Reinforcing the Path: The Paradox of Failed Reform in India’s Minority Policies (2004-2024)

Abstract

The article analyses the trajectory of minority-related policies in India between 2004 and 2024, using the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government’s experience (2004–2014) as a context for understanding the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) policy stance since taking power in 2014, highlighting the contrasting approaches of the two administrations. It uses the concepts of path dependence and punctuated equilibrium, well-established in political science and public policy studies, but which are under-utilised in examining India’s minority policies. The article explores why minority-related policies remained largely unchanged during the UPA’s tenure, despite its attempts to restructure institutional arrangements. Paradoxically, the UPA’s failed effort reinforced existing policy frameworks, enabling the BJP to pursue policies that prioritised Hindu majority interests while weakening protections for minorities. Understanding this background is essential for analysing the BJP’s stance on minority issues since 2014. The UPA’s failed reforms inadvertently created conditions that allowed the BJP to advance majoritarian agendas with relatively little institutional resistance. This article demonstrates how these policy failures consolidated pre-existing institutional patterns and highlights the self-reinforcing nature of political and institutional paths in India. This study offers a nuanced account of institutional dynamics that have shaped India’s political landscape, particularly concerning minority rights and secular governance.