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Welfare, Patronage, and the Rise Of Hindu Nationalism in India's Urban Slums

Chidambaram, Soundarya
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1325189441

Abstract Details

2012, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Political Science.
The electoral defeat of the Hindu nationalist party in the last two parliamentary elections in India, and the absence of widespread large-scale religious violence since the 1992 riots, have often been taken as evidence of the retreat of rightwing Hindu forces in Indian politics. This however ignores the network of powerful civil society organizations that constitute the Hindu nationalist movement operating outside the realm of electoral politics. They have strongly entrenched themselves amongst urban slum neighborhoods across Indian cities by filling gaps in social services, particularly since the rolling back of the state due to neoliberal reforms. My project addresses the empirical puzzle of variation in the success of such sectarian Hindu organizations across Indian cities. Neoliberal reforms since the 1990s have led to informalization of labor in urban areas. The state’s withdrawal from welfare provision creates a crucial need for welfare provision among the urban poor, yet the concomitant decline in labor union activism leaves them unable to mobilize for collective protest. They are forced to depend on alternative social networks, thus creating space for exclusivist Hindu organizations that recruit the urban poor through provision of crucial services such as education and healthcare. However, economic dislocations do not increase the appeal of such sectarian organizations everywhere. When do Hindu NGOs fail to resonate with the urban poor? I argue that they fail when local associations in urban slums function as efficient political patronage networks, inducing state political parties to meet welfare needs adequately. When “everyday” networks of engagement based around the local neighborhood are strong, as well as rooted in local politics with strong linkages to local party officials, the urban poor are able to bargain collectively for better service provision from political parties, thus decreasing their dependence on sectarian groups. I test my hypotheses using a Small-N comparison designed on the Most Similar Systems Design principle, focusing on the states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Based on survey data analysis, and data from 75 interviews conducted with right-wing Hindu organizations, other NGOs, bureaucratic officials, and politicians, during six months of fieldwork (June-December 2009), I find that Tamil Nadu has informal local associations mediating between the urban poor and party representatives, whereas Karnataka is a case where patronage ties linking the parties and poor voters are on the decline, thus producing the variation in the success of Hindu nationalist organizations. In Karnataka, the proliferation of elite-dominated NGOs catering exclusively to the middle class, and centralization tendencies of the state government are examined in order to analyze how the local power structures have been overridden, causing informal patronage arrangements to break down and allowing Hindu organizations to fill that space. In Tamil Nadu, the legacy of the lower-caste movement not only created a distinct identity politics that was not receptive to calls for Hindu unity by rightwing forces, but the unique associational networks that emerged out of this movement created political incentives that induced parties to distribute services efficiently and inclusively, thus reducing the space for Hindu nationalists.
Irfan Nooruddin (Advisor)
Sarah Brooks (Committee Member)
Marcus Kurtz (Committee Member)
Political Science
Ethnic politics; urban politics; welfare and representation; political clientelism; South Asia; India; Hindu nationalism

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Chidambaram, S. (2012). Welfare, Patronage, and the Rise Of Hindu Nationalism in India's Urban Slums [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1325189441

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Chidambaram, Soundarya. Welfare, Patronage, and the Rise Of Hindu Nationalism in India's Urban Slums. 2012. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1325189441.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Chidambaram, Soundarya. "Welfare, Patronage, and the Rise Of Hindu Nationalism in India's Urban Slums." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2012. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1325189441

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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