The Shift from State Regulation to Market-Driven Ideology
For decades, the study of how political ideologies infiltrate schools has been dominated by the concept of “saffronisation”—a top-down, state-led project. Scholars have traditionally examined how government-controlled curricula, textbooks, and regulatory bodies function as apparatuses to institutionalize Hindu nationalist values. However, a recent analysis by Ritika Arora-Kukreja in the Economic and Political Weekly suggests that focusing solely on the state obscures a more subtle, powerful driver of ideological change: the educational market.
As educational institutions have moved from the state-controlled Nehruvian model toward a privatized landscape, the balance of power has shifted. In urban centers like Delhi-NCR, the rise of private schooling has created a competitive ecosystem where the “customer”—the parent—holds significant leverage. This shift challenges the assumption that schools are neutral or cosmopolitan spaces; instead, they are becoming battlegrounds where majoritarian social preferences are translated into institutional policies.
The Rise of the “Hindu Customer”
Arora-Kukreja introduces the concept of the “Hindu customer” to explain how market pressure forces school management to align with majoritarian demands. In a competitive, privatized market, schools prioritize consumer satisfaction to maintain enrollment and financial viability. When the dominant demographic expresses preferences rooted in nationalist or religious identity, school administrators often succumb to this pressure to avoid professional or social backlash.
This phenomenon is categorized as “hyper-accountability.” In this framework, schools are no longer just accountable to pedagogical standards or state policies; they are hyper-accountable to the political preferences of the majority. Examples include the imposition of vegetarian-only lunch policies, the exclusion of minority religious symbols, or the discriminatory hiring practices regarding staff. By catering to these demands, schools effectively normalize the exclusion of minority perspectives, framing these decisions as “consumer choices” rather than political acts.
Depoliticizing Choices
One of the most critical aspects of this trend is the “depoliticization of choices.” When a school bans a certain attire or food, they rarely frame the policy as a political or ideological stand. Instead, they invoke neutral, professional-sounding justifications like “hygiene,” “discipline,” or “security.”
This strategy effectively hides the ideological nature of the decision. By masking nationalist preferences as rational, consumer-driven choices, these schools sanitize the influence of Hindutva. It allows parents to push for an exclusionary environment under the guise of personal choice, while schools avoid the scrutiny that would normally follow an explicitly political policy change.
Implications for Educational Policy and Society
The findings of this study compel educators and policymakers to rethink how they approach the protection of educational integrity. If Hindutva is spreading not just through legislation, but through the “bottom-up” pressure of an education market, then regulatory oversight becomes increasingly difficult. The “market” is a diffuse, decentralized actor, making it harder to challenge than a single, centralized state syllabus.
For students, the impact is profound. Schools are the primary sites where children develop their understanding of social identity, tolerance, and citizenship. When market mechanisms allow for the systemic exclusion of minority identities and the foregrounding of a singular, nationalist worldview, the promise of a secular, inclusive education is compromised.
Understanding “bottom-up Hindutva” is essential for future educational research. It reveals that the reproduction of ideology is not solely the result of government decree, but the consequence of everyday interactions, social expectations, and economic power. To address the changing landscape of Indian schooling, stakeholders must look beyond the legislative halls and examine the boardrooms and PTA meetings where these silent, yet highly effective, ideological shifts are being negotiated.
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