Today was like most days at my house. We woke up and gathered at the breakfast table to engage in all sorts of conversations. The flow of the conversations usually takes this pace, it starts with my grandfather discussing the news, which leads to Rahul Gandhi’s slander and PM Narendra Modi’s praise. Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the opposition and PM Narendra Modi the man leading the country I call home. In my opinion, this praise usually stems from a sense of belonging and from the fact that none of the schemes or laws that have been brought into play under his regime have had any negative impact on them, they have in fact strengthened the position of the upper-class Hindu’s by instilling a sense of superiority amongst Hindus. Hindu nationalism, once a fringe ideology in India, is now mainstream.
Nobody has done more to advance this cause than Prime Minister Narendra Modi, one of India’s most beloved and polarising political leaders. Traces of the “Hindutva” ideology can always be found at the breakfast table conversations, an idea that has been deeply ingrained in the minds of well-to-do (financially) Hindus by a multitude of right-wing political parties. The conversation then goes on to engage in casual Islamophobia, which again is due to the idolisation of PM Modi, who has not once but multiple times asserted that Hindus are superior to every other religion in the country and the others are mere “infiltrators”.
Hindu nationalism is a political ideology that dates back to the 19th=early 20th century. It encompasses a broad range of groups but at its core is a belief that Indian national identity and culture are inseparable from the Hindu religion. This ideology has taken a very toxic role in the present, which has not only reinforced the belief that Hindus are superior but has also led to a series of hate speeches, communal riots, and discrimination.
PM Modi’s political rhetoric frequently invokes themes of Hindu unity and strength, portraying his government as the defender of Hindu interests and promoting the idea of Hindutva. PM Modi has effectively used cultural symbols and narratives to reinforce Hindutva ideals. This includes promoting Hindu festivals, rituals, and historical figures and inaugurating the Ram mandir at Ayodhya! (Yes, it is the same temple that led to the Godhra incident and subsequently the Gujarat carnage of 2002).
Every single political discussion at the breakfast table leaves me disheartened. Initially, I ignored these comments, and my role was that of a passive listener to the conversation. However, I then realised that my reading and writing about hate speech and communal violence in the country, criticising several people in the course of doing so, and not being able to change the minds of my family itself serves as a stark reminder that there is a long way to go before the country truly embraces all that the Constitution of India stands for.
What does the Constitution of India Stand for? The Constitution enshrines the principles of justice—social, economic, and political. It strives to create a society where justice prevails, ensuring that the marginalized and the vulnerable are protected and empowered. It stands as a bulwark against discrimination, promoting affirmative action to uplift those historically oppressed. It envisions a nation where communal harmony prevails, where diversity is celebrated, and where every individual feels a sense of belonging. It seeks to unite its people in the pursuit of common goals, transcending regional and cultural differences.
The right to equality enshrined under Article 14 of the Constitution, only makes it to the breakfast table while talking about reservations and how they serve no purpose. The middle-class and upper-middle-class Hindus believe that reservations compromise meritocracy, and opportunities should be based on merit rather than caste or class, this thought process stems from a place of privilege. The right to profess one’s religion only makes it to the breakfast table while their religion is under attack. The right to free speech only makes it to the table, when one is very rightly criticizing the government and somehow that’s problematic. The stringent bail provisions on laws like the UAPA, PMLA, or the anti-conversion laws are never spoken about. The concept of innocent, until proven guilty, comes into play only when PM Narendra Modi is accused of the Gujarat riots and not when I want to speak about how it has been 4 years since Umar Khalid has been languishing behind bars.
These rights don’t make it to the table when there are mass riots taking place, when the right-wing spews hate speech with every sentence they say, and when the reservations somehow end up serving them.
Being proactive in these breakfast table conversations has taught me one thing, and that is patience. Since I am the youngest one seated at the table, my opinions are not taken seriously enough and are often laughed at. Every time I try to reason with them, I am met with loud voices that I can’t surpass, these voices are blindfolded with delusion, and deeply rooted in the idea of Hindutva. This radical ideology seeks to redefine Indian culture strictly in terms of Hindu values, marginalizing and discriminating against religious and ethnic minorities such as Muslims, Christians, and Dalits. It involves historical revisionism, reinterpreting India’s past to glorify Hindu achievements while vilifying contributions from other communities.
My dad said to me, I will talk about the questionable things PM Modi has done only if you can recognize the good, he has done for the country. I laughed, waiting to hear the good. He pointed to the GDP of the country. What good is the GDP, when the rich get richer, and the schemes introduced by the government don’t even reach the poor?
The Indian economy grew around 8.2 percent (this official calculation is not proportionate to the population that is GDP per capita) in the previous financial year, following two consecutive years of high growth. It even bagged global accolades after it grew at a comparatively faster rate than its peers.[1] Typically, this would be regarded as an electoral advantage for the incumbent government. A majority of people should have experienced improved living standards, and the ruling party would likely have emphasized this in their campaign. However, neither occurred. In India, a high rate of self-employment generally reflects a weak link between GDP growth and the generation of formal jobs. This underscores the ongoing challenge of converting economic growth into better employment quality, revealing a critical gap between the nation’s economic output and the availability of good jobs.
Moreover, is the GDP of a country enough to justify the amount of lives lost across different riots that have taken place, is it enough to justify the amount of people languishing in prisons because they disagreed with the government, is it enough to justify trying to turn India into a Hindu nation when the preamble itself uses the word “secular”, is it enough to serve only the creamy layer of the country and forget about the ones that actually need upliftment?
The number of lives lost in the infamous Gujarat riots totaled 1900 plus lives, whereas the number of lives lost in the Delhi riots totaled 53. The number of political dissenters languishing in jails amounts to 20 people at the least. (Only in connection with the Delhi riots)
Every single person, who is well-read recognises what the government is doing to silence dissent, seldom do people worry about it because the government is serving the majority and the rich. The fact that Modi and hundreds of politicians attended the Ambani wedding reeks of plutocracy. India’s richest man Mukesh Ambani has doubled his wealth within the first four years under the Modi government. Between 2014 and 2019, his wealth more than doubled –from about $23 billion to $55 billion. This means that Mukesh Ambani accumulated more wealth in the five years of BJP rule than all the wealth he made and inherited in the entire 58 years of his life before Modi became Prime Minister. The rise of Adani in the business world seemed to have gone hand in hand with Modi’s ascent to power in Gujarat in 2001. By the time Modi ended his tenure in Gujarat, Adani was a billionaire with a net worth of $2.6 billion. And, the fruits of this friendship continued to bear after Modi’s shift to Delhi. Adani’s net worth more than quadrupled to $11.9 billion – in just the first four years of Modi’s rule.
At the breakfast table, it is often pointed out to me that I am being blinded by one side and that I am not able to appreciate the two sides of the coin that exist. However, this question always crosses my mind, how is it possible that I am blinded by one side when the mainstream media just reports the side that makes the government look its best? How is it possible that I am blind to the mainstream media? How is it possible that the BJP government in total since 2014 having spent over 7000 crore rupees in advertising and PR itself has not reached me? How is it possible that a man who has made a brand out of himself, has not shown me his side of the story?
Every media outlet that has tried to raise its voice against the BJP has faced some sort of legal intervention. Be it NDTV or Sabrang. Between 2014 and 2019, 4000 crore rupees were spent on advertisement and PR (taxpayer’s money of course), whereas between 2019 and 2024, 3000 crore rupees were spent, bringing the total to a whopping 7000 crore rupees.
The question now remains; are they blind, or am I? The mainstream media, advertising, and PR have reached them, but the websites and magazines that showcase the other side of the coin have failed to reach them through their morning news channels and their morning newspapers.
The talk about Rahul Gandhi fumbling at press conferences or any other political leader is always laughed at the breakfast table and used as a testament to the fact that Narendra Modi is the only one who makes any sort of sense in the country. What is often overlooked is, since the past 10 years, that is, 2014 to 2024, the Prime Minister of the country has not been a part of even a single press conference, where he can hear the questions of the people, he is supposedly elected to take care of. Modi did face a press conference – only one – at the end of the 2019 Lok Sabha election campaign, five days before the results. However, he only addressed the media briefly and then diverted all questions to Amit Shah, his closest confidante who was then the president of the Bhartiya Janata Party. It is very easy, to come up with a speech prepared, address what one thinks needs to be addressed, make a couple of jokes, spew some hate speech, make sure the majority is happy with you, and then leave the stage. What is difficult is being able to take dissent and answer the questions that really matter.
Tens of thousands of questions, unanswered. Tens of thousands of political dissenters, languishing behind bars. Tens of thousands of crores of taxpayer’s money, lost and yet we idolise these political leaders.
This is not just the story of my breakfast table; this is a story of all upper-class Hindus of the country’s population’s breakfast table. This is not just the story of a breakfast table; it is the story of every political conversation of well-to-do classes taking place in the country. The 7000 crore rupees spent on PR has worked at its finest and brainwashed every sane, well-read person. The money has been used to make everyone forget the Gujrat riots, the Delhi riots, and many more.
When Voices go unheard at one’s own house, how will the voices be heard in a country whose leader does not know what the values of the country are and is actively trying to imbibe the “Hindutva” ideology in a secular nation?
(The author is a fourth year law student at the BML Munjal University)
[1] Editor’s Note: The issue of the manner in which the Modi regime calculates GDP without linking it to per capita status of the population is deceptive and dangerous as it in facts covers up the stagnancy in grown since 2011 and the huge economic disparities that have only got worse. See https://youtu.be/BfEffNzdeYw?s=BPpVcmDO9DYpGMdp