Mitra, Subrata   <br/><br/>
‘Nationising’ India: Electoral democracy and the BJP’s riddle of nation-building 

 - Economic & Political Weekly  
 - 59(48), Nov 30, 2024: p.71-78 
<br/><br/> Moulding the diversity of Indian society into a cohesive nation based on the core values of Hindu nationalism is the main ideological plank of the Bharatiya Janata Party. However, in contrast with the general elections of 2014 and 2019, this electoral strategy fell short of the expected electoral dividend in 2024. The empirical analysis of pre- and post-poll survey data explains why. The electoral competition took place between two “polarising elites”—the National Democratic Alliance and the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance whose manifestos show radically different visions of the Indian nation—facing a “harmonising” public. This evidence suggests that the BJP will need to rethink its cultural/electoral agenda in order to sustain its electoral momentum. Instead of exogenously enforced nation-building, the party needs to think in terms of nationisation which entails the blending together of the values, rituals and sacred beliefs of the moral communities that constitute the diverse Indian society. The paper suggests six enabling conditions of nationisation, which might go some way to solve the strategic challenge that BJP is faced with, post 2024.- Reproduced <br/><br/>https://www.epw.in/journal/2024/48/general-elections-2024/nationising-india.html<br/>