Explained : Hindutva as a global far-right project and Its Impact

Hate, especially anti-Muslim bigotry, is a core political currency of Hindutva. The BJP-RSS combine regularly weaponise misogyny, Islamophobia, and homophobia to consolidate their base. Hate also functions both as a mobilising tool and a method of governance. Moral panics over ‘love jihad’, allegations of slaughtering cattle or building Hindu temples over the sites of mosques and churches are actively orchestrated to stoke communal divisions, while lynchings and vigilante violence act as public spectacles of dominance. 

Hate speech by ruling party members and Hindu ideologues mostly goes unpunished, signalling impunity. Gendered violence is normalised, while queer identities are delegitimised. This bigotry and manufactured polarisation are not a side effect but a core strategy: by creating a continuous sense of existential threat, the regime maintains loyalty, suppresses solidarity, and sustains a permanent state of emergency. 

BJP leaders regularly deliver inflammatory speeches against minorities, especially Muslims, with no legal consequence. Online spaces amplify this hate, building a permanent sense of communal siege and justifying authoritarian measures. This strategy mirrors far-right hate mobilisation from Europe to the US, making Hindutva part of a global pattern of racialised governance.

Narrative Capture and Public Discourse

Hindutva has also completely reshaped India’s ideological landscape. Television news channels now openly serve as propaganda arms for the Modi regime, peddling its narrative warfare while Bollywood films, school curricula (e.g. NCERT textbooks erase or distort Mughal and Islamic contributions to Indian history) and digital media are increasingly infused with nationalist messaging. Media outlets like Republic TV and films like ‘The Kashmir Files’, ‘The Bengal Files’ and ‘Padmavaat’ propagate fictionalised narratives of Muslim oppressors instigating violence against Hindus across history. They essentially rewrite history in service of Hindu victimhood.

Social media influencers echo state propaganda and act as crucial platforms in labelling dissenting voices as ‘anti-national’, creating a chilling effect. Independent journalism is undermined through arrests, defamation suits and financial strangulation, ensuring that the ideological terrain is reshaped to align with Hindu supremacy. Education, culture and even entertainment are now enlisted in the project of normalising fascist discourse, leaving little space for counter-narratives. The Indian state also enforces control over diaspora discourse whereby academics critical of Hindutva face online harassment, conference disruptions and coordinated smear campaigns. 

By monopolising narrative production, the Modi regime constructs a reality where Hindutva is synonymous with patriotism, and opposition is seen as betrayal. This cultural hegemony neutralises resistance not only through coercion but also through consent, helping to create a moral universe where Hindutva equals patriotism and dissent equals treason.

Sustaining Authoritarianism

Authoritarianism under Hindutva is stabilised through a combination of myth-making, coercion, and co-optation. Modi is projected as a messianic figure or ‘Vishwaguru’ who transcends party politics and is ‘a guide for all Hindus’ and for the rest of the world. Elections, though held regularly, are manipulated through money power, media control and digital micro-targeting. 

Opposition parties are thoroughly delegitimised through raids and disinformation particularly with regard to their ‘support or patronage of Muslims’, eroding their political capital and voter base. Institutions meant to uphold accountability, such as the judiciary and Election Commission, are systematically undermined. Yet, the Modi regime maintains a veneer of democratic legitimacy, allowing it to evade international criticism and scrutiny while repressing domestic dissent and also deepening autocracy.

Fault lines in the Global and Indian Far-Right

Despite its dominance, Hindutva is not entirely monolithic and there are contradictions within the Indian state’s Hindutva project. Caste tensions within the Sangh (between RSS Brahmin elites and OBC-led BJP factions), RSS-BJP power struggles, disillusionment among small farmers, and unease among regional allies expose very deep cracks. 

Globally, the far-right has suffered electoral setbacks such as the defeat of Jair Bolsonaro and fragmentation across the European far-right, illustrating that such regimes can be defeated through mass mobilisation, intersectional alliances, and resilient democratic institutions. Recognising and exploiting these fissures is crucial for effective resistance against the Hindutva project.

Climate Crisis and Eco-Fascism

As ecological collapse accelerates, Hindutva may adopt eco-fascist policies, using environmental concerns to justify minority exclusion, resource hoarding and militarised borders. Environmental deregulation, India’s repression, and displacement of Adivasi environmental defenders/ repression of Adivasi resistance, forest clearances for mining, and refusal to uphold international water treaties (e.g. placing the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan ‘in abeyance’) foreshadow this trajectory, with complete disregard for international and humanitarian obligations.

In the name of development, forests are razed and Indigenous resistance to Modi-affiliated conglomerates ravaging India’s eco-systems are also being criminalised. As climate migration increases, communal rhetoric could be weaponised by Hindutva ideologues supported by the Indian government to deny aid or scapegoat vulnerable populations, deepening both ecological and social injustice in the country.