Militarization, Hindu Nationalist Legitimacy, and Majoritarian Politics in Modi’s India

The relationship between religion, nationalism, and political violence is shaped through direct acts of conflict as well as through the security discourses, institutions, and symbolic practices that define who belongs to the nation and who is represented as a threat. Militarization can play a central role in this process by linking military strength, national identity, political authority, and majoritarian conceptions of belonging. India under Narendra Modi provides a particularly significant example of this intersection. Although India’s defence trajectory has historically been shaped by regional rivalries, border tensions, and the pursuit of strategic autonomy, the post-2014 period represents a qualitatively distinct phase in which defence spending, indigenization, and self-reliance initiatives such as Make in India and Atmanirbhar Bharat have become embedded in a broader political project centred on national pride, strong leadership, and Hindu majoritarian identity. Combining strategic culture with a Gramscian perspective on hegemony, the article examines how militarization responds to external threats while also functioning as a mechanism for producing consent, reinforcing political authority, and normalizing exclusionary understandings of national belonging. Methodologically, the study draws on defence expenditure data, official policy documents, leadership speeches, and 33 semi-structured interviews conducted with members of the Indian diaspora in the United Kingdom between 2024 and 2025. It argues that militarization in contemporary India should be understood as both a security practice and an ideological process that contributes to the consolidation of Hindu nationalism, the securitization of minority identities, and the legitimation of coercive and exclusionary forms of political authority.