saffronization

English

Alternative forms

• saffronisation

Etymology

saffron +‎ -ization, after the saffron robes worn by Hindu priests and monks.

Noun

saffronization (uncountable)

1. (India, politics, derogatory) The politics of right-wing Hindu nationalism (Hindutva) that seek to make the Indian state adopt policies that recall and glorify Hindu cultural history and heritage of India at the expense of other religious traditions.
   • 1993, Harold Alton Gould, India votes: alliance politics and minority governments in the ninth and tenth general elections, page 308:

     Given the 'saffronization' of Congress, the 'ethnoreligious purification' of the BJP, and the parturition of the avowedly secular parties (CPI, SJP and BSP) […]

   • 1999, Rajeev Bhargava, Multiculturalism, Liberalism, and Democracy, page 241:

     The saffronization of the Shiv Sena, and the fusion of its Maratha-kunbi chauvinism and communalism were natrual outcomes.

   • 2015, S. Gupta, Consumable Texts in Contemporary India: Uncultured Books and Bibliographical Sociology‎^[1]:

     The “value education” directives issued in the 81st Report encouraged, in the first instance, the “saffronization” agenda of the BJPled NDA government from 1999.

Related terms

• saffron terror

See also

• Sanghification
• Dravidization (alteration in favour of Dravidian nationalism or separatism)