INTRODUCTION

Christopher Jaffrelot, a Senior Research Fellow at Science Po CERI and an Indologist specializing in South Asia, was invited to speak on Modi’s India; The Rise of Hindu Nationalism and Ethnic Democracy on October 17, 2022. Jaffrelot initiated his discussion by highlighting that India is presently witnessing the emergence of a distinctive form of national populism, characterized by elements of ethnic democracy or ethnic autocracy manifesting through electoral authoritarianism. The term national populism is a political term that combines both the elements of nationalism and populism emphasizing a nation’s cultural, ethnic or religious identity as the bedrock of its political life. In India’s context, this base is linked to the ethnicity
of the majoritarian population, leading the country to shift from conservative democracy towards an ethnic democracy or even an ethnic autocracy.