Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-tj2md Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T20:12:17.370Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

“A Victory for Secular India”? Hindu Nationalism in the 2004 Election

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 November 2010

J. E. Llewellyn
J. E. Llewellyn*
Affiliation:
Missouri State University
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: J. E. Llewellyn, Department of Religious Studies, Missouri State University, Springfield, MO 65897. E-mail: jllewellyn@missouristate.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

At least since the last decade of the 20th century, there has been strong scholarly interest in a perceived global wave of religious nationalism. Critical to that movement was the most important recent development in Indian politics, the rise of the Hindu right. Commentators lamented a fundamental change in the Indian body politic, the demise of India's celebrated secularism. However, others predicted that the Hindu nationalists would be forced to move to the center to gain votes, jettisoning much of their peculiar ideology in the process. The 2004 national parliamentary election was a crucial test of these contending interpretations. Would the Bharatiya Janata Party rely on its established arsenal of communally controversial issues? Would it emphasize themes designed to appeal to a broader audience? Analyzing reports published in national newspapers and news magazines, I will reach the surprising conclusion that the answer to both of these questions is yes.

Type
Articles
Information
Politics and Religion , Volume 4 , Issue 1 , April 2011 , pp. 49 - 70
Copyright
Copyright © Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

“Ayodhya in Manifesto Not Good Enough for VHP.” Times of India (Delhi), 10 April 2004, 8.Google Scholar
“BJP, Cong BJP, Cong Claim Maharashtra.” Times of India (Delhi), 22 April 2004, 13.Google Scholar
“Changing Colours of India.” Times of India (Delhi), 14 May 2004, 12.Google Scholar
“Cong, Left to Check into SPA: Sonia Set to Stake Claim on Monday.” Times of India (Delhi), 16 May 2004, 1.Google Scholar
“Exit Voters, Enter Fixers: Hungama: No Clear Winner, Kiss-ka number Aayega?” Times of India (Delhi), 11 May 2004, 1.Google Scholar
“Feel-Bad Factors: Best Bakery Case and Lucknow Stampede Take the Shine off BJP.” Times of India (Delhi), 14 April 2004, 18.Google Scholar
“Great Scramble for Muslim Vote Begins: BJP Mantra: Blunt Their Hostility If You Can't Win Them.” Times of India (Delhi), 23 April 2004, 1.Google Scholar
“Green Saffron: Wooing Minorities, PM Confuses Muslims with Pakistan.” Times of India (Delhi), 27 April 2004, 14.Google Scholar
“Hindutva Not on Our Agenda: Venkaiah.” Times of India (Delhi), 1 April 2004, 8.Google Scholar
“Ideology is Liability in the Era Coalitions.” Times of India (Delhi), 17 May 2004, 14.Google Scholar
“It was Atally, Bitterly UP.” Times of India (Delhi), 14 May 2004, 9.Google Scholar
“Mascot Arif Fails to Create Magic for BJP.” Times of India (Delhi), 14 May 2004, 7.Google Scholar
“Mellowed Modi Opens Dialogue with MLAs.” Times of India (Delhi), 26 May 2004, 13.Google Scholar
“Modefeat: The Price of Arrogance.” Times of India (Delhi), 14 May 2004, 9.Google Scholar
“Most Voters Want Secular Future, Times Poll Finds.” Times of India (Delhi), 31 March 2004, 8.Google Scholar
“No Post-Poll Pact with NDA: SP.” Times of India (Delhi), 20 April 2004, 1.Google Scholar
“PM Worried By Minority Drift to Cong.” Times of India (Delhi), 28 April 2004, 15.Google Scholar
“RSS Throws Weight Behind Vajpayee.” Times of India (Delhi), 13 March 2004, 7.Google Scholar
“Sangh Farmers' Body Says Modi Must Go.” Times of India (Delhi), 18 May 2004, 10.Google Scholar
“She Has 320 on Her Side.” Times of India (Delhi), 17 May 2004, 1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
“Sibal Ridicules Yatra, Says Turnout is Poor.” Times of India (Delhi), 13 March 2004, 11.Google Scholar
“The New Government…” Hindustan Times (Delhi), 14 May 2004, 10.Google Scholar
“Vajpayee Bowls Mulayam a Googly: Is NDA Killing SP Softly with its Song?” Times of India (Delhi), 29 April 2004, 1.Google Scholar
“Vajpayee Calls for Trust “Within”.” Times of India (Delhi), 24 April 2004, 9.Google Scholar
“VHP Softens Line on BJP.” Times of India (Delhi), 23 March 2004, 12.Google Scholar
Bhagwat, Ramu. 2004. “Bajrang Dal Activists Leave Advani Rattled.” Times of India (Delhi), 22 March, 9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bharatiya Janata Party. 2004. “Vision Document-2004: Our Basic Mission and Commitments.” http://www.bjp.org/Press/mar_3104a.htm (Accessed on 21 May 2004).Google Scholar
Bhaumik, Saba Naqvi. 2004a. “Back to the Good Lord: Defeat Triggers Introspection on the BJP's Core Identity and Whether It Should Go Back to Its Hardline Ways.” Outlook, 24 May 2004a, 44–46, 48.Google Scholar
Bhaumik, Saba Naqvi. 2004b. “Fear of the Family.” Outlook, 26 April, 27–29.Google Scholar
Chandra, Atul. 2004. “Shining fails in UP.” Times of India (Delhi), 7 April, 10.Google Scholar
Chatterjee, Mohua. 2004a. “Atal Woos Muslims in Urdu.” Times of India (Delhi), 28 April, 15.Google Scholar
Chatterjee, Mohua. 2004b. “SP to Join Govt. as Left Nominee.” Times of India (Delhi), 18 May, 1.Google Scholar
Chawla, Prabhu. 2004. “An Early Sunset.” India Today, 24 May, 29–30, 31–33.Google Scholar
D'Souza, Dilip. 2004. “Yesterday Once More: A Tale of Two Yatras.” Times of India (Delhi), 18 March, 16.Google Scholar
Das, Rathin, and Aron, Sunita. 2004. “BJP Hawks May Pitch for Hindutva: But Can't Ignore Defeats in Saffron Bastions.” Hindustan Times (Delhi), 14 May, 19.Google Scholar
Deshpande, Rajeev, and Lakshmi, Lyer. 2004. “BJP: Saffron Plot.” India Today, 22 March, 20–24.Google Scholar
Deshpande, Rajeev. 2004 “Saffron Strand in NDA DNA: BJP Pushes Ram Temple, Tries to Rope in Minorities.” Times of India (Delhi), 9 April, 1.Google Scholar
Gupta, Smita. 2004d. “Minority Report.” Times of India (Delhi), 20 April, 12.Google Scholar
Gupta, Smita. 2004f. “Party Over.” Times of India (Delhi), 28 May, 16.Google Scholar
Gupta, Smita. 2004a. “Advani's Yatra Dilemma: To talk Ayodhya Or Not.” Times of India (Delhi), 14 March, 8.Google Scholar
Gupta, Smita. 2004b. “Ballot Box Yatra, the Advani Way.” Times of India (Delhi), 27 March, 11.Google Scholar
Gupta, Smita. 2004c. “In UP, Gharvapsi after Gujarat.” Times of India (Delhi), 9 May, 6.Google Scholar
Gupta, Smita. 2004e. “NDA Bows to BJP, Ayodhya in Manifesto.” Times of India (Delhi), 6 April, 1.Google Scholar
Hasan, Tariq. 2004. “BJP Not Anti-Muslim: PM.” Times of India (Delhi), 1 May 2004, 7.Google Scholar
Indian National Congress. 2004a. “Homepage.” http://www.aicc.org.in (Accessed on 24 May 2004a).Google Scholar
Indian National Congress. 2004b. “Lok Sabha Elections 2004: Manifesto of the Indian.” http://www.aicc.org.in/manifesto-2004.htm (Accessed 24 May 200b).Google Scholar
Jaffrelot, Christophe. 1999. The Hindu Nationalist Movement and Indian Politics, 1925 to the 1990s: Strategies of Identity-Building, Implantation and Mobilisation. Delhi: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Jha, Prem Shankar. 2004a. “One Man and His Party: Vajpayee's Legacy Notwithstanding, It Will Pay to Be Wary of a “Hindu” BJP.” Outlook, 9 February, 18.Google Scholar
Jha, Prem Shankar. 2004b. “Tussle for the soul.” Hindustan Times (Delhi), 12 March, 10.Google Scholar
Joshi, Manoj. 2004. “UP's Politics Caste in Stone.” Times of India (Delhi), 17 March, 10.Google Scholar
Juergensmeyer, Mark. 1993. “The New Cold War? Religious Nationalism Confronts the Secular State.” Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Juergensmeyer, Mark. 1995. “Antifundamentalism.” In Fundamentalism Comprehended, eds. Marty, Martin E. and Appleby, R. Scott. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Juergensmeyer, Mark. 2003. Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Juergensmeyer, Mark. 2008. Global Rebellion: Religious Challenges to the Secular State, from Christian Militias to al-Qaeda. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Khan, Sakina Yusuf. 2004a. “BJP earnest towards Muslims.” Times of India (Delhi), 21 March, 8.Google Scholar
Khan, Sakina Yusuf. 2004b. “Lotus eater.” Times of India (Delhi), 26 April, 14.Google Scholar
Larson, Gerald James. 1995. India's Agony Over Religion. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
Llewellyn, J. E. 1996. “Hindu Fundamentalism: The Once and Future Oxymoron.” Critical Review of Books in Religion 9:83–104.Google Scholar
Long, Jeffrey D. 2007. A Vision for Hinduism: Beyond Hindu Nationalism. London, UK: I. B. Tauris.Google Scholar
Mahurkar, Uday. 2004. “In Disgrace Mode.” India Today, 31 May, 45–46.Google Scholar
Marty, Martin E., and Appleby, R. Scott. 1991. Fundamentalisms Observed. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Marty, Martin E., and Appleby, R. Scott. 1993a. Fundamentalisms and Society: Reclaiming the Sciences, the Family, and Education. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Marty, Martin E., and Appleby, R. Scott. 1993b. Fundamentalisms and the State: Reclaiming Polities, Economies, and Militance. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Marty, Martin E., and Appleby, R. Scott. 1994. Accounting for Fundamentalisms: The Dynamic Character of Movements. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Marty, Martin E., and Appleby, R. Scott. 1995. Fundamentalisms Comprehended. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Misra, Leena. 2004. “Alone in the Crowd.” Times of India (Delhi), 1 April, 6.Google Scholar
National Democratic Alliance. 2004. “An Agenda for Development, Good Governance, Peace, and Harmony.” http://www.bjp.org/Press/NDA%20Agenda.htm (Accessed on 21 May).Google Scholar
Padgaonkar, Dileep. 2004. “Wages of Arrogance.” Times of India (Delhi), 16 May, 14.Google Scholar
Prasad, Bhuvaneshwar. 2004. “Peace with Pak proves BJP not communal: PM.” Times of India (Delhi), 23 April, 13.Google Scholar
Pratap, Anita. 2004. “Some High Road Chinks.” Outlook, 31 May, 18.Google Scholar
Radhakrishnan, M. G. 2004. “Shining Armour.” India Today, 22 March, 32–33.Google Scholar
Rath Turned Turtle. 2004. “Rath Turned Turtle: L. K. Advani and His Proteges' Political Miscalculations Cost the Party Dear in This Lok Sabha Poll.” Outlook, 24 May, 46.Google Scholar
Roy, Bhaskar. 2004. “The Big Moment that Never Came for the Grand Old Party.” Times of India (Delhi), 23 March, 9.Google Scholar
Shah, Ghanshyam. 2007. “Gujarat After Godhra.” In India's 2004 Elections Grass-roots and National Perspectives, eds. Roy, Ramashray and Wallace, Paul. Delhi, India: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Shastri, Paromita. 2004. “Reform the Reforms? For the Man on the Street, the BJP's Roads and Dollars Show Held Little Shine.” Outlook, 24 May, 27–28, 30–31.Google Scholar
Subrahmaniam, Vidya. 2004. “Advani Rath Hits Ayodhya Bump: 14 Years Later, Sangh Hero Faces VHP Hostility, Citizens' Indifference.” Times of India (Delhi), 4 April, 1.Google Scholar
United Progressive Alliance. 2004. “Common Minimum Programme: The Complete Document.” http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/703712.cms (Accessed 28 May).Google Scholar
Wallace, Paul. 2004. “Introduction: India Shining Trumped by Poverty.” In India's 2004 Elections Grass-roots and National Perspectives, eds. Roy, Ramashray and Wallace, Paul. Delhi: Sage Publications, 1–6.Google Scholar