IN an earlier scholarly assessment, Professor Kate Sullivan de Estrada, Director of South Asian Studies at the University of Oxford, envisaged India’s future trajectory as that of a declining state.

Her analysis stands in sharp contrast to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s repeated claims that the Hindutva identity of India constitutes an “asset” in managing foreign relations. Since assuming office in 2014, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government under Modi has aggressively pursued the idea of a Hindu nation rooted in the ideology of Hindutva; an agenda that has fundamentally challenged, and arguably dismantled, the secular foundations of the Indian state.Many international observers and Indian scholars agree that during Modi’s first five-year tenure, the BJP successfully altered India’s secular character. With the commencement of his second term in May 2019, Modi and his core team moved swiftly to consolidate power and implement the remaining agenda of the BJP and its ideological parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). The 2019 general elections were conducted under the pervasive shadow of Hindutva nationalism that enabled the BJP to initiate far-reaching constitutional changes.

One of the most consequential steps was the unilateral and illegal revocation of the special status of Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, downgrading it from a state to a union territory. This decision was accompanied by an unprecedented security lockdown, communications blackout, and curfew, effectively placing millions under siege. The move not only violated international norms but also exposed the coercive character of the Indian state........

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