Rightwing Hindu Party leads polls in Parliamentary Elections in India

Susheel

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Susheel
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Nov 7, 2005
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Hyderabad, India
The Right Wing Bharatiya Janata Party leads the polls in the Parliamentary Elections in India. Despite a dismal performance in the previous tenure with a tanking economy, widespread banking failures, increased violence on casteist and religious lines the right wing BJP is set to return to power with the backing of a captive mainstream media and huge corporate funding.
States, mainly in the Northern and Central regions voted along caste and religious lines to bring the BJP back to power. The secular and democratic structure of the Indian government is at risk.
 
I'm sorry to hear that. :(

It seems that groups have learned how to hijack the debate and play the populist card with a few, misleading, simple messages that the electorate are willing to lap up. It seems that the parties who are most successful at this are those on the extreme left and right. Centrist parties seem less able to do this and I suspect that it's a combination of having a very nuanced message to sell and being unwilling and/or unable to boil it down to a few catchy slogans.

If a party is committed to stoking the fires of religious intolerance, demonising immigrants whilst at the same time promoting policies which exacerbate wealth and income inequality and lining their own pockets then that bodes ill for India's long-term development. :(
 
BJP's main line of propaganda has been that "Hinduism is in danger" and a myth of a glorious Hindu history for a state that did not exist as a unified whole until the 20th century. Many of the people in the northern states, what we call the "Cow belt" have fallen for this and made this their primary reason to vote. All this coupled with the bureaucracy infiltrated by right wing groups and a biased Election Commission that ignored evidence of mass vote rigging...the future for India over the next 5 years isn't going to be good.
 
India reputation as a tolerant nations is about to go into the trash can.
Untouchablity will return, probably.
And an empowered Modi will become more aggressive in his attitude toward Pakistan.
Dark times ahead for India
And the ghost of Ghandi is howling loudly.
 
And Trump just congratulated Modi on his win, and pretty much embraced him as his new best buddy.
It's going to be fun when somebody tells Trump that Modi;s party has been harassing Christians in several states..along with Muslims and just about anybody else who is not a Hindu. The 180 is going to be impressive.
 
The ruling party has consistently validated casteist bigotry and oppression, supported the lynching of people based on dietary preference, bankrupted national institutions and more or less set the economy on a downward spiral and even had the gall to release a fake GDP report with 31 non-existent companies as part of the statistics. So yes...India's reputation as a tolerant and relatively well developing nation is at stake.
 
dudalb said:
India reputation as a tolerant nations is about to go into the trash can.

Untouchablity will return, probably.

And an empowered Modi will become more aggressive in his attitude toward Pakistan.

Dark times ahead for India

And the ghost of Ghandi is howling loudly.
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It's been in question since Modi first came into power on a platform of sectarianism. He appears to have modeled himself on Erdogan. Modernise the economy while taking culture back to Medieval times.
 
He hasn't done much for the economy either...he has however managed to enrich the two major industrialists in India. Many banks are on the brink of failure. A recent GDP report released by the government revealed falsified data and entirely fictitious company's included in the indexes.
 
The fact that you used Nehru-Gandhi dynasty shows you have a limited understanding of Indian politics. The so called Nehru-Gandhi dynasty has been responsible for some real advances in Indian government and economy. The establishment of premier educational institutions, Industry, research institutions all occurred under them. In fact, the prime Minister for the last 10 years was not from the "Nehru dynasty".
The current government is an extreme right-wing organisation that has openly promoted oppression against non-Hindus and the resurgence of casteism. They have been responsible for systematically dismantling government institutions and destr0ying education---the joke that was the Indian Science Congress last year was a case in point. The only successful projects by the current government are those of the Congress government that were renamed. They actually got a terror accused into parliament...there is lot more wrong with this current government. We might probably taking the nascent steps to fascism now...
 
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The leader of the INC has consistently been a Nehru descendant (indirect in the case of Sonia G)

It is a dynasty in anyone's book.

ETA I really don't think you need be concerned about fascism in India. Maoism is closer at hand in some places. Up to you of course.
 
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Your understanding of ground realities in India colour your perception heavily. Maoist movements in the rural and tribal belts in India is a direct response to very violent upper caste oppression and disenfranchisement of tribal and lower-caste rights by a state dominated by the upper castes. So a blanket statement of "Hindu Fascism - Good | Maoism -Bad" is at best specious.
 
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Who made such a blanket statement? Except you just then.

Telling everyone that they don't know enough about Indian politics and of course not as much as you will likely make for a lonely thread. Have fun with it.
 
But using the bogie of "socialism" to counter a real and definite danger of Hindu fascism without knowing the context of "Why Maoism", seems to rise from typical western paranoia about all things "socialist". Your post seemed to suggest that violent oppression in the name of religion is so much better than a socialist state.
Well, one of the states in South India, Kerala, under a Communist Government (oh the horror) rebuilt itself after massive flooding last year, controlled a Nipah outbreak, rebuilt a government education system where students of migrant labourers from North India (until then unfamiliar with even the local language) topped state level exams. These schools have outperformed premier private schools and parents are switching over in vast numbers from private schools to these schools.
And guess what, no curbing of individual rights. So I don't see any reason to fear Communism in India. But when I guy feels he has the right to attack me based on what I eat...
Also, India is not limited to two parties...so because I am against the BJP (with good reason), does not mean I am for the Congress (again with good reason).
 
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a_unique_person said:
It's been in question since Modi first came into power on a platform of sectarianism. He appears to have modeled himself on Erdogan. Modernise the economy while taking culture back to Medieval times.
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That does seem to be a very popular movement worldwide.
 
Francesca R said:
Whereas reinstatement of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty would have been better?
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Yes, frankly. The Gandhi Nehru dynasty was merely corrupt; the current government is fullof dangerous religious wackjobs. I will take corruption over wackos any day of the week.
 
Susheel said:
... Hindu fascism ...
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You can have Christian fundamentalism, or Islamic fundamentalism, and some kind of fascism that gels around and about or works with that fundamentalism -- that is, you may agree with such fundamentalists/fascists, or not, but at least you can grant them that their ideas are, in essence, internally consistent -- but "Hindu fundamentalism" is simply a contradiction in terms.

It seems to me that those who are peddling this monolothic version of Hinduism are either themselves abjectly ignorant about the sheer breadth of "Hindu" thought, or else they're deliberately dumbing down a remarkably subtle philosophy (collection of philosophies, more like) and selling it to a largely ignorant populace, that is clueless about the actuality, and the breadth, of its own heritage.

This too shall pass, I guess. Or will it, any time soon?
 
Chanakya said:
You can have Christian fundamentalism, or Islamic fundamentalism, and some kind of fascism that gels around and about or works with that fundamentalism -- that is, you may agree with such fundamentalists/fascists, or not, but at least you can grant them that their ideas are, in essence, internally consistent -- but "Hindu fundamentalism" is simply a contradiction in terms.

It seems to me that those who are peddling this monolothic version of Hinduism are either themselves abjectly ignorant about the sheer breadth of "Hindu" thought, or else they're deliberately dumbing down a remarkably subtle philosophy (collection of philosophies, more like) and selling it to a largely ignorant populace, that is clueless about the actuality, and the breadth, of its own heritage.

This too shall pass, I guess. Or will it, any time soon?
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I guess that's why Susheel never used the term, instead (s)he used Hindu Fascism. A party which identifies as Hindu using the politics of nationalism to attack other religions and to reinforce the caste system.
 
Honestly, I have no problems using the term Hindu Fundamentalism. This is because the practice of Hinduism today evolved from a reactionary homogenisation of hitherto disparate religious practices under an umbrella loosely bound by Vedic Sanathan Dharma. This happened around the end of the first millennium to counter the threat primarily from Buddhism that was proving to be a threat to Brahminic hegemony. Until then the Vedic religion was the purview of the upper caste Brahmins and Kshatriya castes.
The process lead to an appropriation of other castes into the "Hindu" fold but with strictures on modes of behaviour and "mingling". Thus a more oppressive caste system rose along with a concerted and at times violent counter movement to Buddhism. Another key event of this time was the appropriation of Buddhism by Hindus with Buddha actually being declared as an avatar of Vishnu.
So the current "avatar" of Hinduism is as subject to fundamentalism as any other religion.
 
The Don said:
I guess that's why Susheel never used the term, instead (s)he used Hindu Fascism...
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Yes, but this instance of fascism -- as I'd explained in my own post, that you've quoted -- has clearly a great deal to do with religious fundamentalism. Which seemed ironic to me, given that the religion in question is Hinduism, one of the broadest religions I know of, that contains within it everything from atheism to deism to monism to polytheism -- and everything in between!

In any case, as you may or may not have gathered from my post, I was actually agreeing wholeheartedly with Susheel's larger point. Although it seems, from his subsequent comment, that Susheel himself doesn't quite see eye to eye with me on the specific aspect of this issue that had piqued my interest and that I'd commented on.
 
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Well looks like the recent Trump-Modi interactions have borne fruit for Musk...
India woos Tesla by slashing import duty on EVs to 15% from 70-100%
I wonder what the return favour will be? Perhaps dropping of bribery charges against Adani? The rightwing media is also parroting Trump accusations of USAID working with the Biden administration to topple the BJP government to favour the Congress party.
Times of India has been inundating social media sites with reports that seem to have been generated by Trump's pr team to portray him as some kind of fearless warrior decimating the "woke left"...
 
Susheel said:
Well looks like the recent Trump-Modi interactions have borne fruit for Musk...
India woos Tesla by slashing import duty on EVs to 15% from 70-100%
I wonder what the return favour will be? Perhaps dropping of bribery charges against Adani? The rightwing media is also parroting Trump accusations of USAID working with the Biden administration to topple the BJP government to favour the Congress party.
Times of India has been inundating social media sites with reports that seem to have been generated by Trump's pr team to portray him as some kind of fearless warrior decimating the "woke left"...
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How's things in India after last years' election electing a coalition government?
 
However, the enablers are definitely upping the game. A Bollywood movie named Chava is getting the saffronites in a tizzy. It is a movie about the son of the Maratha king Shivaji, a historical figure who fought the Mughals in the 17th century. Basically, it was one kingdom resisting expansion of the other. The film is about his son Shambaji who wasn't as militarically astute as his father, who was captured, tortured, and executed by Aurangzeb's Mughal forces. However, ignoring the fact that Aurangzeb had Hindu Rajput kings allied with him against the Marathas, and the Maratha army had a lot of Muslim soldiers dedicated to fighting against the Mughals, the current narrative has appropriated Shivaji as a protector of Hindus against the Muslims.
The filmmakers have included very gratuitous graphic scenes of violence and torture of Sambaji purely meant to provoke visceral reactions from the Hindu audience. If you have the stomach for it, there are videos on Youtube of video reactions after the movie in the cinema halls where "good hindus" call out for revenge against Muslims in general. But fair warning...don't blame me for the pit that will develop in your stomach.
 
And it has now escalated with an Indian Air Attack deep into Pakistan, indluding some mosques and schools which India claims are terrorist strongholds.
Goint to get worse, maybe much worse.
 
dudalb said:
And it has now escalated with an Indian Air Attack deep into Pakistan, indluding some mosques and schools which India claims are terrorist strongholds.
Goint to get worse, maybe much worse.
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Our government has become quite pally with Israel. It is reflected in its handling of national seciurity and internal dissent...bombing schools and bulldozing homes of Indian citizens.
 
I wish these two would get at it any other time. The Indian Premier League (richest T20 cricket? tournament) is about 2/3 through. I have sunk so much time into watching the whole thing and now it's postponed till ◊◊◊◊ knows when.
They could have put this thing back 2 weeks, no problem. Cricket's a ◊◊◊◊◊◊◊ religion on the sub-continent. They've got their priorities as wrong as possible. ◊◊◊◊◊.

I'll have to find something else to do at 4 pm every day.
 
Susheel said:
Our government has become quite pally with Israel. It is reflected in its handling of national seciurity and internal dissent...bombing schools and bulldozing homes of Indian citizens.
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I read that Israel makes a lot of military drones for India.
 
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