How Ideas Spread: Expansion of Hindu Nationalism in India

• In Event: Party Organization, Campaigns, and Mobilization in India

Abstract

Innumerable ideological movements across the globe have managed to expand beyond their place of origin rapidly, mobilize a substantial level of followers, and shape a wide range of political outcomes, from electoral outcomes to ethnic violence. However, there has been limited research on how ideological movements grow over time and expand across space, especially in the global south. What facilitates (or impedes) ideological movements in expanding their support base? This paper examines these questions by studying sub-regional variation in the spread of Hindu nationalism in India's largest state - Uttar Pradesh, in the post-colonial period. Using evidence on the organizational presence of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in the state, survey data, and profiles of functionaries at various levels, I examine the relationship between changes in material conditions and the expansion of Hindu nationalism. Further, I develop a theory of middle-class conservatism that focuses on expansion of support for ideologies that reflect hopes and aspirations for egalitarianism and the elimination of hierarchy. This has important implications for party politics and electoral mobilization as it has enabled conservative parties such as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in India in expandig their support base beyond high-status groups.

Author

• Pranav Gupta, University of California Berkeley