The Bharatiya Janata Party along with its allies witnessed a massive victory in the line of 2019 General Elections, which not only speaks of the influence the party holds but also speaks a lot about the young voters of India. Not only do they believe in the ways of the party but have faith in its principles. It is not only alarming, but worrying to some extent. This not only restricts itself to the ideology, but the way the party has functioned in the past year.
As the young voters were expected to be in concern of job security, freedom and bread-butter; the voting scenes and the victory does showcase how they are on par with national security. With Uri and the (still in the pipeline) movie on the Balakot attack playing well in the political and national scenario of the country, it wasn’t surprising to witness a product of the growing hyper-nationalism in the country brewed by the strategical picture portrayed by the winning party of 2019.
But the question isn’t about whether that has fulfilled their purpose of gathering votes, the question is till what extent will the hyper-nationalism grow in the country since now the Modi government is back in power? Will it be channelised to something better or will it just grow worse?
Former Vice President of India, Hamid Ansari at the 25th Convocation of the National Law School of India University in Bengaluru stated, quoting Swami Vivekanand, how tolerance should be brought along with understanding and acceptance for building a pluralistic society, that not only teaches us to tolerate other religions but also embrace them. He also indicated hyper-nationalism to be a sign of insecurity due to an increasingly fragile national ego. Holding a feeling of patriotism and dedication towards one’s nation is fine, but believing that no flaws exist makes the progress of a nation grow more stagnant than one can even realise. That’s what hyper-nationalism is all about, the belief that your country is superior, without question or doubt.
Ever since the past few years, when BJP and PM Modi had a landslide victory in the country, the idea of nationalism was debated in the colours of Hindutva politics in India. The essence of secularism lost it’s shade with time, as the cases of mob-lynching, mob protests in the name of religion, the dispute of Ayodhya saw the light of the day.
The three elements on which the idea of hyper-nationalism was polarised were – Pakistan, Muslims, and Dalits.
With the justifying statements to the act of Balakot air strike and Uri surgical attack, PM Modi has always manifested any person who is with Pakistan to be an ‘anti-national.’ He targeted the election manifesto of Congress, pointing out how it is soft on terror and comparing its views on Army to that of Pakistan. The perfect example of claiming people to be anti-national is of Navjot Singh Sidhu, who attended Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan’s oath taking ceremony and hugged the army chief, and well, the rest is history.
The cow has become Bharat Mata, and all cow-eaters are anti-nationalist. In fact, eating of beef was declared to be a criminal offence, directly targeting Muslims in the corner. The cow is not a nationalist symbol, but has been made into one, as Muslims were continued to be lynched using this weapon. Other than this, Muslims have been called infiltrators and were treated to be removed from the country under the National Register of Citizens. The Muslims were also threatened to “face consequences” by Maneka Gandhi, a BJP candidate from Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh if they did not vote for the party; and of course, Ranjeet Bahadur Srivastava who stated that “the party will bring machines from China to shave 10-12 thousand Muslims and later force them to adopt Hindu religion.”
This not only makes a religion grow insecure in the name of hyper-nationalism but also makes them feel unwelcome in their own country.
Hyper-nationalists tend to believe that they alone are pure, and sending out soaps and shampoos to Dalits and Adivasis before their appointment with Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath is part of that nationalism.
This idea of hyper-nationalism will not only continue to hamper the dying idea of secularism in India but will also hold a lot many dangers if it is continuously brewed on. Dangers of the likes of:
1) Division among people will continue to grow wider, as any discontent expressed against the government will be considered an anti-national approach for those in favour of the policy.
2) The growing scenario will leave no scope for debate as people will be scared to voice their opinions.
3) The concept of hyper-nationalism leads people to become ultra-nationalist, thus, they don’t tend to respect any voice that goes against their set pattern.
4) The rights of the minority will further not be heard, because they tend to appreciate only the systems and cultures as prescribed by the majority.
5) The majority gets a greater say and its dominance is easily established, withholding the rights of the other people living there.
Hyper-nationalists on Twitter, as well as cabinet ministers, attack Modi’s opponents as the “tukde-tukde gang” – literally, those who want to break India into pieces. The BJP’s electoral logic has long been incredibly simple: over four-fifths of India is Hindu and the BJP is the party that best represents Hindu interests. If most Hindus vote for them out of religious solidarity rather than on economic, class or caste interests, then the BJP will win.
The truth is that this is increasingly what Modi and the party have achieved. Their triumph isn’t merely a product of political management. It is a rhetorical and ideological battle, a cultural war, which they have won.
Featured image for representative purpose only.
Featured image source: Subin Dennis/Facebook.
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