By Muhammad Haris 22 October 2022
The label of a secular state on the face of India is nothing more than mere hypocrisy. It can be observed not only in the current wave of Hindutva, in fact, but it had also existed way before the partition of the subcontinent. The phenomenon of religious and nationalist extremism was part of Indian society even before its independence and that’s what Quaid e Azam had apprehended. This was perhaps the very basis of the two-nation theory and the resultant struggle for a separate homeland for Muslims. The roots of today’s concept of Hindu Rashtra could be traced back to Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar who was considered a Hindu guru and founder of RSS. Over the years, the writings of Golwalker gave the concept of Hindu Rashtra which means that all the laws of land, governance, and economy will run according to the Hindu way of life. Currently, there is no breathing space for other communities in India, and society is completely hypnotized by Hindutva policies.
Recently India has banned the Popular Front of India (PFI) and eight affiliate organizations for five years under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967. The PFI was formed in 2007 to protect the rights of Muslims in India. Specifically, the main premise of PFI’s establishment was to secure; the social, political, and economic rights of the suppressed people of India, not only the Muslims and also Dalits, since they have also been marginalized. However, Modi-led BJP’s extremist government has declared it a terrorist organization operating in the country. A prominent international scholar Arndt Emmerich in his book acknowledges that PFI initiated some educational campaigns like the “School Chalo,” “Sarva Shiksha Gram” and “Adopt a student” programs to encourage education among the masses. This was a grave threat to the ideology of Hindutva as it would have empowered the Muslim and other marginalized communities in India.
According to Amnesty India, the increase in violence against Muslim communities in India has increased with every passing day. The recent videos of Indian police beating Muslim young boys tied with a pole on the street have shown the deteriorating situation of minorities’ rights in India specifically the Muslims. The men beaten were accused of disrupting some events held by Hindus in the area. Also in another incident, a Muslim woman was investigated on 22 Sep 2022 for offering prayers in a hospital room outside a ward at a government hospital in BJPS stronghold state, Uttar Pradesh. Such events clearly indicate that the BJP government will not tolerate any kind of role of minorities in Indian society rather, it will establish Hindu Rashtra by hook or by crook.
Indian society is rapidly falling into the phenomenon of radicalization. The extreme views and insecurity from minorities inculcated by the Modi Sarkar in the minds and hearts of Indian people in the past couple of years have started showing their results. According to a New Delhi-based academician in an interview with Aljazeera quoted that “the state apparatus is complicit in targeting”. The involvement of state apparatus in disturbing the social fabric of the Indian society must be a worrisome situation not only for India; its spillover effects could be dangerous for the region as well.
In addition to this, another famous Indian politician and scholar Mr. Sahshi Tharoor in a debate on the topic “Will India Become a Hindu Rashtra by 2047” clearly quoted that for Hindus, India is no more a secular state, and it is now holy land for Hindus, which is something more than merely a country of living. According to Mr. Tharoor, radical Hindus have opposed the Indian Secular Constitution since its creation, claiming that India belongs solely to Hindus and that all other minorities in India are either guests or bandits/interlopers. He further stated that Hindutva stressed treating minorities as second-class citizens or expelling them from India.
Hence, to summarize it all, India, aspiring to become a regional hegemon and a great power, is dominated by extremism. Despite propagating its self-proclaimed secular face, the reality is that India is not a safe country for minorities and the suppressed classes. The country is on the verge of becoming a Hindu Rashtra. The indicators of the high risk of radicalization and fundamentalism in Indian society have made one thing clear the phenomenon is not only dangerous for Indian internal security but also for other countries in the region that could be infected by such trends. In this regard, the international community needs to take notice of the severe human rights violations in India, otherwise, the Hindu Rashtra will continue playing with the peace and stability in the region.
Muhammad Haris is an Islamabad-based researcher and policy analyst. He frequently writes on issues related to regional security with a special focus on contemporary South Asia.