Series: India and Islamophobia

Posted by the University of Pittsburgh:

With the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) rise to power in India, anti-Muslim rhetoric and discriminatory measures have been increasing. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, such rhetoric has reached an unprecedented peak, with Muslims subjected daily to hate speech, racist attacks, and violence. Driving these developments is the Hindutva ideology which reflects the tangled intersection of nation-building and Hinduism, dating back to the foundation of the India nation-state.

The contributions in this series will discuss Indian Islamophobia through an examination of the past, present, and future dynamics of Indian nationalism and secularism. They will also highlight the interplay between nationalism, communalism, and secularism that is at the core of modern Indian politics. The overarching question centers around the conditions for social influence on Hindu nationalism today.

The Berkley Forum asks: What are the cultural and religious reasons for the shift from secular to Hinduist India? What is the Love Jihad campaign, and how does it shed light on the dynamics of community and nationalism specific to the Hindutva movement? What is the role of the media in spreading Hindu nationalism?