The BJP and India’s official nationalism

Official nationalism has incorporated citizens and provided normative orientation for political life in post-colonial India. The field of symbolic politics has been a site of contestation in India since the colonial period. Since 2014 the governing BJP has attempted to impose a new order on the symbolism of the nation state in ways that are sympathetic to the ambitions of the wider Hindu nationalist movement. The BJP has used state resources to promote alternative interpretations of official nationalism in numerous ways. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken a leading role in making changes to the ceremonial aspects of national politics. Consistent with the notion of invented traditions the connections between past and present have been reinterpreted. Historic figures have been remembered in new ways. Public broadcasting, commemorative rituals and international diplomacy have been used to change the ways in which the Indian nation is framed and narrated.