ABSTRACT
The rise of right-wing reactionary regimes worldwide has ignited concerns over labeling, especially because they have all been ushered in through electoral democracies. Are these ‘exclusionary regimes,’ ‘majoritarian states,’ ‘populist authoritarianism,’ or some variety of ur-fascist/proto-fascist regime? In India, although much attention has been focused on the Prime Minister, Modi, with comparisons being made to other right-wing populist leaders like Trump, Erdogan, and Bolsanaro, he is merely the public face of a larger process. To understand the nature of the current regime today, one has to look at a number of features which tend to place it closer to some form of fascism. The most important is the long-term political goal of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), the ideological and institutional parent of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, to establish a Hindu rashtra or Hindu nation. The second marked symptom of proto-fascism involves the combination of a state monopoly over power and law and vigilantism, while the third is the use of legal processes and state institutions to frame opponents and acquit sympathizers, including those accused of terror. The fourth major feature of this regime is institutional capture.
