On Reflection | Fascist fest as Trump’s America meets Modi’s Hindus

Socialism, the saying goes, subjects art to politics, while fascism is guilty of the opposite. The goal of the extreme aestheticisation of symbols of power in fascist regimes – such as the exquisitely choreographed columns of the faithful hailing Hitler in the Nazi propaganda film Triumph of the Will – is to make violence palatable, comprehensible, and even attractive.

Nominally, at least, the event was homage to the Indian monk Swami Vivekananda, who 125 years ago inaugurated a civilisational dialogue between Hinduism and the West by delivering a landmark speech in the Windy City. Yet, far from being an inclusive event aimed at building bridges, the World Hindu Congress was essentially dedicated to propagating the Hindu majoritarian philosophy of Hindutva and seeking to endow it with international legitimacy.

Inspired by European ethno-nationalism and fascism, and by figures such as Giuseppe Mazzini and Hitler, Hindutva rejects the constitutional secularism of the Indian state; proposes that India is fundamentally a Hindu nation; and insists that minorities, especially Muslim and Christian Indians, are aliens in a Hindu country.

With the election victory of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2014, an unofficial government scheme of targeting minorities has been well under way in India. Lynchings of Muslims by vigilante Hindu groups on the pretext of possessing beef, a crime in numerous Indian states given the sacred status of the cow for many Hindus; assaults on Dalits, or former “untouchables” located beneath the caste hierarchy of Hinduism; and a strident jingoism stoked by openly partisan state officials and media persons have been accompanied by a crackdown on dissenting voices in the academic, artistic, and activist communities.