Paper short abstract:

The idea of merit often overlaps neatly with certain cultural markers associated with dominant populations. In their most pathological forms, such norms aid political projects used to marginalize communities whose marginalization is then seen as a natural outcome of the practices of the community.

Paper long abstract:

The paper proposes that a new vocabulary of merit is being created in India which derides the Muslim community as regressive (anti-meritocratic) while fashioning a consolidated (progressive-meritocratic) Hindu identity against it. In Karnataka, the BJP (India's Hindu right party), brought about guidelines for pre-university colleges, which resulted in a de facto ban on the hijab. A populist narrative, helped along by a pliant media, created a binary between wanting education and holding on to one's religious beliefs. After decades of Bahujan (non-upper caste) assertion, and given the BJP's recent Bahujan outreach (where symbolic representation substitutes for structural change), it is no longer possible to parade old myths about meritocracy and caste in mainstream narratives. However, it is easier, and acceptable, to paint the Muslim community as regressive, and consequently, anti-meritocratic. Adverse outcomes on socio-economic parameters are then the community's own choice. While religion has never been kind to women, this discourse is specifically Islamophobic. The role of the higher judiciary (still seen as independent) remains central to legitimizing this narrative. While there has been analysis of judicial decisions around this issue, it has not focused on how this might be aiding the creation of a more insidious regime of merit, which helps polarize communities, essentialize identities, and freeze developmental outcomes. The article is in line with recent scholarship which suggests that Indian constitutional courts have allowed the Modi government to give respectability to moves that would otherwise be seen as overtly partisan in an ostensibly secular state.

https://youtu.be/NptraiHKd1k