Hindutva in Indian Politics

Hindutva, literally 'Hindu-ness', is a political ideology that defines Indian national identity in terms of Hindu cultural civilisation. It was systematised by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in his 1923 pamphlet 'Hindutva: Who Is a Hindu?', which argued that a true Indian must regard India as both a pitribhumi (fatherland) and a punyabhumi (holy land), a criterion that included Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, and Sikhs but explicitly excluded Muslims and Christians, whose 'holy land' lies outside India.

Hindutva is distinct from Hinduism: it is a political project, not a religious practice. Many Hindus reject Hindutva; some Hindutva activists are atheist in their personal lives.

• India is a Hindu Rashtra (nation) defined by its Hindu civilisational heritage, not a secular state in the Western sense.
• Religious minorities are welcome as citizens but should accept the cultural primacy of Hindu tradition.
• Appeasement of minorities, particularly Muslims, at the expense of the Hindu majority is a political corruption to be reversed.
• A strong, unified national identity and a powerful state are necessary to protect India from external threats and internal fragmentation.

Hindutva has no fixed economic philosophy. The RSS's Swadeshi Jagran Manch represents a protectionist, anti-foreign-capital strand. The BJP in power has embraced large-scale infrastructure, welfare delivery, and elements of market reform simultaneously. This incoherence reflects Hindutva's origins as a cultural nationalism, not an economic programme.

V. D. Savarkar (1883–1966) provided the theoretical framework. K. B. Hedgewar founded the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in 1925 as the organisational vehicle, and M. S. Golwalkar's 'Bunch of Thoughts' (1966) extended the ideology. The RSS is the parent organisation of a network, the Sangh Parivar, that includes the BJP, VHP, Bajrang Dal, and educational and labour organisations.

Ambedkar, despite his critique of caste Hinduism, explicitly argued that Savarkar's Hindutva was a political programme dressed in religious clothing. Gandhi also rejected Hindutva's exclusivism; his vision of Hindu identity was inclusive of all communities. The Supreme Court has ruled (1995, Manohar Joshi v. Nitin Bhaurao Patil) that 'Hindutva' and 'Hinduism' as used in election speeches did not necessarily constitute a corrupt practice under the representation of people's act, a controversial ruling that has been distinguished in later cases.

Comparable movements exist wherever majority ethno-religious nationalism becomes a political programme. Turkey's Kemalism defined the nation around Turkish ethnic-secular identity; early Zionism defined Israel around Jewish identity; and European far-right parties define nationhood around Christian cultural heritage. Each involves the same tension: civic nationalism (all citizens regardless of identity) vs. ethnic nationalism (citizenship privileges the founding cultural group).

The organised Hindutva tradition runs from the Jana Sangh (1951) through the Janata experiment to the BJP (1980-present). The BJP has governed India at the centre since 2014 and has won majorities in many states. The question of whether 'mainstreaming' Hindutva represents ideological moderation (acceptance of constitutional limits) or the embedding of majoritarian politics into institutions is the central unresolved debate.