Are economic reforms riding piggyback on the political appeal of Hindutva under the Narendra Modi government? Or is Hindutva being smuggled into a discourse in which growth and development alone matter? Either way, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s reforms agenda seems inseparable from — even if not organically linked to — the Hindutva project.
But the tensions are palpable, with many of those who are intent on pushing for the right-wing economic agenda uncomfortable with the antics of the Hindu religious right, seen as a distraction, or worse, a hindrance.
As a party, the BJP is many things to many people. And it would have to remain that way if it is to retain support in a country as diverse as India. However, the fight within the BJP is between those who want the government to use power in the service of liberalisation and, to a lesser extent, globalisation, and those who define the primary goals of the party in terms of social and cultural assertion of the Hindu majority.
True, there are many who have a foot in both the camps, but in the days and months ahead, the contradictions between the Hindutva project and the economic reforms project would become more evident. This is when the leaders in the government and the party will try and force a compromise, and use the two sections in the service of each other. Hindutva would, then, be politically sold to the aspiring middle classes as a facilitator of reforms, and the reforms would be pushed down the throat of the economically marginalised sections as a necessary adjunct of their political mobilisation.
But for those who want to rescue the BJP from regressive Hindutva politics, and make it the foremost right-wing neo-liberal party of India, the challenge is to keep the two sets of agenda separate: to isolate the religious lumpen elements and not allow them to discredit the economic reforms. Politicians would rather not undo the yoking of these two different programmes. Economic reforms are, after all, painful to push through. It is for those interested in marketing the reforms as reforms, and not in some other guise, to make the distinction clear: if the reforms are to succeed over the long term, they have to be their own justification, and not ride on a communally divisive project.
Whether those involved with Swarajya will be able to do what the BJP politicians are hesitant to undertake remains to be seen.
suresh.nambath@thehindu.co.in
