This Saturday, August 15th, India, the world’s most populous nation with 1.4 billion people, will commemorate its Independence Day, marking its freedom from British colonial rule in 1947. Upon achieving independence, India consciously chose a constitutional democracy over minority rule, guaranteeing rights not only to its Hindu majority, which constitutes 80% of the population, but also to its significant Muslim minority, along with Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Jains. However, this foundational vision is currently undergoing significant challenges.
Luna Sabastian, a historian at Northeastern University London and assistant professor, suggests that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, India is transforming from a secular nation into one defined by a singular Hindu nationalist ideology known as Hindutva. Sabastian states that "India is being rewritten" as a land exclusively for Hindus. Her forthcoming 2025 book, Fascism in India: Race, Caste, and Hindutva, meticulously traces the evolution of Hindu nationalist ideology from its origins in the 1920s to its current manifestation within Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has governed India for the past twelve years. Sabastian explained that her motivation behind writing the book was to understand the historical roots of Hindu nationalism in India. For a century, Hindu nationalists have been driven by the "dream" of Hindu Rashtra, an explicitly Hindu nation-state, and this vision "seems to have finally come true" today.
Sabastian elaborated on how Hindu nationalists have reimagined India, their historical exchange of ideas with European fascists, and the prospects for preserving the country’s original founding vision.
The current government’s vision profoundly impacts daily life across India. The BJP, in power since 2014, has systematically reshaped India’s political and legal landscape. A significant move was the revocation of the special autonomous status of Jammu and Kashmir, India’s only Muslim-majority state, in 2019, which had enjoyed substantial self-governance since independence. Nationally, the BJP has implemented a new criminal code, significantly expanding the authorities’ powers to surveil, detain, and imprison critics. Minorities, particularly Muslims who comprise 15% of the population, face increasing oppression. While there is courageous protest against these changes, the opposition has so far struggled to dislodge the BJP, largely due to considerable public support for Hindu nationalism’s declared objective of making India a Hindu country.
The ideology of Hindutva, meaning ‘Hinduness,’ has been a political force since the 1920s. It played a significant role in escalating violence between Hindus and Muslims leading up to independence in 1947, when British India was partitioned into modern-day India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. However, the ideology and its key proponents fell from prominence after Nathuram Godse, a Hindu nationalist, assassinated Mahatma Gandhi in 1948. Consequently, Hindu nationalism was excluded from India’s post-colonial framework, which established the country as a secular state with protections for minorities. Yet, this ideology patiently bided its time, resurfacing with renewed vigor in recent decades.
While many associate Indian independence with Gandhi’s non-violent protest, this narrative often overlooks other powerful forces at play. Gandhi was acutely aware of the potential for non-violence to devolve into violence and meticulously worked to instill discipline among Indians against such an outcome. However, as independence drew near, it was not solely Gandhi’s non-violence that prevailed. Vinayak Savarkar, the primary original theorist of Hindutva in the 1920s, was the most influential political figure in the Hindu nationalist movement before independence and Partition. It was Savarkar’s interpretation of Hindutva that dominated that era and contributed to the mass violence of the period, resulting in a million deaths and the forced displacement of 15 million people.
When most people hear the term "fascism," they typically think of 20th-century Europe and Nazi Germany, which seem distant from contemporary India. Sabastian argues that Hindutva is indeed a form of fascism, highlighting a genuine historical connection. Hindutva emerged during the interwar crisis years (1918-1939), the same period that witnessed the rise of fascism in Europe. Hindu nationalists and European fascists exchanged ideas and actively sought alliances. This does not imply that Hindutva is a mere replica of European fascism; rather, Sabastian’s book concludes that Hindutva developed its own distinct ideology and brand of genocidal violence. Interestingly, this violence paradoxically operates through inclusion. While genocidal violence is often understood through exclusion, as seen with the systematic marginalization of Jews in Nazi Germany leading to the Holocaust, Hindutva seeks to destroy its enemies – primarily Muslims in India – through absorption. For example, Savarkar advocated for Hindu men to marry Muslim women and have children with them, thereby assimilating them into the Hindu identity.
Regarding India’s future as it celebrates Independence Day, Sabastian expresses a lack of optimism. Even if the BJP were to lose the next general election, the damage inflicted upon India’s legal framework would require considerable time to reverse. Furthermore, the grassroots support for Hindu nationalism is a tangible reality. Perhaps the most unsettling aspect of the current situation is the widespread vigilante violence and killings of minorities on the streets, demonstrating the public’s internalization of this violent ideology. Sabastian, however, emphasizes her role as a historian rather than an activist, suggesting that activists might harbor more optimism for the future.
