Memoricide: Hindu Nationalism’s Project of Erasing Minority Contributions to India’s History
The ruling party is systematically distorting the country’s past to impose its vision of the future
India, a land of myriad cultures, languages, and religions, has long thrived on its complex, layered history. From the ancient Hindu kingdoms to the Mughal era, the European colonial occupation to the freedom struggle, India has inherited a pluralistic tradition, woven together from diverse influences. However, under Narendra Modi, India’s Hindutva—Hindu nationalist—prime minister, there has been an intentional shift in how the country’s past is curated and remembered. Far from embracing India’s rich diversity, the government is pursuing a process of “memoricide”—systematically erasing certain elements of India’s historical and cultural heritage—and other related practices to align India’s past with a new, majoritarian vision.
The Commodification of Memory: The Jallianwala Bagh Memorial
One of the most symbolic locations in India’s history of anti-colonial resistance is the Jallianwala Bagh Memorial in Amritsar, Punjab. It was here, in 1919, that British soldiers opened fire on unarmed civilians, killing hundreds in a massacre that would fuel the independence movement led by freedom fighters such as Mahatma Gandhi. The original memorial site was a powerful and simple testament to this colonial atrocity, preserving the bullet-marked walls and narrow alleys as raw reminders of the brutality.
However, in 2021, the Modi government unveiled a revamped version of the site, adding sound-and-light shows, murals, and polished walkways to transform it into a tourist-friendly attraction. As if this commodification of the atrocity wasn’t gauche enough, it also built murals of many of the people whom the British killed. In other words, rather than let the site remain as a solemn reminder of that brutal day, it sensationalized it.
This dual approach— commodifying and sensationalizing the event—reveals a complex ideological project in which citizens are invited to partake in the political weaponization of history. It well serves the ruling party’s populist agenda to manipulate collective memory as a tool for political mobilization, using history selectively to invoke grievance or pride, reshaping it into a consumable narrative that reinforces majoritarian identity and secures mass allegiance, at the cost of critical engagement.
Another Mosque Controversy: Resurrecting Historical Grievances
India’s religious monuments often stand at the intersections of centuries of conflict and cohabitation. The Gyanvapi Mosque in the town of Varanasi in northern India is a vivid illustration of that. Varanasi sits on the lap of the holy Ganges river and has a special mythological significance for Hindus. But the town has also had a Muslim presence that dates to around 1000 A.D. For much of its history, Varanasi has been a poster child for inter-faith harmony.
But Hindu nationalist groups have long claimed that the mosque was constructed on the ruins of a temple for God Shiva. This controversy has come to a head under the Modi government, culminating in a court-ordered survey of the mosque in 2022 that many feared would reignite sectarian tensions similar to those surrounding the Babri Masjid. In 1992, a Hindu mob demolished Babri, believing that it was erected on the birthplace of Lord Ram. This led to decades of sectarian violence that eventually culminated in the triumphalist construction of a Ram temple that Modi personally consecrated earlier this year amidst nationwide fanfare.
Both the Gyanvapi and Babri Masjid disputes are framed as attempts to “correct” historical wrongs against the Hindu community. If the Jallianwalah Bagh makeover represents an effort to sensationalize British colonial atrocities to reclaim Hindu pride, the manufactured temple controversies represent an unsettling trend of erasing Islamic monuments for the same majoritarian goal.
Also, such destruction of cultural symbols goes hand in hand with rising fanaticism and intolerance as in Afghanistan after the Taliban destroyed Bamiyan Buddhas in 2001.
Textbook Revisions as Ideological Warfare
Another subtle yet profound strategy of memoricide lies in the rewriting of history textbooks. Under Modi, the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), a government body, has revised school curricula to downplay Muslim contributions to Indian history and emphasize Hindu rulers. Chapters on the Mughal Empire and other Islamic dynasties have been minimized or removed entirely. Meanwhile, the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, once widely viewed as an act of extremism rooted in Hindu nationalist ideology, has been recast in a more neutral light, with less emphasis on the ideological leanings of Gandhi’s assassin, Nathuram Godse, a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a militant Hindu outfit with ties to Modi’s ruling party.
George Orwell famously observed in 1984: “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.” By reshaping the historical narratives taught in schools, the government is not merely telling a new story but actively remolding the collective consciousness of future generations. History is being manipulated to serve the political interests of the present, often at the expense of truth and nuance.
This trend is not limited to India. In Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has overseen a similar effort to reshape national history, downplaying the secular legacy of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in favor of an Islamist narrative. Both in Turkey and India, the aim appears to be the same: to bolster majoritarian identities by minimizing the contributions of “troublesome” minority communities.
Renaming Cities: A Campaign to Rewrite Cultural Identity
The renaming of cities and streets is another tool the Modi government has employed to recast India’s cultural landscape, aligning it with a vision that emphasizes Hindu heritage. A notable historical precedent is the renaming of Bombay to Mumbai in 1995 whose overt purpose was to reclaim the local Marathi-Hindu identity of the city by removing the stamp of colonialism. This set the stage for similar changes under the Modi government, all aimed at “restoring” India’s ancient, pre-Islamic identity. In 2018, Allahabad, a city named by Mughal Emperor Akbar, was renamed Prayagraj to reflect its ancient Hindu heritage. It is not a coincidence that Allahabad is in a state governed since 2017 by a Hindu monk from Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party. Similarly, in 2021, Aurangabad in the state of Maharashtra, another Hindu dominated state, was rechristened Sambhajinagar, after a local Hindu king.
This renaming campaign is not just about reclaiming history—it is about rewriting it. By erasing Muslim names from the public space, the government wants to reframe India’s identity as explicitly Hindu, marginalizing the Islamic legacy that has also shaped the country. This act of cultural erasure finds echoes around the world, such as in Russia, where place names associated with Stalin’s regime are being restored in an attempt to glorify the country’s totalitarian past.
Diminishing the Space for Minority Faiths
The Modi government’s push for a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) also reflects its efforts to homogenize India’s legal and cultural landscape. The UCC seeks to replace the personal laws of various religious communities—rooted in their traditions—with a single legal framework.
UCC reforms are being pitched as an effort to enhance gender equality and strengthen national unity given that this accommodation to different religions has sometimes locked members of these faiths in regressive practices, notably the “triple talaq” rule in Islam. This rule allowed Muslim men to divorce their wives instantaneously and unilaterally after chanting “talaq” (divorce) three times. The practice was banned in 2019.
However, the Modi government’s push for a UCC does not stem from a neutral commitment to justice or gender equity but from a desire to assimilate India’s cultural diversity into a homogenized, majoritarian framework. While reforms could indeed help address harmful practices across communities, the government’s approach appears selective, primarily targeting Muslim practices rather than addressing regressive elements within Hinduism, such as the caste system, the relatively higher rates of child marriages in Hindu communities as per the National Family Health Survey, or dowry-related violence despite the Dowry Prohibition Act of 1961. This selective approach suggests that the UCC reform is less about promoting genuine social reform than about reinforcing Hindu nationalist ideology.
If the Modi government were serious about reforming regressive religious practices while allowing the maximal possible space for these faiths to run their affairs following their tenets, it would follow a consultative, community-driven process that respects India’s pluralistic fabric. Instead, it is attempting to impose these reforms unilaterally, reinforcing a vision of national unity that will give minority religions less freedom to define their faith. In other words, it is squeezing India’s religious diversity into a singular model that aligns more closely with the values and customs of the majority religion, rather than promoting an inclusive secularism.
The debate over the UCC is often compared to controversies in France, where the state enforces a strict form of secularism, or laïcité, aimed at separating religion from public life in the name of values such as freedom and equality. France’s policies, such as the ban on visible religious symbols in public institutions, have disproportionately affected Muslim communities, sparking debates over tension between secularism and other liberal values. But Hindutva despises both secularism and liberalism. Moreover, France’s secularism applies to all religions equally, not just to minority faiths. It seeks to diminish the role of all religions in public life, not amplify the majority faith, contrary to UCC reforms.
Building Hindu Pride at the Expense of Minority Faiths
The Modi government’s actions—from renovating memorials to renaming cities and revising textbooks—represent a concerted effort to reshape India’s historical narrative. Supporters insist that these moves are necessary to instill national pride and strengthen India’s identity. For instance, India’s Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, during a meeting of the National Book Promotion Council, stated, “Content should reflect Indian values and ethics, and should be deeply rooted in Indian culture.” By Indian, he meant Hindu.
In its attempt to rewrite the past, India risks forgetting the complexity, pluralism, and contradictions that define its history.
History is more than a chronicle of events; it creates a shared cultural memory that binds a nation across its diverse communities. But the Modi government’s project of “memoricide” is not only falsifying India’s historical record but also deliberately over-emphasizing Hinduism’s cultural contributions while erasing those of other faiths. Doing so will make non-Hindus feel like they are less integral to India’s identity and less entitled to be full and proud citizens of the country. That would be a blow to India’s founding commitment to pluralism and diversity, of course. But it might also be a recipe for divisiveness and unrest.
© The UnPopulist, 2024
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The Hindutva Project is not only "a recipe for divisiveness and unrest" ; it is an attempt to subvert the real Indian identity, that is by character and history, fundamentally pluralist. India's DNA has the message "Unity in Diversity" spelled into it by the Rishis of the Upanishads. So although the "H" project that is essentially against the grain of India or Hinduism has met with some success over the last decade, it is destined to fail in the long term.
So, too, is America soon to undergo a similar murder of collective memory.
January 6 will soon become memorialized as a popular uprising against tyranny. I imagine there will be a memorial to Ashli Babbitt in the US Capitol Building. Grandparents will tell their grandchildren about the glorious uprising to save American freedom. The Patriot Martyrs feted until the last one is buried in the future.