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NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA THESIS INDIA’S DEMOCRACY UNDER HINDU FUNDAMENTALISTS: THE QUESTION OF MINORITY CONDITION by Shaukat Abbas December 2018 Co-Advisors: Anshu N. Chatterjee Carolyn C. Halladay Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited. THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK Form Approved OMB REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE No. 0704-0188 Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instruction, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to Washington headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports, 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington, VA 22202-4302, and to the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project (0704-0188) Washington, DC 20503. 1. AGENCY USE ONLY 2. REPORT DATE 3. REPORT TYPE AND DATES COVERED (Leave blank) December 2018 Master’s thesis 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE 5. FUNDING NUMBERS INDIA’S DEMOCRACY UNDER HINDU FUNDAMENTALISTS: THE QUESTION OF MINORITY CONDITION 6. AUTHOR(S) Shaukat Abbas 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 8. PERFORMING Naval Postgraduate School ORGANIZATION REPORT Monterey, CA 93943-5000 NUMBER 9. SPONSORING / MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND 10. SPONSORING / ADDRESS(ES) MONITORING AGENCY N/A REPORT NUMBER 11. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES The views expressed in this thesis are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government. 12a. DISTRIBUTION / AVAILABILITY STATEMENT 12b. DISTRIBUTION CODE Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited. A 13. ABSTRACT (maximum 200 words) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has ruled India since 2014. After assuming power, the BJP attempted to implement its Hindu nationalist agenda and targeted minorities, trying to push India from liberal, secular democracy toward majoritarian, ethnic democracy. Efforts by India’s civil society, including the media and judiciary, to resist the BJP’s agenda have been met with legal retribution and violence. However, it remains unclear what BJP’s domination of India’s national parliament means for India’s secular democracy. An analysis of the BJP’s rule via Larry Diamond’s four principles of democracy reveals that the BJP restricted participation of minorities in public life through violence, violated human rights, and subverted the rule of law. India’s minorities, including the Dalits and Kashmiris, reacted by establishing private militias, staging protests, committing suicide, seeking asylum abroad, and intensifying their demands for independence of Indian-administered Kashmir. Overall, the BJP has harmed India’s liberal democracy and polarized its traditionally secular society along religious lines; if the BJP maintains its Hindu nationalist policies, minorities may radicalize or migrate as refugees. That said, civil society, the judiciary, and opposition parties have restricted Hindu nationalists’ attempts to turn India into an ethnic democracy and might be the key to countering this tendency in Indian politics. 14. SUBJECT TERMS 15. NUMBER OF Hindu nationalist extremism, undermining democratic institutions PAGES 161 16. PRICE CODE 17. SECURITY 18. SECURITY 19. SECURITY 20. LIMITATION OF CLASSIFICATION OF CLASSIFICATION OF THIS CLASSIFICATION OF ABSTRACT REPORT PAGE ABSTRACT Unclassified Unclassified Unclassified UU NSN 7540-01-280-5500 Standard Form 298 (Rev. 2-89) Prescribed by ANSI Std. 239-18 i THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK ii Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited. INDIA’S DEMOCRACY UNDER HINDU FUNDAMENTALISTS: THE QUESTION OF MINORITY CONDITION Shaukat Abbas Lieutenant Colonel, Army, Pakistan MMAS, University of Balochistan, Quetta, Pakistan, 2009 Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS IN SECURITY STUDIES (CIVIL-MILITARY RELATIONS) from the NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL December 2018 Approved by: Anshu N. Chatterjee Co-Advisor Carolyn C. Halladay Co-Advisor Afshon P. Ostovar Associate Chair for Research Department of National Security Affairs iii THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK iv ABSTRACT The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has ruled India since 2014. After assuming power, the BJP attempted to implement its Hindu nationalist agenda and targeted minorities, trying to push India from liberal, secular democracy toward majoritarian, ethnic democracy. Efforts by India’s civil society, including the media and judiciary, to resist the BJP’s agenda have been met with legal retribution and violence. However, it remains unclear what BJP’s domination of India’s national parliament means for India’s secular democracy. An analysis of the BJP’s rule via Larry Diamond’s four principles of democracy reveals that the BJP restricted participation of minorities in public life through violence, violated human rights, and subverted the rule of law. India’s minorities, including the Dalits and Kashmiris, reacted by establishing private militias, staging protests, committing suicide, seeking asylum abroad, and intensifying their demands for independence of Indian-administered Kashmir. Overall, the BJP has harmed India’s liberal democracy and polarized its traditionally secular society along religious lines; if the BJP maintains its Hindu nationalist policies, minorities may radicalize or migrate as refugees. That said, civil society, the judiciary, and opposition parties have restricted Hindu nationalists’ attempts to turn India into an ethnic democracy and might be the key to countering this tendency in Indian politics. v THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK vi TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................1 A. MAJOR RESEARCH QUESTION..........................................................2 B. PROBLEM STATEMENT .......................................................................2 C. SIGNIFICANCE OF RESEARCH ..........................................................3 D. LITERATURE REVIEW .........................................................................3 1. Democracy’s Core Elements .........................................................4 2. Threats to Democracy....................................................................5 3. India’s Democracy .........................................................................8 E. POTENTIAL EXPLANATIONS AND HYPOTHESES .....................11 F. RESEARCH DESIGN .............................................................................12 G. THESIS OVERVIEW AND CHAPTER OUTLINE ............................12 II. DECLINE OF THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS (INC) AND ELECTORAL RISE OF THE BJP ....................................................................13 A. THE DECLINE OF THE INC AND THE CONGRESS SYSTEM ...................................................................................................14 1. Weakening of Organizational Structure ....................................16 2. Defections and the Rise of New Parties ......................................18 3. The INC: Lack of Ideology..........................................................22 4. The INC: The Shrinking of its Social and Economic Base ......24 5. The Expansion of the Party System: The Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party ..........................................26 6. Lack of Charismatic Leadership ................................................29 7. Corruption ....................................................................................34 8. The INC’s Lackluster Electoral Campaign ...............................35 B. THE ELECTORAL RISE OF THE BJP ..............................................36 1. Ideology: Redefined Hindutva ....................................................37 2. Leadership: Creating the Modi Wave........................................38 3. Expanding the Social Base ..........................................................43 4. The Urban Middle Class and Young Voters .............................45 5. Mobilizing the Backward Castes ................................................46 6. Aggressive Campaign Based on Extensive Rallies ....................47 7. The Role of the RSS and Other Sangh Parivar Organizations ...............................................................................49 8. Targeting the Nehru Dynasty .....................................................50 9. The Use of Media and Technology .............................................51 C. CONCLUSION ........................................................................................52 vii III. THE VIOLATION OF MINORITY RIGHTS AND THE BJP GOVERNMENT ..................................................................................................53 A. BACKGROUND ......................................................................................54 1. Constitutional Secularism versus Hindutva Ideology ..............54 B. CHANGING SYMBOLS AND RHETORIC ........................................56 1. Changing Symbols .......................................................................56 2. Rhetoric of Fear ...........................................................................58 3. Labeling the INC as Pro-Minority (Primarily Muslim) ...........63 C. INCITING