Populist nationalism in 'global' western India, 1920-1939

GLOB-POP-NAT proposes a new study of the transnational links between emerging Hindu nationalism (Hindutva) andcontemporary European fascism in the 1920s-30s.

Comprehending Hindutva as a form of populist extremism, throughexamining these thinks the project aims at a better understanding of the transnational nature of the radical populist right inthe interwar period; and through this it seeks a better understanding of the radical right in comparative and historicalperspective, and of global fascism as a concept.

This project speaks to areas of vital current concern for the EuropeanUnion.

It reflects the Horizon 2020 Work Programme’s response to the challenge of fostering ‘inclusive, innovative andreflective societies’, itself a response to the remarkable growth in populist movements in Europe and globally in recent years.It refers in particular to the European Union policy on 'Racism and Xenophobia’ under its strategic priority of Justice andFundamental Rights.

The relationship between Hindutva and fascism, which emerged at the same time, has been subject torecent work, not least because of its timeliness to India’s own politics, and rise to power of the Hindu Nationalist BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) since 2014.

But this work lacks a focus on the geographical and cultural area which gave birth toHindutva: Maharashtra, its western Indian heartland, which gave rise to its major institutions and founding ideologues.GLOB-POP-NAT fills this major gap in knowledge exhibited in the current state-of-the-art, proposing a vernacular studyto offer in-depth insights on this relationship in Hindutva’s birthplace for the first time, and which the Experienced Researcheris expertly placed to undertake.

The project is also innovative in blending regional and linguistic expertise with aninterdisciplinary study of other aspects of vernacular culture to form a totalizing, holistic understanding of its regional politicalculture in the 1920s-1930s.