Nation, gender and representations of (In)securities in Indian politics: Secular-modernity and hindutva ideology

This article examines the relationship between gender, nations and nationalisms vis-a-vis the Indian state's nationalist identity and perceptions of (in)security. It explores how the postcolonial Indian state's project of nation-building - reflective of a western secular-modern identity (under the Congress Party) and a Hindutva-dominated identity (under the BJP) - incorporates gender, with continuities and discontinuities, to articulate divergent forms of nationalist/communalist identities, 'cartographic anxieties' and nuclear (in)securities. The article contends that with the recent rise of the Hindu-Right BJP, guided by Hindutva ideology, the nature of representing the Indian nation, its women and (in)securities has changed from a geopolitical to a cultural perception - thereby necessitating a rereading of the Indian nation, nationalism, gender and its perceptions of (in)security.