The recent incident in Bihar, where Chief Minister Nitish Kumar publicly pulled the veil from a Muslim woman’s face, brutally stripped away the carefully cultivated facade of Indian secularism. That single act revealed a deeper and far more unsettling truth. India was never a genuinely secular state. At its core, it is a racist Hindu fascist state, much in the same way that Israel functions as a racist Zionist fascist state.
To grasp this reality, one must first understand the ideological psychology of Hindu chauvinism. Hostility toward Muslims is not a contemporary political tactic nor a byproduct of electoral polarisation. It is intrinsic to Hindutva itself. Hindu chauvinism is an exclusionary and fascist worldview that leaves no genuine space for any other faith. Not for Muslims. Not for Christians. Not even for Sikhs.
The intensity of hatred directed at Muslims within this ideology finds a parallel only in Zionism’s hostility toward Palestinian Muslims, their culture, and their civilizational presence. Just as Zionism seeks to erase Palestinian identity, history, and humanity, Hindutva displays a comparable animus toward Muslims in India. These are not isolated doctrines. Zionism and Hindutva represent two of the most extreme racist ideologies of the modern era. Increasingly, they operate in alignment, united by a common adversary.
A frequently repeated argument claims that Hindu hostility toward Muslims is a reaction to the creation of Pakistan. This assertion is historically indefensible. Pakistan’s creation was not the cause of this hatred but its inevitable outcome. The roots of Hindu resentment stretch back centuries. They are anchored in an unresolved bitterness over the long period of Muslim political authority in the subcontinent.
As British colonial rule drew to a close, Hindu chauvinism reached a settled conclusion. The time had come to avenge history itself. The objective was clear. Retribution for the Delhi Sultanate. Retribution for the Mughal Empire. Retribution for centuries during which Muslims exercised power. This is not rhetorical excess. It is a documented historical reality.
In the aftermath of the failed uprising of 1857, the British deliberately employed Hindu mobs, criminals, and social outcasts to humiliate and dismantle the Muslim elite. This grim chapter has rarely been discussed with honesty, yet it represents a deeply painful episode. With the collapse of Mughal authority, the institutionalisation of social humiliation became a tool to crush Muslims at every level of society. Although the British later moderated this policy, the damage had already been done. Muslims had been publicly degraded and systematically weakened.
Had Pakistan not come into existence, there would have been no force capable of restraining Hindu chauvinism.
Had Pakistan not come into existence, there would have been no force capable of restraining Hindu chauvinism. Muslims would have spent generations repenting a historic failure to secure political protection.
The reality is undeniable. India is a fascist, racist Hindu state in which there is no genuine space for minorities. Whether it is the Congress or the BJP, both remain ideological standard bearers of Hindu chauvinism. The difference lies only in method, not in substance.
Congress advanced Hindu fascism through the language of secularism. This is evident in the constitutional process itself. During the drafting of the Indian Constitution, Article 48 was introduced under the pretext of improving agriculture and livestock management. Beneath this economic rhetoric lay the real objective: imposing restrictions on cow slaughter. It was a calculated act of ideological enforcement presented as economic policy.
The truth is that Narendra Modi is not merely following Benjamin Netanyahu’s path. India has been walking Israel’s path since its inception. Modi and Netanyahu are symbols, not anomalies. The individuals and the policies of these two fascist states remain fundamentally the same.
The same ideological bias is embedded in Article 25 of the Indian Constitution. Rather than recognising Sikhism as a distinct religion, it was subsumed under Hinduism. Clause ‘b’ of the article defines Hindus in a manner that constitutionally absorbs Buddhists, Jains, and Sikhs into a single Hindu category. Even their places of worship are treated as Hindu religious institutions. From the very first day, the Indian state embarked on a project of systematic “Hinduization,” executed by its own Constituent Assembly.
This was a unique form of so-called secularism, one that converted three distinct religions into Hinduism by constitutional decree. Article 25 further establishes that only Hindu religious institutions enjoy explicit state protection and restoration. No such guarantees exist for other faiths. If, despite these facts, anyone still believes India is a secular state, they should urgently consult a competent psychiatrist.
India is a fascist, racist state, no different in essence from Israel. Both stand in opposition to humanity and universal human values. Together, they have become one of the gravest challenges confronting the global conscience.
The writer is a lawyer and author based in Islamabad. He tweets @m_asifmahmood