Hindu Nationalism emerging from narcissism of minor differences in Indo‐Bangladesh borderlands: A gendered narration

Abstract

The Sundarbans as a region is shared between Bangladesh (60%) and India (40%) and forms an intriguing geography to understand not only the consequences of macro‐political landmarks such as the partition, it is an arable field to explore the intersections of people, history, and politics‐ with a particular recognition of the constructions, constitutions, and manifestations of shifting, undefined, cultural and physical borders. This paper contends that Hindu nationalism in the Indian Sundarbans borderlands emerges as a result of what Sigmund Freud called ‘narcissism of minor differences’ between the Bengalis across borders and it makes for a distinct kind of nationalism that unfavourably impacts the Muslim Bengalis in the region. I situate that the ongoing aggressive Hindu nationalism in India's Bengal is a classic case of narcissism of minor differences and understanding its nuances can illuminate the multiple ways in which variant forms of nationalism are highly appropriated and propagated. Secondly, the study addresses how the liminal borderlands are fertile fields for such type of nationalism. Lastly, in order to further problematise the actors and the activism around nationalism, I study the work of Hindu nationalist women who volunteer with the Rashtriya Sevika Samiti to map and appraise the gendered aspect of this discourse. The Bengali Hindu Samiti women dedicate much of their nationalist activism in emphasising on both territorial and cultural borders and target Bengali Muslims who have migrated from Bangladesh and with whom they share deep civilisational and cultural sameness.