Nationalism, Hindutva and India

Reexamining the idea of India
Party flags of Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena -a regional right-wing party in India.<br />Photo : Flickr / Al Jazeera English
Party flags of Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena -a regional right-wing party in India.
Photo : Flickr / Al Jazeera English

In the past year, debates on intolerance and nationalism in India have come to the forefront. Incidents such as lynching of a Muslim man in Uttar Pradesh for allegedly eating beef, serial murders of rationalists, and the recent clampdowns at the universities raise the question about whether India has indeed become intolerant. Worryingly, the ascendance of Hindutva forces, backed by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, that are trying to establish Hindu supremacy in every aspect of life, has pushed religious minorities, Dalits, women and liberal institutions in a corner.  Voices of dissent have faced repeated assaults like these in recent times – from literary figures being accused of playing cynical politics while returning their Sahitya Akademy awards, actors being asked to 'go-to-Pakistan' for showing concern over rising intolerance, to students being charged for sedition or assaulted in the courts for questioning government.

Here are some articles from Himal's archives and our first quarterly 'Are we sure about India' – some available online for the first time (for a limited time only)– that reexamines the idea of India, and how concept like nationalism are complicated by the fraught history of postcolonial nation building.

Constituting tolerance

Debaditya Bhattacharya on Constituting tolerance (March 2016)

Romila Thapar on secularism in India (January 2013)

Kanak Mani Dixit on the reformatting of India (January 2013)

Sumanta Banerjee on the need for pluralism in India (January 2013)

Meera Nanda on secularism as a myth (March 2010)

Subhash Gatade on the rise of militant Hindutva (October 2007)

Loading content, please wait...

Related Stories

No stories found.
Himal Southasian
www.himalmag.com