hindutva
Over the years, I have spent many hours in many different spaces talking to people who I would describe as people who come from a Hindu right orientation (whether vitriolic and violent or whether a tacit support for the first group). This is an imprecise description that I'd like to improve on because it doesn't help to reify or demonise "Hindutva" because it plays into the mode of conversation they use and is cruel to the person involved, who may or may not subscribe to all the things you think they subscribe to. So, in point of fact, I have made many errors as w
23 May 2009
Which brings us to another trend that many people claim to have noticed: a move away from extremism and a vote for moderation.
Certainly, there is a lot of evidence to support this view. The BJP’s mascot in this election, Narendra Modi, proved to be an over-hyped humbug. In most places where he campaigned, the BJP candidate lost. In those areas where he was not allowed to speak (Bihar for instance), the BJP won. And far from sweeping Modi’s Gujarat, the BJP actually suffered a slight drop in its vote share.
11 Feb 2009
When last week in Ha'aretz the Israeli historian Tom Segev judged Israeli "apathy" towards the massacre in Gaza as "chilling and shameful", he brought on deja vu among Indians. In 2002 the Hindu nationalist government of Gujarat supervised the killing of more than two thousand Muslims. The state's chief minister, Narendra Modi, who green-lighted the mass murder, seemed a monstrous figure to many Indians; they then watched aghast as the citizens of Gujarat - better-educated and more prosperous than most Indians - re-elected Modi by a landslide after the pogrom.
14 Feb 2009
EPW article on diasporic Hindutva
In our haste to reject the “soldiers of saffron” who live and work outside India, there is a risk that we may be engaging in a politics of personal destruction with tremendous pain for the individuals concerned. There is a fine line between rejection of hate and exploitation of youthful ignorance and folly. If we cross that line we will become
vulnerable to charges of McCarthyism.
