India’s Opposition Parties and Anti-conversion and Beef Ban Legislation

• In Event: Law, Disinformation, and Majoritarianism in South Asia

Abstract

In 2014 and 2019, the BJP along with its National Democratic Alliance partners won decisive victories and formed the national government in India. Nationally, the political arena now looks like a dominant party system. The BJP also made notable gains at the state level as well; as of 2022, it along with its allies held over half of all state governments in India. This dominance has allowed it to bring about significant changes in numerous spheres of India’s politics and society, including laws that impact religious freedom. Among the most prominent pieces of legislation that has been the new anti-conversion and anti-cow slaughter laws. The former prohibits forced religious conversion, but creates significant hurdles for women seeking to marry a man of a different faith. The latter have restricted cattle slaughter to a far greater extent than before, and significantly increased legal penalties. Such laws predominantly impact religious minorities, making them targets for state harassment and vigilante violence. These types of laws have been a prominent part of the BJP’s manifesto nationwide and numerous state governments led by the BJP have banned conversion and cow slaughter in recent years. Troublingly, India’s opposition parties, most of whom espouse a strongly secular orientation, have remained muted on these discriminatory laws. The silence of these opposition parties appears purposeful, to avoid accusations of being too pro-minority. This paper examines the shifting strategy of India’s opposition parties through the lens of the anti-conversion and cow slaughter laws. It argues that the shrinking of political space for other parties and the formation of alliances to combat the rise of the BJP has meant that parties have deprioritized advocacy for marginalized groups like Dalits, Christians, and Muslims, with many parties attempting to mimic the BJP’s exclusivist Hindu orientation. It suggests that the weakness and complicity of the opposition in India further contributes to the erosion of minority security. The paper thus offers insights and contributes to the research on majoritarianism and the rights of minorities in a democracy.

Author

• Madhavi Devasher, University of New Hampshire