Volume 18, Issue 1 p. 3-17
RESEARCH ARTICLE
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Aspects of male sexuality enmeshing with rise of fascism in India: Tentative psychoanalytical explorations

Rakesh Shukla

Corresponding Author

Rakesh Shukla

Indian Psychoanalytical Society, Kolkata, India

Correspondence

Rakesh Shukla, Supreme Court of India, 66, Lawyers Chambers, New Delhi 110001, India.

Email: rakesh.counsel@gmail.com

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First published: 07 July 2020
Citations: 1

[Correction Statement: Correction added on 11 October 2020 after first online publication: The article category has been updated in this version]

Abstract

This exploration assumes the universality of certain aspects of the psyche which enmesh with an ideology like fascism, while examining the phenomenon in India. It attempts to understand the support of a sizable section of people to the discernible growth of fascism in the past three decades in Indian society. The purpose is to explore group processes and individual psyche. The article attempts to articulate the factors—pre-dominantly unconscious—in the psyche of the Indian Hindu male which might fit into or play a role in the mobilization toward a fascist political and social agenda. The nature of marital relations in society and the close “mother–son” bond are examined in the context of the development of the personality of a growing boy. The extreme suppression of sexuality, valorization of celibacy, idealization of mother, the model of the obedient son with no room for ambivalence and the feelings of inadequacy, frustrations and rage engendered form a central focus. The processes of splitting, idealization, and projective identification which result in the demonization by the Hindu community of the “other” Muslim community leading to violence are examined in this context. Evolving collective processes of acknowledging and taking back the split “dirty” parts at a community level instead of projecting onto the “other” as a way forward toward more harmonious relations.

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