National Identity Contestation in Indian Politics During the Modi Era

Datos Bibliográficos

ID7169145
AutoresSanjoy Banerjee (0009-0002-6137-8157, San Francisco State University, autor de correspondencia)
Año2025
Volumen13
Número2
Páginas191-205
Fecha de publicación2025-12-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaStudies in Indian Politics (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 2321-0230 • E-ISSN: 2321-7472
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/23210230251374795
OpenAlexW4414374112
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas1
Referencias citadas25

Indian politics can be understood as a contest between two variants of a shared national identity narrative. The national identity narrative has a plot specifying what is glorious about the nation’s past, the heroes and villains of its present, and its destiny and dangers. The Hindutva and secularist partisan variants of the national identity narrative also have such plots. Each variant is supported by a coalition of large social communities, each with its own ethnopolitical identity narrative. The Hindutva variant has gained ascendancy by accommodating the narratives of growing intersectional communities of class, religion, caste and gender. The secular variant is anchored in communities that embrace their own identity narratives. This article addresses the methodological challenges of reconstructing social narratives from discourse. It shows how all the identity narratives form hegemonic ideologies for certain strata and institutions within the coalitions and communities

Indian History and Philosophy · South Asian Studies and Conflicts · Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies