A manufactured external enemy masks and justifies internal caste inequality
Evidence
But even the metaphor of blood was not enough to forge Hindu unity. So Savarkar invoked the Muslim. “Nothing makes Self conscious of itself so much as a conflict with non-self. Nothing can weld people into a nation and nations into a state as the pressure of a common foe. Hatred separates as well as unites” (Savarkar 1969, 42–43). A Hindu nation that wants to mask power lines internal to Hindu society needs an external threat to actualize unity. Hatred is, therefore, foundational. In the same measure, in the very act of invoking and then immediately dissolving the specter of caste inequality, exploitation, and stigmatization, Savarkar actually provided both a cover and a subtle justification for them. In order to mask gross internal inequalities, the Hindu nation must rely upon the enemy figure. In other words, the real discursive purpose of the non- Hindu was to provide an alibi for Hindu caste exploitation. — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized, 1194
Categorization
- XREF: This connects directly to my core research question on whether group solidarity is sustained by a constructed external enemy rather than primordial identity, and parallels the editor’s own theme of manufactured enemies. — connects to: Manufactured external enemies alternately take domestic and foreign forms; Threatened group unity is maintained through a manufactured image of internal subversion — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 1244; Hindutva’s apparent religious liberalism hides a weaponized pantheon — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 1212 (+1 more)
- SEED: Angle: Savarkar supplies a canonical, century-old articulation of the manufactured-enemy thesis — external conflict welds a nation together precisely to mask internal power lines. Useful as the theoretical anchor for a broader essay on enemy-construction as nation-building.
- recurring: this claim recurs 3 times within its source