The Dominant questions in Indian politics today concern Hindutva and the Modi government: What accounts fr such success as it has enjoyed? How firm and lasting is its hold on power? And, more generally, what does it mean for Indian politics? Is it just a continuation of politics as before, with the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) and the Sangh Parivar simply replacing Congress as the ‘dominant party’? Or do Modi’s government and through it the proximity of the Sangh Parivar to state power represent something altogether more serious and fearsome, an unbridled turn under Hindutva’s first majority government, to fascist modes of governance with all their authoritarianism, para-state violence and excoriation of public institutions? Either way, what does it portend for secular and democratic, let alone socialist, feminist and anti-casteist, forces seeking to oppose the present government and Hindutva in general?
