Description
The article seeks to examine the under-studied interplay between punitive populism and critical military studies within the context of rise of authoritarianism in India. The bulldozer which has traditionally been conceived as a harbinger of development and urban planning has come to insidiously symbolize the unchecked sovereign power carrying out the spectacle of destruction by targeting minority groups and subverting principles of justice under the current right wing political leadership. This article traces the trajectory of the bulldozer demolitions as a tool of punitive governance utilized by strongmen for socio-political otherization. The spectacle of violence is crafted for visibility-to see the strong state in action against the purported enemies for its spectator-citizens who often hysterically cheer for these actions, thus serving to legitimize state response. This performance emboldens the muscular masculinity of the state by simultaneously symbolizing revenge fantasy of the perceived injustices to assuage the majority anxieties and being an enforcer of law and order. The article explores the covert militaristic underpinnings of these actions by unravelling the everyday militarism influencing urban governance. This potent form of militarism is increasingly permeating in the iconography of right-wing Hindu nationalism with a rise in demand for bulldozer tattoos and mentions in trending nationalist pop songs. The article endeavors to make a theoretical and empirical contribution to the field of critical military studies by investigating the spatio-temporal implications of militarization as embodied in bulldozer justice campaigns propagated by the Indian state.
