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Disclosing receipts and witnessing Hindutva extremism: Cutting through the deception


In earlier talks delivered at the Center for Culture-centered Approach to Research and Evaluation (CARE), I have outlined Hindutva's uses of deception. 

One such strategy of deception is through equivocation, communicating opposite narratives at the same time. 

I have noted how Hindutva speaks to its internal audience in one language while communicating with its external audience in an entirely different narrative register. 

Hindutva's hate-mongering, and otherizing of Muslims would often come as a shock to white liberals in the diaspora, who are used to being invited to a nice Indian meal of daal and naan while being regaled with stories of "Hinduism as a religion of peace."

Hindutva in the diaspora actively works to project the narrative of Hinduism as a language of peace while participating in promoting the extremist anti-Muslim ideology to its internal audience. You will witness Hindutva ideologues narrate stories of Hinduism as a religion of giving while funding Hindutva hate groups and traveling to India to volunteer for Hindutva's hate activities.

It is no surprise then that Hindutva ideologues in the diaspora would quickly change colors and start singing the opposite song about India's democratic and secular values, now with the turn in the election results in the General Elections of 2024. With Hindutva's political arm, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) losing its hegemonic position, and with the Congress-led opposition coalition, INDIA, securing a strong presence in the Indian parliament, it is to be expected that the Hindutva propagandists peddling hate would quickly switch the narrative.

The same propagandists peddling disinformation and hate, emboldened by the populist authoritarianism of Narendra Modi, will now turn to singing songs of India's democracy, secularism, and pluralist values.

This turn though should not be a surprise to those that study Hindutva. The story of Hindutva begins with cowardice. One of its key architects Savarkar had pleaded with the British for forgiveness and collaborated with the British. It is only an extension of this ideology then that when the electoral tides are changing and large cross-sections of India's poor and marginalized are standing up through the electoral system to rally behind India's constitutional values, the Hindutva propagandists in India and in the diaspora would start singing songs of secularism and democracy.

It is important at this juncture then to disclose the receipts witnessing the Hindutva linkages, Rendering visible these linkages is critical to uprooting and dismantling the infrastructure of hate. Hate doesn't change through reflection. It needs to be removed through strong policy responses. To eliminate the ideology of Hindutva from India and from the diaspora calls for continued mapping and vigilant preventive responses. Witnessing the ideologues behind the movement is a critical step toward that broader transformation.

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