Ten years ago, the journalist Rahul Bhatia started hearing people revive centuries-old communal disputes and openly target Muslims with venomous hate. How was it, he wondered, that the old norms of secularism and equality, however flawed in practice, were being cast aside?
His new book, The Identity Project: The Unmaking of the World’s Largest Democracy, is an attempt at an answer – tracing the sources of this poison by speaking to both the perpetrators and victims of a virulent strain of Hindu nationalism that has swept through India. In doing so, Bhatia provides a clear-eyed account of the unmaking of the world’s largest democracy since 2014. It also sounds the alarm on how the push for a national identification project – ostensibly aimed at curbing corruption and improving welfare delivery – could instead be used to deliver oppression more efficiently.
The transcript below is from an episode of Himal’s Southasia Review of Books podcast from April 2025, in which associate editor Shwetha Srikanthan speaks with Rahul Bhatia about The Identity Project.
This is an edited excerpt of the full interview. Please listen to the corresponding audio before quoting from it.