Modi, Islamphobia and building Hindu India: MEMO in Conversation with Dr Jocelyne Cesari

Though many claim Prime Minister Narendra Modi has rolled back India's liberalism and secularism and turned it towards right-wing popularism, Hindu identity has always been a key aspect of India's governance since its independence and the road to Modi's India has been decades in the making, Dr Cesari tells MEMO. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi won a third-term in India's general election in June 2024. Modi and his BJP party have transformed the country over the last 10 years. Critics say Modi has rolled back India's liberalism and secularism and turned the country towards right-wing populism, hatred of minorities and imposing a brand of Hindu identity that is hostile to the south Asian country's plural landscape. Islamophobia is a key feature of Modi's style of government with different BJP politicians pushing ideas such as the foreignness of Muslims, conspiracy theories of Islam taking over and the security threat its followers pose. Despite India's constitutional secularism, Hindu identity has always been a key aspect of India's governance going back to the country's independence in 1947, contrary to what critics claim. The road to Modi's India was decades in the making. Discussing the changes Modi has made to India, Hindu identity and Islamophobia, MEMO in Conversation is joined by Dr Jocelyne Cesari. 
Dr Cesari is Chair of Religion and Politics at the University of Birmingham (UK) and is Senior Fellow at the Berkley Centre for Religion, Peace and World Affairs at Georgetown University. Since 2018, she has held the position of T. J. Dermot Dunphy Visiting Professor of Religion, Violence and Peacebuilding at Harvard Divinity School. In 2020 she was named Distinguished Scholar of the religion section of the International Studies Association and Distinguished Fellow of the Carnegie Council for Ethics and International Affairs and the Royal Society for Arts in the United Kingdom. Her new book: 'We God’s People: Political Christianity, Islam and Hinduism in the World of Nations'  won the 2023 Book Award of the Scientific Society for the Study of Religion. Her other publications include 'What is Political Islam?'; 'Islam, Gender and Democracy in a Comparative Perspective' and 'The Awakening of Muslim Democracy: Religion, Modernity and the State'.