‘Bulldozer nyaay’: Widening majoritarianism and political marginalization of minorities

India would equate democracy with majoritarianism at its own peril. When thinking about religious freedom and its place in a democracy, it is critical to consider the social and political effects of any tendency that erodes such freedom.

Religious majoritarianism, which refuses to consider minorities as full citizens with equal rights, has been on the rise since the comprehensive victories of Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2014 and 2019. Since then, severe polarization has been evident and has intensified. This has also manifested itself in our institutions, which, shaken by the support for such majoritarianism, have been wary of robustly defending pluralism. As a result, the intolerance has only increased, especially against India’s Muslims – the primary target of the saffron right wing.

State power used to pursue the interests of a single group creates less stable societies, undermining democracy – which, however flawed, is the best system we have to enable dissimilar social groups to coexist and thrive.

The road to today

This wave of majoritarianism can be said to have originated in the Raj. As India marched towards independence, two opposite visions emerged. One saw India as a secular nation in which all citizens were equal, a philosophy propounded tirelessly by Mahatma Gandhi. The other wanted a Hindu Rashtra, with Vinayak Savarkar as one of its chief proponents.

This was sharply contrasted with the vision of Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. Saffron nationalists argued that Hindu culture should be the definition of Indianness itself and that minorities would have to accept a second-class status. Savarkar, in his book Hindutva: Who Is a Hindu? coined the term ‘Hindutva’ which is used even today to challenge the secular vision of the nation at its birth.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) was founded in 1925 to turn these ideas into a mass mobilization and became the spearhead of Hindu nationalism, eventually forming a network of sister organizations – from a student wing to aggressive ‘activist’ groups – that collectively came to be known as the Sangh Parivar.

These competing visions still drive polarization in India

The Babri Masjid’s demolition in 1992 was the defining moment for Hindutva. The BJP, which functions as the RSS’ political wing, succeeded in mobilizing sections of Hindus and won support, especially from the upper castes who had opposed the Mandal Commission report’s implementation, which sought – through reservations in government jobs and educational institutions–to correct the social imbalance suffered by the Other Backward Classes.

The riots that followed the demolition claimed thousands of lives.

Fuel for the fire

For majoritarianism to survive, it must continuously flex its muscle, trample upon ideas opposed to it, and demonstrate regularly its suppression of the ‘other’. So, it’s not just minorities that are the target but other communities, institutions, legal processes, and individuals. Without that, its claim of cultural and religious superiority – however false – cannot be sustained.

So, we have ‘bulldozer nyaay’, the abrogation of Article 370, the Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens, sedition charges handed out like candy at a birthday party, lynchings, and the demolition of Muslim religious structures. It is a way of threatening minorities’ security, economic opportunities, social mobility, and citizenship itself.

After the BJP’s victory in 2014, an election that many believe changed India forever, Hindu nationalism became entrenched. BJP leaders openly called for amending the Constitution to drop ‘secular’ from it and to declare India a Hindu country. Some even said that the national flag would be changed to a saffron banner. One of the first acts was to fill institutions, such as universities, with BJP apparatchiks and to co-opt the media in its mission. Nothing that the BJP did could be questioned while, astonishingly, the Opposition was asked for answers to the Modi government’s trip-ups.

The widening majoritarianism has naturally resulted in increasing intolerance. The political discourse is now venomous with the saffron right-wing labeling anyone disagreeing with it as anti-national and seditious. So-called gaurakshaks have attacked minorities with impudence and lynchers have been felicitated by Union ministers. Dalits too have faced a dramatic increase in violence.

The political marginalization of minorities is almost complete, not that Muslims have ever been adequately represented in legislatures at the state and national level. The BJP, of course, has no elected Muslim legislators.

The way out

So, what can be done to correct the majoritarian trend?

First of all, civil society must push hard for inclusion and equal rights. Religious freedom means respect for all faiths, and such organizations can work with religious groups to counter majoritarianism.

Academicians, artists, and other respected citizens have taken part in public demonstrations against intolerance and many have returned state awards to protest attacks on minorities and the freedom of expression. Activists and civil society have also promoted inter-faith dialogue to check communal flare-ups. In Varanasi, for instance, the local narrative of the Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb has been used to promote inter-religious harmony.

Not just political parties, which have shied away from taking on Hindutva with full force, but the judiciary, too must play a role in resisting the trend. So far, its performance has been disappointing for the most part.

In 2018, the Supreme Court formed a bench to monitor hate crimes and asked Parliament to legislate on the issue. However, with the BJP’s victory in the 2019 election, there were fears that the courts might not be as willing to take a stand.

In November 2019, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of building a Ram temple on the Babri Masjid site. It also ruled that the government’s abrogation of Article 370 was legal. And it hasn’t heard the bail plea of student activist Umar Khalid for ages.

The Opposition coming together is a step in the right direction, although the effort has suffered setbacks too. When it did that effectively in the 2018 by-elections in Uttar Pradesh, it won decisively, wresting three Lok Sabha seats from the BJP.

Winning state elections would be another way of pushing back and the Opposition has shown that it can, winning in states such as Karnataka and Telangana.

Majoritarianism is keeping India in a state of turmoil, widening social divisions and eroding our institutions. Perhaps democracy was not this fragile even during the Emergency. With the polity in the state that it is and our institutions wobbly, it’s only society and its resilience that offer hope. Yet, time may be running out and Indian democracy is now in uncharted waters.

Ashraf Engineer has been a journalist for almost three decades, leading newsrooms and initiatives across print, digital, and audio. He is the founder of the All Indians Matter platform, a home for conversations with and about India on issues that matter, and the host of the podcast by the same name.