What will India look like as a Hindu rashtra?

The India Fix: A newsletter on Indian politics from Scroll.in.

Jan 22, 2024 - 21:30
What will India look like as a Hindu rashtra?

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On Monday, India saw a spectacle that is rare in the modern world: a complete merger of religion, state and – perhaps most importantly – media spectacle.

The country’s prime minister took centrestage in conducting a religious ceremony to inaugurate a Ram Temple in the town of Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh. He described the Hindu god Ram as India’s “national consciousness”. Monday’s ceremony was broadcast non-stop by all India’s Hindi and English news channels and many of its state language ones.

In attendance were India’s elite: movie stars, sportspeople, industrialists. This wall-to-wall coverage was accompanied by a host of markers that turned this into a quasi-national holiday. Many state governments, for example, declared it a holiday, as did some private schools and offices.

Modi’s image in the manner of a mediaeval Hindu sovereign, involved in a ceremony that melded state and faith, is the final sign that India is now a de facto Hindu rashtra or Hindu state. This moment...

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