“Citizenship, Islam and the politics of Hindu victimhood”

Hilal Ahmed

Associate Professor, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi

This lecture explores the complex relationship between citizenship and the idea of Hindu victimhood in postcolonial India. Conceptualising victimhood as a political strategy, the paper tries to map out the ways in which Hindu nationalist groups envisage Indian citizenship as a legal-constitutional reference point. The CAA 2019 —a law passed by the Parliament that offers citizenship to non-Muslim religious communities of three Muslim majority states-Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan—is examined as a case study. The paper argues that contemporary Hindutva is substantially different from conventional Hindu nationalist politics. It does not invoke the old rhetorical ideals such as Dharam Rajya (rule of principles) or Akhand Bharta (undivided/unbroken India); nor does it make any serious endeavour to declare India a Hindu Rashtra. On the contrary, the contemporary Hindutva is very much invested in the legal-constitutional politics. It is keen to appropriate the provision of the Constitution for creating a new imagination of Hindu victimhood.