Rise of Saffron Power: Reflections on Indian Politics
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Rise of Saffron Power This volume looks at the impact of the landmark 2014 elections and the subsequent Assembly elections which have transformed the ideological discourse of India. It discusses a variety of topical issues in contemporary Indian politics, including the Modi wave, Aam Aadmi Party and the challenges it is confronting today, Hindutva and minorities, the decline of the Congress party, changes in foreign policy, as well as phenomena like ‘love jihad’ and ghar wapsi. It also draws together political trends from across the country, especially key states like Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Seemandhra, West Bengal, Jammu and Kashmir, and Meghalaya. The volume will be of great importance to scholars and researchers of Indian politics, public policy, sociology, and social policy. Mujibur Rehman teaches at Jamia Millia Central University, New Delhi, India. He has received graduate research training at the University of Texas, USA, the University of Heidelberg, Germany, and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), New Delhi. He wrote his doctoral dissertation on the Politics of India’s Economic Reform (1991/92–2004). He has edited Communalism in Post-colonial India: Changing Contours (Routledge 2016). The paperback edition of this volume will be released in 2018 with a Foreword by Romila Thapar. Presently he is working simultaneously on a book manuscript on Indian Muslims and on the politics of anti-Christian violence in India. ‘This collection has very useful, very thoughtful essays that cover a wide range of issues surrounding the emergence of Hindutva, both at the level of governance and of culture and the growing relation between the two. It will add measurably to our understanding of an undeniably powerful and alarming development in India since the 1980s, which has now taken on the proportions of an emergency.’ — Akeel Bilgrami, Sidney Morgenbesser Professor of Philosophy and Professor, Committee on Global Thought, Columbia University, USA ‘Mujibur Rehman has assembled a fine group of scholars to contribute excellent pieces on the rise of saffron power in the aftermath of the 2014 parliamentary elections in India. This book will leave you better informed and more concerned about the far-reaching implications of the growth of Hindu nationalism.’ — Amrita Basu, Paino Professor of Political Science and Sexuality, Women’s and Gender Studies, Amherst College, USA ‘Essential reading for anyone working on contemporary Indian poli- tics, Mujibur Rehman and his contributors expertly assess the changes in the Indian electoral landscape reflecting the rise of (and challenges to) “saffron power”.’ — Katharine Adeney, Professor and Director of The Institute of Asia and Pacific Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Nottingham, UK Rise of Saffron Power Reflections on Indian Politics Edited by Mujibur Rehman First published 2018 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2018 selection and editorial matter, Mujibur Rehman; individual chapters, the contributors The right of Mujibur Rehman to be identified as the author of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN: 978-1-138-89727-4 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-429-50632-1 (ebk) Typeset in Sabon by Apex CoVantage, LLC To Barbara-Harris White, for her affection and path-breaking empirical work on India; Eleanor Zelliot, for introducing me to Ambedkar’s work. Without her work, I would have perhaps, like hundreds of others, looked at Ambedkar merely as the Chairman of Drafting Committee of Indian Constitution, not as a thinker or philosopher; And last but not least, to Bashiruddin Ahmed, one of India’s early psephologists, who was a great source of inspiration for me. I hope I will live up to some of his expectations through my publications on politics. Contents List of figures x List of tables xii Notes on contributors xiii Acknowledgements xvii Introduction 1 MUJIBUR REHMAN 1 ‘Yes, but not in the South’: the BJP, Congress, and regional parties in South India 44 JAMES CHIRIYANKANDATH 2 India’s foreign policy and Hindutva: the new impact of culture and identity on the formulation and practice of Indian foreign policy 2014–2017 62 ARNDT MICHAEL 3 Allegories of ‘love jihad’ and ghar wapsi: interlocking the socio-religious with the political 84 CHARU GUPTA 4 Understanding the BJP’s victory in Uttar Pradesh 111 SUDHA PAI AND AVINASH KUMAR 5 Election 2014 and the battle for India’s soul 130 HARSH MANDER viii Contents 6 Collapse of the Congress party 154 ZOYA HASAN 7 Explaining the inconvenient truths of Indian political behaviour: Hindutva, Modi, and Muslim voters in 2014 168 MUJIBUR REHMAN 8 The dance of democracy: election 2014 and the marginalised and minorities 191 RUDOLF C. HEREDIA 9 Aam Aadmi Party’s electoral performance in Punjab: implications for an all India political scenario 215 PRITAM SINGH 10 The ‘people’ and the ‘political’: Aam Aadmi and the changing contours of the anti-corruption movement 237 NISSIM MANNATHUKKAREN 11 The 2014 national elections from the margins of modern India 263 UDAY CHANDRA 12 Big national parties in West Bengal: an exceptional outcast? 279 MAIDUL ISLAM 13 National elections in a tribal state: the 2014 Lok Sabha elections in Meghalaya 297 CORNELIA GUENAUER 14 Electoral politics in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and the problem of communal polarisation 317 AIJAZ ASHRAF WANI 15 Lok Sabha elections in (un)divided Andhra Pradesh: issues and implications in Telangana and Seemandhra 347 RITU KHOSLA Contents ix 16 An inquiry into the causes and consequences of the saffron whirlwind that swept Uttar Pradesh in the 2017 Assembly election 368 MUJIBUR REHMAN Index 389 Figures 1.1 National vs. regional parties all India: 1957–2014 45 1.2 National vs. regional parties in the south: 1957–2014 46 1.3 All India share of seats for national and regional parties – 2014 59 1.4 National and regional parties’ share of seats in the south – 2014 60 3.1 Covers of Panchjanya and Organiser, 7 September 2014 87 3.2 An appeal to Hindu brothers 89 3.3 ‘Hindus Beware: Love Jihad’ 92 3.4 Front and back covers of Ram Muttalik’s book Love Jihad: Red Alert for Hindu girls 95 3.5 Poster stating that ‘Garba Venues’ should only allow Hindus 97 3.6 Cover of the magazine: Himalaya Dhvani 99 4.1 Second position gained by parties out of total seats lost by them in the LSE 2014 in UP 114 4.2 Position of BJP and its ally (Apna Dal) in the Assembly segments during the LSE 2014 in UP 115 4.3 Average loss margin 115 4.4 Position of non-NDA parties in the Assembly segments in UP in LE 2014 117 4.5 Change in BSP’s and SP’s votes share in LSE 2014 over LSE 2009 120 4.6 Change in absolute vote share of BSP and SP in constituencies with more than 30 per cent of the SC population 121 4.7 Phase-wise total vote percentage and victory margin of BJP in UP 124 Figures xi 4.8 Average victory margin of BJP vis-à-vis other parties in constituencies with more than 20 per cent Muslim population in UP 125 14.1 Overall voter turnout in J&K in 2004, 2009, and 2014 325 14.2 Vote share of National Conference in Parliamentary elections from 1977–2014 330 Tables 1.1 INC, BJP, and CPI/CPM share of seats from the south in Lok Sabha elections: 1989–2014 56 4.1 Position of parties in the Lok Sabha elections in UP since 1989 113 4.2 Support to various political parties across castes/ communities in 2014 116 7.1 Muslim voting pattern in national elections, 1999–2014 169 7.2 Survey-based estimates on Muslim voting preference, 2014 and 2009 (in %) 170 9.A.1 Vote share and results of General Elections 2014 for Punjab state 232 9.B.1 Religious composition of India’s population 2001 and 2011 (%) 234 9.B.2 Religious composition of Punjab’s population 2001 and 2011 (%) 234 9.B.3 Punjab’s religious communities as a share of their all India population 2001 and 2011 235 9.B.4 Sikhs as a share of different Indian states’ population 2011 (%) 235 14.1 Constituency-wise voter turnout in 2009 and 2014 326 14.2 Jammu and Kashmir Lok Sabha result 2014: change in seat and voter share of parties 326 14.3 Jammu and Kashmir Parliamentary constituency- wise Lok Sabha result in 2014 329 15.1 National Election Study 2014: Telangana 351 15.2 National Election Study 2014: Residual Andhra Pradesh 352 16.1 Muslim MLAs in Uttar Pradesh 378 Contributors Uday Chandra received his PhD in political science from Yale Uni- versity, USA, in 2013. His research lies at the intersection between critical agrarian studies, political anthropology, postcolonial theory, and South Asian history.