Abstract
State and civil society have been two widely discussed concepts in the social sciences for a considerable period of time. In the last few decades, the role of civil society, its relations with the state and the changing nature of state all over the world in the neo-liberal era, particularly in Third World countries, have become contentious issues of debates. This book is based on the hypothesis that the concept of the state, civil society and security has undergone major changes during the neo-liberal era. But the essential thrust of this study is on the ascendency of the Hindu right, as the new Indian right-wing, a new force that emerged in India, specifically since the 1980s, against the background of the changing paradigm of the state and civil society. The major areas of investigations are the mobilisation strategies and slogans that the Hindu right employs in civil society, using security especially as a critical category of engagement.
The book under review contains six chapters which collectively present a comprehensive picture of different complex theoretical, historical and dynamic aspects of civil society and also outline the changing nature and strategies of the Hindu right-wing in India. The first chapter analyses theoretical questions related to the state, civil society and security, presenting a historical understanding of their evolution and concept in the liberal and neo-liberal discourses as well as in Marxist, neo-Marxist and post-positivist traditions. The second chapter deals with the evolution of the state and civil society in India in colonial and post- colonial period. The third chapter presents the story of the emergence of the Hindu right-wing in India and comprehensively discusses the ideology, strategy and the working of different Hindu right-wing organisations. It also underlines how by creating a divisionary notion of ‘self’ and ‘other’, the Hindu right has been penetrating into civil society. This chapter is quite interesting because it presents a lucid description of the ideological genealogy of the Hindu right, starting with the V.D. Sarvarkar and covering many other prominent ideologues. The fourth chapter appraises the stands of the Hindu right on different social and cultural issues and in this context it also scrutinises the economic, security and educational policies of the National Democratic Government (NDA). The fifth chapter discusses developments after the electoral debacle of the NDA in 2004 and developments till the 2014 Parliamentary elections and the sixth chapter presents the conclusion of the book.
The changes that have taken place in the global political and economic scenario since the 1980s have been so profound that implications for the state, civil society and security are far reaching. Evidently, almost all Third World countries have been trying to grapple with the challenges emerging from the global political and economic changes. The state–civil society equation in India has shown a complex pattern, different from the experiences of advanced capitalist countries. Perceptibly, neo-liberalism as a policy regime has had a great bearing on India’s domestic setting as well as its economic and security policies. The change of orientation among major political forces in India could also be seen when India became fully committed to the neoliberal policy package and globalisation. These processes have been accompanied by the reactivation of civil society at different levels. At one level, the state itself has made room for increased non-governmental organisation (NGO) activism and it becomes a ‘necessary partner of the State in the realm of “development” and “governance”’ (p. 202). At other levels, the process of globalisation and accompanying problems generated several resistance movements, for instance, the self-assertion of various identities.
Thus, civil society in India is a complex terrain of activities by various groups, identities, movements, associations and organisations. The writers argue that within this complex terrain the Hindu right-wing has not only deeply penetrated into civil society but also used ‘security’ concerns to enhance its agenda. They present Pokharan II (1998) and the Kargil skirmish (1999) as examples of such an approach by the right-wing NDA government (1998–2004). For example, the writers underline that in, ‘…the 1998 General Elections, the BJP campaigned with an ideology of Hindutva that envisage a “great” India as a militarily powerful India’ (p. 156).
Undoubtedly the Hindu right-wing used this space of civil society to create more and more legitimacy for itself. Indeed, these organisations (primarily, the Rasthriya Swayamsewak Sangh—RSS and its constituent organs known collectively as the Sangh Parivar) were present in the Indian socio-political arena from the colonial period onwards and also faced a lot of ups and downs (like being banned after the murder of Mahatma Gandhi). And it should be recognised that apart from raising many communally emotive issues, these organisations also worked for the ‘welfare’ and ‘help’ of many communities such as the work of the Adivasi Kalyan Ashram in tribal areas. Of course, they worked in these areas with their own agenda but nevertheless played positive role in their lives. There is a need to analyse the inherent contradictions of these works; the book, however, does not present any deep analysis in this context. Interestingly, the authors argue that the Hindu right in India initially used the challenges of economic liberalisation for mobilisation but became a votary of same paradigm later (p. xii). It also focused on the site of new ‘insecurities’ and presented a hardline options of security. The attack on the Parliament (2001) was such an incident which led to the enactment of a draconian law POTA (Prevention of Terrorist Activities Act, 2002). The NDA government used civil society to mobilise support in its favour.
There is, however, need to focus more on the complex nature of the debates within right-wing politics. For example, the Vajpayee government used nuclear tests to show its credentials as a government committed towards a militarily strong state. It should be noted that he also tried to normalise India’s relations with Pakistan and started the Delhi–Lahore bus service which could not be a successful experiment due to the Kargil battle (1999). It could be argued that it was result of international pressure, but there is a need to subject different voices within the right-wing on this issue to a closer analysis. Interestingly, almost all parliamentary parties speak in more or less same voice on the issue of national security. Secondly, on the question of neo-liberal policies one can easily outline the different voices within the right-wing. For example, some constituent organisations of the RSS (e.g., the Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh) staunchly criticise neoliberal policies and support Swadeshi. Though as part of the NDA (both 1998–2004 and post-2014) they supported neo-liberal policies but it should not be assumed that the contradictions were subsumed entirely. Such inconsistencies emerged on many points, for example, on issues like Foreign Direct Investment.
Third, it should also be remembered that many other civil society groups emerged which strongly challenged the communal agenda of the right-wing organisations and raised the issues of women, dailt, minorities and Adivasi rights. For example, one can find that the women’s movement has strongly challenged the idea of an ‘ideal woman’ presented by the right-wing. Similarly, in many parts of the country Adivasis have been continuously been opposing the march of a neo-liberal development agenda and in the post-1990s compelled the state to enact some progressive laws like the Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act 1996 and the Forest Rights Act 2006. Though the book accepts the existence of such activities, it fails to present a coherent description of the struggle of and challenge put forward by these groups to the neo-liberalism or the Hindu right-wing. Fourth, there is a need to understand the electoral emergence of the right-wing in the context of simultaneous emergence of the OBCs and dalits in Indian politics, which also challenged the dominance of the right-wing. Also, the right-wing not just works with the notion of Hindutva and ‘security’, but it has tried to reinvent itself through ‘social engineering’, by consciously giving space to OBCs leaders.
The uniqueness of this book, however, is that it presents the complex relationship between all these aspects in the emergence and revitalisation of the Hindu right-wing in India. The book underlines that the right-wing used the dissatisfaction from neo-liberal policies to create more support for itself. Towards this end, it used a majoritarian agenda and emotive issues, and after gaining power it used the rhetoric of national security for gaining more legitimacy.