Divisive politics outside the classroom

My PhD research examines public space and the politics of women in India’s Hindu right wing movement. The Hindu right wing runs thousands of schools all over the country, almost all of them staffed by women of the movement who embrace the violent and cultural/ethnic nationalist politics of the populist project. My photograph, Divisive Politics outside the Classroom, depicts a young boy participating in a nationwide ‘Run for Unity’, organised by the Hindu right. As he runs through Central Mumbai, alongside his schoolmates, he carries a placard with the face of Narendra Modi, the current leader of the movement, said to be responsible for the 2002 riots against Muslims in Gujarat, India. Although he physically carves external public space as Hindu nationalist territory, he raises questions about classrooms as internal spaces, negotiated by women of the movement, who impart divisive politics to younger minds under a cloak of education.