The politics of cultural identity is manifested at different levels. For politicians, it is an instrument for winning or retaining support. Now, weakened in its home base, the Sena is reviving its old slogans by blackening English name boards in Mumbai. In Pakistan, successive governments have used Islam to try and stabilize themselves by gaining the support of the powerful clergy. Such tactics are inherently weak in their foundations, but they are attractive to those who have little of substance to offer by way of alternatives.
Cultural identity is important for ordinary people in a different way.
Alone, we are unsure, often helpless. In a group, we feel strong, safe. It becomes easy then to blame others for our misfortunes. We manufacture threats. In the era of the Great Depression, Germans blamed the tiny Jewish community for all that went wrong.