Daily Times

Modi’s BJP has won the elections in India. A lot of commentators are calling it a triumph of “majoritarian” nationalism; some are calling it “cultural majoritarianism”, others “ethnic”. However, they all agree that this win is driven by the call to hate and bigotry by prioritizing the interests of Hindu majoritarianism over all else.

In 2014, Modi had presented an economic agenda of progress for all. When he won in 2014, it was considered that he has done so on the basis of his appeal to economic growth. However, this time after a five-years term, he did not have much to showcase in terms of the economic performance of his government. Unemployment is all time high in India. The large corporations might have benefited from Modi’s economic policies but not the common Indians. As a result, the large corporations funded his election campaign in a substantial manner.

Modi and BJP invoked the identity politics in his election campaign. Muslims were called “termites” and such other names. It was denigration of minorities, particularly Muslims and calls to strengthen Hindu nationalism that saw him through the win. The commentators are of the opinion that it is no longer only the upper caste Hindus supporting him; rather his appeal based on majoritarianism has made inroads across castes, regions, and classes.

The surprising element in the Indian election results is the scale of BJP’s victory, as well as the missing anti-incumbency wave. Just some months ago, Congress had won the state elections in some key states. It was viewed as anti-incumbency vote. However, the trend changed again and the BJP stormed its way to a substantial win in the general elections.

The progressive forces have weakened the world over. One commentator has called for better “discipline” amongst the progressive forces to halt this onslaught of fascism

Commentators are linking the Modi becoming the Indian Prime Minister again to the similar other “strong men” winning such as Trump in the US, Netanyahu in Israel, and Erdogan in Turkey. Some of them also appealed to majoritarian nationalism by advocating that majorities in those countries should be preferred and minorities have been offered too many privileges on the basis of secularism that should be checked at de facto level at least. “Strong men” are also ruling Russia and China. The overall trends points to rise of fascism in many parts of the world, including India. We have seen appeals to narrow nationalism win in the last US elections and during the Brexit referendum in the UK some years back. According to one commentator’s social media post, neo-fascism and racism is on the rise in Italy, Poland, Hungry, and Austria (amongst others); far-right politics is gaining traction in Spain, France, and Germany.

It is entirely possible that this far-right politics based on neo-fascism will take hold in many other developed countries of the world including Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal, Greece, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the Northern European countries such as Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, and the countries of Eastern Europe, other than that mainland Europe, UK, the US, and Japan. Fascism might get a hold in many middle income and developing countries as well. After India; Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bangladesh in South Asia might revert to the majoritarian nationalism as well, amongst others developing countries. There is global push against the progressive politics and gains made in the 1950s and 1960s. As the economic inequality deepens due to neo-liberal policies of the last some decades, demagogues are popularizing politics based on hate and bigotry.

Some commentators are linking the rise of fascism to pre-Second World War triumph of Hitler on similar grounds. What is somewhat missing in the present debate is the support of the state institutions for the fascist agendas and leaders. In the context of Modi’s win in India, one commentator mentioned that the Indian army’s official twitter account tweeted about “discovery of the Yeti’s footprints”, invoking Hinduism. Some candidates in the Indian elections used fake or real photos of the captured and released Indian pilot by Pakistan. An Indian political theorist in an interview stated that even the so-called independent institutions such as Election Commission in India, the Indian Supreme Court, and even the Indian armed forces “are being accused of deep and significant political partisanship”.

The state institutions around the world might be supporting the politics of ultra-right for their own vested interests. It might be more than a mere coincidence that a few generals were appointed in high positions in the White House after Trump won in the US. An ex-director of the CIA is the current Secretary of the State of the US. The state institutions in many countries around the world control other sectors, including the politics. Yet, they go to extra lengths through events, happenings, actions, and maneuvers to display at the de jure level that they are “not” controlling, while actually controlling.

The progressive forces have weakened the world over. One commentator has called for better “discipline” amongst the progressive forces to halt this onslaught of fascism. It needs to be seen whether the progressive forces can organize themselves around the world to counter not only the rise of fascism but also the structural support for such forces. One really hopes that they do for a more compassionate world for the future generations.

The writer is an Islamabad-based social scientist