside of its usual area of influence, such as the Indian northeast. This expansion has made Hindutva adopt new elements and concerns and adapt to the dynamics of the region.

The 2014 parliamentary election in India reduced Congress party to merely 44 seats in the lower house, big blow for a party whose history is integral the country's founding narrative. In the last parliamentary election the Congress party polled only 19.3% of the votes declining from 28.6% in 2009, while on the other hand the main right wing party i.e. BJP won 282 parliamentary seats and 31% of the national votes. The extreme right-wing organisations have undoubtedly become the central pole of Indian politics. Moreover, its recent success in Uttar Pradesh provincial election, which is one of the most populated province with 215 million inhabitants, is the strongest evidence yet of the broader shift to the right and the BJP's victory in UP state strengthens this shift. This paper intends to study the recent rise of extreme right-wing Hindu organisations in India. Most prominent among these organisations are RSS, BJP, VHP, Bajang Dal and Shiv Sena. However, all of them work together under the philosophy of Hindutva (i.e. Hindu-ness) and are rabidly anti-minority in their stance. The aim of this study is to highlight the recent rise in extreme right-wing Hindu organisations and to examine their ideas and philosophy regarding Indian history and culture. It is also useful to set this against a global context in which divisive and ultra-nationalist forces are on the rise within Europe and Donald Trump has assumed the US presidency. The study argues that the adoption of neoliberal economic policy in 1991 has increased GDP, but hardly any expansion in employment, which is known as 'jobless growth'. The study also finds the far right encroachment into India's liberal institutions and it seems that Indian polity is undergoing a historically unprecedented change with extreme-right to dominance into vast areas of ideology, economy and culture.

Diese Dissertation trägt den Titel "Hindutva Self-Fashioning: Young Hindu Nationalists of India". In der Studie untersuche ich die Sozialisierungsprozesse und das Alltagsleben von Mitgliedern der größten hindunationalistischen Vereinigung Indiens, der Sangh-Familie. Die Sangh-Familie wird vom Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, dem RSS, angeführt. Für meine Fallstudie wählte ich die Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP; All India Students' Committee). ABVP ist der studentische Flügel der RSS. Die ABVP wurde 1949 gegründet und ist an allen größeren Universitäten in Indien vertreten. Mit fast dr...

Diese Dissertation trägt den Titel "Hindutva Self-Fashioning: Young Hindu Nationalists of India". In der Studie untersuche ich die Sozialisierungsprozesse und das Alltagsleben von Mitgliedern der größten hindunationalistischen Vereinigung Indiens, der Sangh-Familie. Die Sangh-Familie wird vom Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, dem RSS, angeführt. Für meine Fallstudie wählte ich die Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP; All India Students' Committee). ABVP ist der studentische Flügel der RSS. Die ABVP wurde 1949 gegründet und ist an allen größeren Universitäten in Indien vertreten. Mit fast dr...

Arboreal nation -- The northeast and time's relentless melt -- Hindutva worldings : whose way of life? -- Prophecy and the Hindu state -- "Christian Hindu" and nationalizing Hindutva -- Rani Gaidinliu : a semiotic challenge to the nation state -- Citizenship, elections, and the BJP -- Epilogue : Hindutva becoming and the greater India experiment.

Leidig's article addresses a theoretical and empirical lacuna by analysing Hindutva using the terminology of right-wing extremism. It situates the origins of Hindutva in colonial India where it emerged through sustained interaction with ideologues in Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany who, in turn, engaged with Hindutva to further their own ideological developments. Following India's independence, Hindutva actors played a central role in the violence of nation-building and in creating a majoritarian identity. Yet Hindutva was not truly 'mainstreamed' until the election of the current prime minister, Narendra Modi, in 2014. In order to construct a narrative that furthered Hindu insecurity, Modi mobilized his campaign by appealing to recurring themes of a Muslim 'threat' to the Hindu majority. The result is that Hindutva has become synonymous with Indian nationalism. Leidig seeks to bridge the scholarly divide between, on the one hand, the study of right-wing extremism as a field dominated by western scholars and disciplines and, on the other, the study of Hindutva as a field that is of interest almost exclusively to scholars in South Asian studies. It provides an analytical contribution towards the conceptualization of right-wing extremism as a global phenomenon.