India's political establishment has been swept up in a far-reaching controversy over remarks made by members of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government regarding the Hindu nature of the Indian state. India has officially been a secular democracy since gaining independence in 1947. Freedom of religion in the country, guaranteed by the 1950 constitution, has been instrumental in maintaining relations between Hindus, India's significant Muslim population — one of the world's largest — and a diverse group of religious minorities. However, Modi and many of his closest supporters are affiliated with the Sangh Parivar, a loose collection of right-wing organizations supporting the concept of Hindutva, or Hindu nationalism. The Modi administration's reliance on its core base of Hindutva supporters will limit how far the prime minister can go in reining in these elements of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), but tolerating them could instigate communal violence and galvanize political opposition.
The size and diversity of BJP's presence in parliament is creating a new management challenge for the prime minister, who relied on a small cadre of loyalists to advance the successful policies that established his political career in his home state of Gujarat. Indian voters — especially the business communities and the burgeoning middle class — cast votes in support of Modi's reformist and pro-business policies, not his charismatic Hindutva persona. Controversial comments made by senior BJP leaders in recent weeks are giving pause to many of Modi's more moderate supporters — an especially troubling development for Modi, given how quickly social opposition can stifle India's reform initiatives.
Change in India cannot come out of passing laws in parliament alone. Implementation will also be a difficult phase of reform. Opposition parties hold several state governments, such as Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal — significant seats of power. Modi will need to forge ties across the political spectrum regardless of the ruling party's majority in parliament. If Modi's party cannot organize around a central platform that avoids the Hindutva rhetoric that halted the legislature's winter session, this process of outreach will be undermined.
In the coming months, Modi will attempt to square off with opponents over divesting state-owned enterprises, reforming land acquisition policies, and reforming the country's corrupt and inefficient coal, iron ore and steel industries. However, before Modi can tackle India's powerful labor unions, local rights groups and an entrenched opposition movement, he has to take on his core group of supporters. Modi cannot afford to alienate the Hindutva heart of the BJP, but neither can he allow it to dominate public policy discourse. Modi needs the support of the Sangh Parivar to keep his government in place. The challenge will be finding a separate space for both, as Modi's goals have proved untenable under Hindutva policy.
