Managing mandirs and more: An ethnography of far-right Hindu women and their contribution to Globalizing Hindutva

Abstract

This paper looks at the intersection of electoral politics and religious spaces. The Hindu far-right in the UK has recently become a politically significant minority, especially in light of the riots in Leicester. A recent report in the UK for the first time has flagged Hindutva as an extremist, far right ideology. The Modi government in India has emphasized the role of the diaspora as ‘living bridges’ from India to the rest of the world, tying it in with their ultimate agenda of ‘Vasudeva Kutumbakam’ (the whole world is one family). The growing desire for globalizing Hindutva is shared by women and has involved significant contributions by them. My ethnographic research in the Hindu far-right in the UK as well as in India, looks at the ways in which women with caste and class privilege participate in the Hindutva project. By using phatic labor as a lens, I analyze women’s social networks and everyday religious work, that creates avenues for Hindu far-right ideology to flourish. By engaging in seemingly harmless tasks of creating Satsang committees, organizing chai and samosa events as well as promoting Hindi/Sanskrit classes, women create spaces that are meant to ‘unite the Hindus.’ This becomes a valuable resource for politicians as well as Hindu far-right activists to use as a dormant resource when the need arises. My fieldwork was conducted during the UK and Indian elections in 2024, which was a key time to observe the activation and capitalization of these social spaces for political purposes.