The external enemy functions as cover for internal caste exploitation

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 is the core MOC theoretical claim — the enemy-figure manufactures identity for the powerful while masking internal hierarchy — demonstrated in a non-Western, Hindu-majority case where the operators are themselves an aggrieved-majority elite, closing the reader’s named gap. — connects to: Hindutva’s real purpose of the Muslim enemy is to alibi internal caste exploitation — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 1194; A manufactured external enemy masks and justifies internal caste inequality — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 1194; Groups invoke external enemies to justify the suppression of internal disunity — Manuel Borutta and Jan C. Jansen, Vertriebene and Pieds-Noirs in Postwar…, 649 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• A manufactured external enemy masks and justifies internal caste inequality #corroborates (0.93) — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized, 1194
• Groups invoke external enemies to justify the suppression of internal disunity #corroborates (0.80) — Manuel Borutta and Jan C. Jansen, Vertriebene and Pieds-Noirs in Postwar…, 649
• Fear of an internal enemy is manufactured to secure consent for empire #qualifies (0.72) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 491