Explained: This article explains the political background, key decisions, and possible outcomes related to Explained : Fact Sheet: Narendra Modi and His Hindutva Politics and Its Impact and why it matters right now.
Prime Minister Modi and his Hindutva politics have failed both domestically and on the international stage due to a lack of vision
Narendra Modi is one of the most successful Indian politicians who has never been defeated in the electoral arithmetic of Indian democracy. He has managed to mobilise and mesmerise people with his confident and often arrogant tone, which projects self-assurance while concealing his lack of depth on various issues through performative skills.
However, performance in a theatre and performance in politics are two very different things in professional practice. Although Modi is a brilliant communicator, he communicates everything except concrete achievements, as there is little to present as his contribution to national life. Toxic politics defines the Modi-led Hindutva regime in India.
Just as his Hindutva ideological forefathers surrendered to British rule and failed to participate in the struggle for national liberation, Modi has similarly surrendered Indian interests to the interests of the United States and Britain by signing unfair trade agreements that are detrimental to Indian agriculture, industry, and both rural and urban economies.
Modi and his ideological mentors lack the knowledge, exposure, and experience required to guide the Indian economy, development, and society along a path of peace, progress, and prosperity. Hindutva politics represents a Eurocentric ideological project that ultimately serves the interests of capitalism.
Modi employs a form of European racist and ethnocentric politics in India, dividing people along the lines of religion, region, and language in order to protect and promote European, British, and American interests at the expense of the Indian economy and the working masses.
Surrender defines Hindutva politics as a politics of cowardice — cowardice during the anti-colonial struggle and cowardice today in failing to lead India on an independent path of development and economic growth. Modi and his ideological mentors are adept at manipulating the masses in the name of religion, nation, caste, region, and language.
The “divide and rule” strategy of British colonialism has become a central political tool of Hindutva politics in contemporary India. Hindutva is a political project of British colonialism, European capitalism and American imperialism.
Hindutva politics and Indian patriotism are fundamentally different. Indian patriotism is about striving to create social, political, economic, and cultural conditions that foster greater unity while celebrating diversity. In contrast, Hindutva politics is rooted in the “othering” of the poor and of religious and linguistic minorities.
Hindutva seeks to domesticate society within a narrow framework of majoritarian dominance, enabling the control and transfer of public resources into private corporate hands. Crony capitalism thus defines the core of Hindutva politics and shapes its economic vision.
Hindutva politics is not only damaging India’s image on the international stage but also creating conditions that undermine Indian interests by forging alliances with reactionary, undemocratic, imperial, and capitalist forces that are fundamentally opposed to Indian interests.
Modi behaves like a street-smart businessman seeking quick profits without a long-term strategic vision for the country. Due to the absence of a cohesive and forward-looking strategy, India and its people risk missing significant long-term opportunities. This detrimental tendency characterises the Modi regime, which lacks constitutional faith in the people and in institutions responsible for delivering public welfare.
Modi’s politics is centered on electoral engineering — winning elections through democratic means while simultaneously undermining and weakening citizenship rights and democratic and constitutional institutions that are meant to serve the people. Modi and his team consistently confuse propaganda with performance and electoral success with genuine social, political, and economic progress.
In reality, India’s external debt has doubled, while unemployment and marginalisation have been normalised under the Modi government. There is no clear vision to revive an economy that works for the people, nor is there an agenda to mobilise internal resources to place India and its citizens on a path toward shared prosperity.
Instead, Modi has created conditions that promote capitalist prosperity for a few, where privileges are concentrated among elites while the majority suffer under exploitative and marginalising conditions.
Modi and his directionless politics undermine scientific and secular education, stifling growth and innovation in India and creating conditions of stagnation that demoralize and demotivate the people. Indian history is being rewritten to conform to the ideological requirements of the Hindutva political project, designed by capitalists and for capitalists.
India’s cultural, religious, and linguistic diversities are being eroded in an attempt to transform the country into an ethnonationalist state in the name of Hindu identity. The “Hindu Rashtra” promoted by Hindutva politics does not serve the people; it serves the interests of the capitalist and corporate class.
The Indian Constitution, along with its democratic and secular values, is being systematically undermined on a daily basis by the Modi government. The making of “Hindu Rashtra” is unmaking of secular, progressive and democratic India.
Modi and his Hindutva politics have failed both domestically and on the international stage due to a lack of vision. No amount of propaganda can conceal the failures of Modi and his government. A leader without vision, like Modi, is a burden on India and its people.
If such leadership continues, Indians risk being pushed into a state of hopelessness and prolonged vulnerability. Modi and his visionless Hindutva politics stand in opposition to the aspirations and interests of the Indian people today.
Visionary leaders use politics as a tool for progressive social, political, and economic transformation, securing both the present and future of citizens while laying the foundation for a society that promotes peace, prosperity, and progress for all, upholding the interests of both people and the planet.
In contrast, Modi uses politics to destabilise, domesticate, and dominate India’s democratic institutions, ensuring the operationalisation of his Hindutva authoritarianism to serve capitalism — a development that poses a serious threat to the deepening of democracy and the protection of citizenship rights in India. Defeating Modi and his Hindutva politics is therefore central to guiding India toward a path of peace, progress, and inclusive prosperity.
[The writer, Bhabani Shankar Nayak, is a Political Commentator. Views are pesonal.]
Follow ummid.com WhatsApp Channel for all the latest updates.
Select Language to Translate in Urdu, Hindi, Marathi or Arabic