Mounting Majoritarianism and Political Polarization in India https://carnegieendowment.org/2020/08/18/mounting-majoritarianism-and-political-polarization-in-india-pub-82434 NIRANJAN SAHOO
Polarization in India is more toxic today than it has been in decades, and it shows no signs of abating. August 18, 2020
Three crucial drivers of increasing polarization have been India’s ongoing economic transformation, changes in traditional and social media, and the rise of competitive caste politics. Hindu nationalist organizations have been able to harness the power of each of these drivers in ways that their opponents have found difficult to match..
Paradoxically, the Congress Party’s reforms proved a huge boon for the identity politics of the BJP, as urban voters tend to be more rather than less supportive of Hindu nationalist narratives.16 As Christophe Jaffrelot argues, “Urbanization has transformed Hinduism more than any other development...The economic inequalities created after 1991 thus have allowed the BJP to build a coalition of odd bedfellows.
TRADITIONAL AND SOCIAL MEDIA:In the realm of traditional media, biased or partisan-leaning outlets have become increasingly influential, at the expense of nonpartisan news sources. Changes in media ownership likely have played a role in this transformation..
CASTE POLTICS As OBC parties began to win a larger share of the vote in the 1980s and 1990s, the BJP and the Sangh Parivar doubled down on religious polarization, mainly by stoking tensions over the Babri Masjid. This strategy has allowed the BJP to separate Hindu Dalits, the class of Indians at the bottom of the Hindu caste hierarchy, and lower OBCs from dominant OBC groups within the caste-based parties..
The BJP thus was able to win over Hindus who might otherwise have voted along caste lines. Recent data from the 2014 and 2019 elections suggest that the party’s deft use of Hindu nationalism played a key role in blunting caste divisions and securing landslide victories for the BJP.
REMEDIAL ACTIONS
Initiatives to address the causes and consequences of polarization in India can be roughly divided into two categories: those that seek to counter majoritarian politics and those that aim to improve civic dialogue.