The plight of Rohingyas in India: The Hindutva politics and its practices of exclusion

Principle Investigator：Monika Verma, Doctoral candidate, Institute of Social Research and Cultural Studies, NYCU

The dissertation discusses the plight of Rohingyas, which thoroughly elaborates how the Hindutva and its politics and their practices of exclusion through securitization and functioning and (dis)functioning of the law (the politics of citizenship, the lack of refugee law, and the limits of UNHCR) are exacerbating their lives and livelihoods in India. After Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a far-right Hindu nationalist party, obtained a majority in Parliament and came into power in 2014, not only several sorts measures were taken to vilify Rohingyas, such as identification, detention, and deportation, which were facilitated by 'anti-Muslim sentiments,' resentment against Muslimsand Muslim refugees but also portrayed as ‘infiltrators,’ ‘intruders,’ ‘others’ and illegal migrants.’
In addition, they were excluded from the rights of a ‘refugee’ and portrayed as ‘illegal’ and the rights to acquire citizenship on a legal basis in the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019. Many questions and doubts arise on the basis of these above-mentioned issues and problems. For instance, why have Rohingyas been portrayed as ‘illegal migrants’? Why have they been considered a ‘danger’ to security? Why have they been excluded from the right to citizenship? How the lack of refugee law contributes to their plight? Why have they been excluded from the right to have rights?
I answer these questions by studying the ideology and practices of Hindutva and its politics, the discourses of securitization, citizenship, and refugee rights. The research would argue that the BJP’s current policy towards Rohingyas is closely related to the Hindutva and its politics, resulting in not only securitization but also the exclusion from the rights of citizenship, which have their grounds in the historical roots of the politics of belonging and the state-formation practices in pre and post-colonial India.