Govt Has Created Climate of Fear, Intellectuals Hesitate to Express Dissent: Partha Chatterjee https://thewire.in/politics/professor-partha-chatterjee-interview-modi-govt-intellectuals-hindu-rashtra-secularism
Historian Partha Chatterjee discusses the Hindu rashtra, future of Indian secularism and India's emerging political culture, among other issues. ..a major constituency for the New India vision is corporate business and the urban upper middle class which feels uncomfortable with the divisive and often violent politics of minority hatred but is hugely enthusiastic about Modi as a legitimate leader who promises political stability and pro-business policies. In terms of the overall ideological project of the BJP, Hindu Rashtra and New India complement each other.
New India and Hindu Rashtra are two sides of the same political project, but aimed at two different constituencies.
Hindu Rashtra is an idea nurtured by Hindu nationalists for the last hundred years. It was formulated by V.D. Savarkar, taken forward by the Hindu Mahasabha and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), given the fantasy form of Akhand Bharat after 1947 and has now acquired the more programmatic shape of bringing to reality a Hindu majoritarian republic.
The politics of realising Hindu Rashtra is agitational, polemical and contentious; it involves confrontation with the opposition. It thrives on identifying enemies, creating divisions and engaging in pitched battles.
An image has been cultivated of Modi as a statesman with a comprehensive vision of what India should look like in the future. This vision is that of a modern, technologically and industrially advanced nation that can take its place alongside the great powers of the world.
Unlike Nehru’s time, this modern India no longer needs to build industry through central planning, protect it from foreign competition and depend on foreign aid. It can compete in the global economy, rely on its own entrepreneurs and technologists and flourish in a domestic market for consumer goods that is as large in size as some of the most advanced countries of the world.
