Introduction to the Special Issue: Hindutva and the Rule(s) of Law

Abstract

India is increasingly described as an ‘ethnic democracy’, ‘populist majoritarian autocracy’ or ‘ethnocracy’: a form of rule supported by an electoral majority rooted in ethnic affiliation, with limited and eroding checks and balances that would protect minorities. Over the past decade, constitutional arrangements shifted, ‘dog-whistle’ laws were passed and legal institutions starved of resources. In studying these developments, we want to ground generic studies of populist/majoritarian/autocratic law by unpacking the specific Indian version of it: how does Hindutva as a political ideology and the current dispensation as political agents conceive of the rule of law, its purpose and function? Which rules do they want the law to follow? We combine papers that trace Hindutva's own ideological commitments with those tracking material changes in legislation or jurisprudence and map out their differential consequences for India's minorities, culminating in a wider reflection on the rule(s) of law under autocratic circumstances.