Will Religious Nationalism Dominate 2019 Lok Sabha Elections?

Milan Vaishnav said that while BJP’s stand on ‘Hindu Rashtra’ is clear, Opposition’s is not.

(Photo: PTI)

Results of the Lok Sabha 2019 elections will be announced on Thursday, 23 May, and it is to be seen if religious nationalism becomes a dominant identity that unites or perhaps divides the country and if secularism has fallen by the wayside.

To figure out the answers to these questions, Milan Vaishnav from the South Asia Program of Carnegie Endowment for International Peace joined BloombergQuint’s Harsha Subramaniam for a discussion.

Vaishnav is the author of a piece titled ‘The Battle for India’s Soul’ in the Foreign Affairs magazine which talks about the possible outcome of this election and how it will determine what comes after the idea of secularism.

On whether the idea of India being diverse or plural has been put through a test during the month long Lok Sabha elections, Vaishnav said India is home to a diverse, multi-ethnic, multi-religious polity which is enshrined in the Constitution and that one key thing that is on line this time is the idea of commitment to India.

“India has found unity in its unparalleled diversity,” he said.

What Is Opposition’s Stand on Politics Over Religion?

Vaishnav said that while it is clear where the Bharatiya Janata Party stands on the country being tilting towards a ‘Hindu rashtra’, it is unclear where the Opposition stands on this issue in the election.

The Congress somewhere has been trying to reclaim Hinduism as a sense from Hindutva, which the author termed as smart politics, but has the Opposition failed to present a compelling alternate idea?

According to Vaishnav, the “concept of the constructive Nehruvian secularism” is dead and that secularism in India these days has become synonymous with minority appeasement.

“I think, the Congress party feels that if it goes down that lane, it could be electorally fatal to them. Instead, what they have tried to do is wear their Hinduism on their sleeve as a badge of honour and say there is a distinction between Hinduism and Hindutva.”

Milan Vaishnav

He added that the Congress party has tried to show that Hinduism is largely a taller, diverse, plural kind of religion and is not just the “homogenous, uniform monolithic sword” that the BJP is propagating.