When the Advantaged Feel Victimised: The Case of Hindus in India

Abstract

This article seeks to understand the collective victimhood of the Hindus, a majority group in India, relative to the feelings of collective victimhood of the Muslim minority. It studies the role that is played by feelings of collective victimhood (CV) along with ingroup identity, fraternalistic relative deprivation (FRD), intergroup emotions and relative power in responding to intergroup conflict situations. The results showed that Hindus reported collective victimhood in greater amount compared to Muslims. Muslims felt more FRD than Hindus. Hindus also carried more negative emotions as a consequence of experiencing collective victimhood. The preferred reaction of Hindus in conflict situations was of revenge and less of reconciliation. Collective victimhood of Hindus was explained by ingroup identity and negative emotions associated with the experiences of collective victimhood and fraternalistic relative deprivation. The action of revenge of Hindus and Muslims was explained by different sets of factors. Identity and CV-related negative emotions were more important in explaining the revengeful reactions of Hindus, while in the case of Muslims relative power, FRD and FRD-related negative emotions were found more efficacious. Results are explained in the context of current Hindu–Muslim relations in India.