‘Batenge toh katenge’ (if we are divided, we shall be destroyed) has emerged as the most debatable slogan in the ongoing election campaign in two poll-bound states. The chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath, used this phrase in Maharashtra to highlight the significance of national unity in overtly Hindu terms. Adityanath did not call upon Hindus to unite against anyone; instead, he invoked the violence perpetrated against the Hindu minority in Bangladesh as a reference point to define Hindus as a threatened community in the Indian context.

The prime minister, Narendra Modi, however, gave a different interpretation to this line of reasoning. Criticising the Congress’s demand for a caste census, Modi made a powerful plea for societal unity in a rally in Maharashtra. He said that the “Congress Party knows that the weaker the country, the stronger Congress will be. That is why it is their nature to divide people based on caste.” Modi reiterated the unity of scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other backward classes as inseparable units and warned them, “Ek rahenge toh safe rahenge” (if we are united, we shall be safe).

Unlike Adityanath or Modi, Dattatreya Hosabale, the leader of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, made a more explicit claim. He said, “… if we differentiate between forward and backward in the society, caste, and language, we will be destroyed… The unity of Hindu society is for public welfare and it will provide happiness to everyone... Forces are working to break Hindus and it is important to warn them.”

One can read these statements in relation to the internal configuration of the sangh parivar. The RSS talking about Hindu unity in cultural terms is obvious. After all, the RSS defines itself as a cultural organisation that is committed to the protection of Hindu interests. This is not the case with the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is a registered political party. The leaders of the BJP, including Adityanath, remain careful to use a coded language to mobilise voters along the lines of Hindutva. This apparent division of labour between a cultural front (the RSS) and a political party (the BJP) is useful to explore the different meanings of Hindu unity, especially after the 2024 elections. A set of questions might be asked in this regard: how do Hindus look at the idea of Hindu unity? Do they think of themselves as a threatened religious community in India? If yes, who are the enemies of Hindus? What are Hindu perceptions about Muslims? And, finally, what are the concerns that motivate the Hindutva groups to evoke Hindu unity as a mobilisation issue in electoral terms?

Various survey-based studies conducted in the last few years may be useful as reliable sources to find out the actual meanings of Hindu unity. The Pew Research Center report, Religion in India: Tolerance and Segregation, shows that a significant majority of Hindu respondents (64%) envisage their Hindu identity as an essential constituent of their national identity as Indians. The growing acceptance of Hindi as a marker of national identity is another major finding of this survey. Around 60% of Hindus at the all-India level assert that “being able to speak Hindi is very important to be truly Indian.” The CSDS-Lokniti pre-poll survey 2024, which was conducted just a few months after the inauguration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, also confirmed this enthusiasm for nationalism among Hindus. This survey found that more than half of the Hindu respondents felt that the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya had consolidated the Hindu identity.

The success of Hindutva has certainly provided a conducive cultural environment, which persuades Hindu communities to imagine themselves as a distinct religious entity. At the same time, Hindutva politics has also transformed Hindu nationalism into a new cultural-political idiom. This cultural success of Hindutva, no doubt, has helped the BJP secure significant electoral support from all sections of Hindu society. The CSDS-Lokniti post-poll survey 2024 shows that around 43% of Hindus had voted for the BJP in this election. Does this mean that Hindutva politics has been successful in achieving its long-term objective of ‘Hindu-Hindi-Hindustan’?

Such a straightforward conclusion, however, would be highly misleading. The Pew study also shows that an overwhelming majority of Hindus (almost 90%) argue that India belongs to all communities, not just to Hindus, and that respecting all religions is essential to being truly Indian (85%). The CSDS-Lokniti post-poll survey 2024 observed that Hindu assertion for religious unity is very much rooted in the India-specific, modern tradition of religious pluralism and secular nationalism. Hindu communities want to retrieve their Hinduness without rejecting the claims of other religious communities, including Muslims. CSDS-Lokniti surveys conducted in the last 10 years have shown that a significant majority of Hindu respondents find Muslims as trustworthy as others and strongly believe that Muslim commitment for Indian nationalism is unquestionable.

This brings us to a paradoxical question: what are the apprehensions that force Hindutva politics to evoke Hindu unity as a political objective, especially when Hindutva has been culturally successful and the BJP has emerged as the first preference for Hindu voters?

Broadly speaking, recent political developments seem to underline two crucial trajectories. First, a new narrative of social justice and economic equality is slowly unfolding. The Congress’s demand for a caste census and its strident criticism of the concentration of economic wealth might attract Hindu voters in electoral terms. This kind of political reasoning does not affect the Hindu cultural-religious assertion, which is still open to accepting religious and caste-based diversity. Second, micro-level electoral management has been a crucial factor behind the success of the BJP in the last few years. The recent Haryana assembly election has shown that the party can manage the caste-equations at the constituency level without deviating from its claim of Hindu unity. However, the BJP establishment is aware that the celebration of Hindu identity in cultural and national terms has not yet been fully politicised. It is also clear to BJP leaders that professionalism in electoral politics can yield positive results only if it is supported by a coherent message and organisational support. Precisely for this reason, it is inevitable for the BJP to preserve the Hindu unity thesis in a more radical fashion.

Hilal Ahmed is Associate Professor, CSDS, New Delhi