India’s Watershed Vote: Hindu Nationalism in Power?

Issue Date October 2014
Volume 25
Issue 4
Page Numbers 34-45
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How will the BJP’s relationship with India’s Muslims evolve? This is among the most significant questions that the BJP’s stunning election victory poses. Though ideologically the BJP is suspicious of Muslims, the BJP’s rule is unlikely to be a mechanical extension of the party’s core ideology. As before, two constraints will matter: constitutional and political. India’s constitution is not committed to Hindu nationalism. And if the BJP wants its election victories to be repeated, India’s political realities will require alliance building across the nation’s diversities. Hindu-Muslim tensions should be expected, but not a return to the era of big riots.

About the Author

Ashutosh Varshney is Sol Goldman Professor of International Studies and the Social Sciences, and professor of political science at Brown University.

View all work by Ashutosh Varshney