india

Interesting election results. The BJP (a nationalist party) has made gains. They have a big national election coming up in 2004. Now, the BJP holds absolutely no love for their neighbor Pakistan, so we'll see how this turns out.



There are plenty (Indian and Westerners) who call the BJP crypto-fascist....and even outright fascist. India is going to be a chapter or two in my thesis which is on nationalism and fascism. . . so I'll be watching this with interest. I admit I find some of their practices, including their . . . hmm. . . younger arm (called the RSS) remind me of early 1930s Germany and the rise of the Nazi Party.

I've done some preliminary research on India. The Congress Party, long India's leading quasi-Socialist party, has pretty much failed India. The Bharatiya Janata Party has come in to promise order, peace, and a strong traditional party line. The nuclear bomb is very much apart of their rhetoric, as is the Hindu religion. In terms of the Left-Right line divide (which I consider invalid, but I'm going to use it in this case) they are fairly right-wing...but they are NOT conservative in the sense we would think of it. As they are promising change to India, I'd call the Congress Party the conservatives, as they want to retain the status quo.

I think the BJP's rise is a reaction growing in India. Where that reaction takes us is anyone's guess, but Indian and Western alarmist have been raising the alarm since at least 1998.


A different view of the BJP and Hindutva.