The militarization of all Hindudom'? The Bharatiya Janata Party, The bomb, and the political spaces of Hindu nationalism

Bibliographic Data

ID2160633
AuthorsStuart Corbridge
Year1999
Volume28
Issue2
Pages222-255
Publication date1999-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueEconomy and Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0308-5147 • E-ISSN: 1469-5766
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/03085149900000004
OpenAlexW1987918860
LanguageEN
Citations received15
References cited33

This paper examines the means by which the Bharatiya janata Party (BJP) and its allies have sought to reinvent the political spaces of India (Hindudom). It describes the gendered rituals of pilgrimage and spatial representation that allow Hindu nationalists to position Bharat Mata(Mother India) as a geographical entity under threat from Islam and in need of the protective armies of Lord Rama. It also explores the geopolitical claims of the BJP and its attempts to position Greater India as a Great Power. The explosion of three nuclear devices in the Rajasthan desert on 11 May 1998 can be linked to this geopolitical imaginary. The paper argues, however, that the nuclear tests were triggered by the weakness of the BJP in India's centrist Political landscapes. The 'militarization of all Hindudomis' is sternly contested. Keywords: Hindu nationalismBharatiya Janata Partypolitical spaceYatrasmilitarizationsecularism

Development economics · Economics · Geopolitics · Hindu nationalism · Hinduism · Militarization · Nationalism · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Position (finance · Power (physics · Sociology · The Imaginary · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Indian History and Philosophy · South Asian Studies and Diaspora · Law · Religious Studies

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