Description
The article seeks to examine the under-studied interplay between punitive populism, popular culture and critical military studies within the context of the rise of authoritarianism in India. Bulldozer, seen as a formidable machine, has traditionally been conceived as a harbinger of development and urban planning. However, it insidiously symbolizes the unchecked sovereign power, used for demolishing homes of minority groups and subverting principles of justice under the current political leadership in India. The spectacle of violence perpetrated by bulldozers is crafted for visibility, to see the strong state in action against the purported enemies (minorities) for its spectator-citizens, who often hysterically
cheer for these actions, thus serving to legitimize state response.This potent form of militarism based on revenge fantasy of an anxious majority is increasingly permeating in the iconography of right-wing Hindu nationalism with a rise in trending Hindutva pop songs. These music videos are cultural artifacts embedded with punitive themes and motifs, thus serving as conduits for cultivation of cultural consent and normative reinforcement of state violence. The article proposes bulldozer as a heuristic device to help in recalibrating our understanding of the embodied/affective/sensory politics of violence, enabling us to explore the militarized quotidian living. The article endeavors to make a conceptual contribution to expanding the scholarly interventions to critical military studies by investigating the implications of militarization as embodied in bulldozer justice campaigns and their glorification in popular culture propagated by the Indian state.
