The rise of Hindu nationalism
Witness History
BBC
4.5 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 11 April 2019
⏱️ 10 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In 1990 the president of Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP, LK Advani, embarked on a political and religious rally called the Rath Yatra or chariot march. Championing a politics based on Hindutva or militant Hinduism. Farhana Haider has been speaking to RK Sudhaman a journalist who covered the journey and followed the rise of the BJP.
Photo LK Advani during rath yatra 15/10/1990 Credit: Getty Image
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Choosing what to watch night after night the flicking through the endless |
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| 0:25.7 | and a lot more watching. Listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:29.7 | Hello and thank you for downloading this edition of the Witness History Podcast with me for |
| 0:35.4 | Hana Hiva and today I'm taking you back to 1990 on the consolidation of the |
| 0:41.7 | Paratia Jandata Party or B.J.P. as one of the major powers in Indian politics, |
| 0:48.2 | and a calculated piece of political theatre organized to appeal to India's Hindu majority. |
| 1:01.8 | The Ratiathera or chariot March was to be a campaign trip which would last for weeks and would |
| 1:06.6 | champion a politics based on Hindutva or militant Hinduism. |
| 1:11.0 | It was organized by the leader of the B.J.P. L. K. Advani. |
| 1:14.7 | The decision was taken to travel to the Holy City of Ayodia in Uttar Pradesh in Northern India. |
| 1:20.0 | L K Advani, leader of the right-wing Hindu Party, B.J.P, embarked on an 8,000-mile tour of the country |
| 1:27.4 | to mobilize support for the building of a temple at Iodia. |
| 1:30.8 | Once in Iodia, Advani planned to lay the foundation stone of a Hindu temple in the holy city, |
| 1:36.7 | thought to be the birthplace of the Hindu god Lord Ram. |
| 1:40.5 | But the site was also claimed by India's Muslim minority who already had a mosque there, the |
| 1:46.9 | Babri Musjeth. |
... |
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