Hindutva’s real purpose of the Muslim enemy is to alibi internal caste exploitation

Evidence

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 causal mechanism — external enemy manufactures internal unity to mask class-caste hierarchy — is a key comparative test case against the reader’s race-as-surrogate hypothesis for other polities (Ottoman millet, US racism masking class). — connects to: The external enemy functions as cover for internal caste exploitation — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 1194; Internal apostates are treated as more dangerous enemies than external infidels
• DEEPTHINKING: The claim that the out-group’s real discursive function is to provide an alibi for exploitation of the in-group’s own lower strata is genuinely paradigm-shifting for how sacralized nationalism operates.

Broader Connections

• The external enemy functions as cover for internal caste exploitation #corroborates (0.93) — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized, 1194
• Internal apostates are treated as more dangerous enemies than external infidels #expands (0.75)