‘Even God Seems to Have Gone into Hiding’: Hindu Nationalism, Indian Nuclear Scientists and the Quest for the United States of India in Anushakthi Amma (2004)

This article argues that seemingly secular expressions of postcolonial nuclear nationalism in India actually reflect a Hindu nationalist understanding of India as a civilisational entity with a moral claim to nuclear power. Such an understanding echoes American invocations of Christian mythology to justify its divine right to nuclear power and global dominance. This intervention operationalises the above through analysing Anushakthi Amma (Atomic Mother, 2004), a protest play by anti-nuclear activist S.P. Udayakumar, written during the anti-nuclear protests at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in southern India. By examining how this play reveals the fundamentalist Hindu religious foundations beneath the outwardly secular pursuit of a ‘United States of India’ by Indian nuclear scientists, this article highlights the play’s emphasis on the experiences of irradiated populations, underscoring the urgent need to acknowledge the severe human costs and the potential disintegration of the nation’s social and democratic fabric that such a pursuit entails.