Abstract

This seminar will focus on the recently published book by Edward Anderson, exploring the emergence and evolution of diasporic Hindutva: Hindu Nationalism and the Indian Diaspora: Transnational Politics and British Multiculturalism (Hurst/Oxford University Press/Penguin, 2023/24). Hindu nationalism has transformed contemporary India in numerous ways. But it is also a global phenomenon, with sections of India’s vast and influential diaspora drawn to, or actively supporting, right-wing Hindu nationalism. Indians overseas can be seen as an important, even inextricable, aspect of the movement. This is not a new dynamic—diasporic Hindutva has grown over many decades.

This new book explores how and why the movement became popular among India’s diaspora from the second half of the twentieth century. It shows that Hindutva ideology, and its plethora of organisations, have a distinctive resonance and way of operating overseas; the movement and its ideas perform significant, particular functions for diaspora communities. Anderson argues that transnational Hindutva cannot simply be viewed as an export: this phenomenon has evolved and been shaped into an important aspect of diasporic identity, a way for people to connect with their homeland. He also sheds light on the impact of conservative Indian politics on British multiculturalism, migrant politics and relations between various minority communities.

About the speaker

Dr Edward Anderson

Dr Edward Anderson is an Assistant Professor in History at Northumbria University. From 2025 to 2027 he is also undertaking a Senior Fellowship at the South Asia Institute, SOAS. From 2015 to 2019, he was the Smuts Research Fellow in Commonwealth Studies at the Centre of South Asian Studies, University of Cambridge. Dr Anderson’s research relates to Indian politics and contemporary history, diasporas and migration, transnational networks, multiculturalism, and the politics of the Indian diaspora. In 2023/24 he published Hindu Nationalism in the Indian Diaspora: Transnational Politics and British Multiculturalism (Hurst/Oxford University Press/Penguin).

Chair

Professor Louise Tillin

Louise Tillin is a Professor of Politics in the King’s India Institute. Her new book Making India Work: The Development of Welfare in a Multi-Level Democracy (Cambridge University Press, 2025) examines the development of India’s ‘welfare state’ over the last century from the early decades of the twentieth century to the present. Her forthcoming edited collection (with Rob Jenkins), Deconstructing India’s Democracy: Essays in Honour of James Manor, will be published by Orient Blackswan in 2025. Her earlier books include Remapping India: New States and their Political Origins (Hurst & Co/Oxford University Press, 2013), Politics of Welfare: Comparisons across Indian States, edited with Rajeshwari Deshpande and KK Kailash (New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 2015), Indian Federalism (New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 2019) and The Politics of Poverty Reduction in India: The UPA Government, 2004 to 2014 (with James Chiriyankandath, Diego Maiorano and James Manor) (New Delhi, Orient Blackswan, 2020).