A Tryst with Hindutva: Secularism at Risk?: On the relationship between the RSS and the politicization of religious identity in India

Around the globe, India is praised as a secular, democratic and pluralistic nation. However, the 2014 elections represented a watershed moment for politics and the saturation point for Hindutva in India. This thesis seeks to examine the developments around the politicization of religious identity in India and its consequences for constitutional secularism. This will be discussed against the background of the Hindu nationalist paramilitary volunteer organization, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). This organization is omnipresent in India and has been engaged in a discursive struggle of establishing its vision of Hindutva as ideologically dominant. This modern political ideology, which can be regarded as the major form of Hindu nationalism, advocates the establishment of a Hindu nation. In recent times, the RSS has profoundly shaped Indian politics and society. Through the lens of social constructivism, this paper addresses the issue of “How the RSS has contributed to the...Show moreAround the globe, India is praised as a secular, democratic and pluralistic nation. However, the 2014 elections represented a watershed moment for politics and the saturation point for Hindutva in India. This thesis seeks to examine the developments around the politicization of religious identity in India and its consequences for constitutional secularism. This will be discussed against the background of the Hindu nationalist paramilitary volunteer organization, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). This organization is omnipresent in India and has been engaged in a discursive struggle of establishing its vision of Hindutva as ideologically dominant. This modern political ideology, which can be regarded as the major form of Hindu nationalism, advocates the establishment of a Hindu nation. In recent times, the RSS has profoundly shaped Indian politics and society. Through the lens of social constructivism, this paper addresses the issue of “How the RSS has contributed to the politicization of religious identity in India through the propagation of Hindutva ideology since 2014” at the hand of two study cases, the Ayodhya dispute and the 2019 Citizenship Amendment Act. It will also explain how the RSS makes use of highly selected narratives of the past, “Chosen Traumas,” to amplify the threat of an enemy and to mobilize a Hindu collective under the umbrella of Hindutva. The ruling Hindu right thereby revisits the very concept of India’s constitutional secularism, a type of secularism which is not anti-religious but respectful of all religious, for its non-secular agenda, placing secularism under serious threat.Show less

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A Tryst with Hindutva: Secularism at Risk? On the relationship between the RSS and the politicization of religious identity in India