The Transnational Authoritarianism of Hindutva

The next speaker in this IAMCR 2024 session is Debadatta Chakraborty, whose focus is on the transnational authoritarianism of the Indian Hindutva movement. Indeed, the movement has been pushing for the replacement of the colonial name ‘India’ with the term ‘Bharat’, a traditional Hindu name for the country.

The Hindutva project is exemplified for instance by the new Ram temple in Ayodhya, which was built for an extraordinary amount of money on stolen land that previously belonged to a mosque that was burnt down by Hindu nationalists in the 1990s. The completion of the temple was celebrated by Hindutva activists in India and around the world, including several locations in the United States.

Such celebrations also form a part of the authoritarian Modi government’s diasporic diplomacy, and of course Modi himself was also a very visual, affective presence in the consecration of the temple. Not coincidentally, this also kickstarted Modi’s recent reelection campaign. Razing the mosque and building the temple thus positions Modi as symbolically returning Ram to the Indian homeland. This is also promoted as part of a broader programme of decolonisation, celebrated by the Indian government.

Such religio-fascist propaganda has strongly influenced the diasporic community of Indians in the US, who appreciate what they see as an Indian cultural and religious resurgence that pushes back against what they perceive as Hinduphobia. Indeed, the Modi government has positioned any criticism of its actions as inherently Hinduphobic.

What emerges here is a kind of transnational authoritarianism, and a self-indigenisation of Hindus as a threatened yet hegemonic community in India. This leverages myths of Hindu race, civilisation, and belonging to the land, employing decolonialising language to pursue what are ultimately fascist ends.