A blistering investigation by the Wall Street Journal has torn apart the carefully cultivated global image of India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, portraying the country as a state rapidly sliding into authoritarianism under the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Hindutva ideology. The report accuses the Modi government of dismantling India’s secular and democratic foundations and replacing them with an exclusionary, majoritarian system that openly privileges Hindu supremacy. According to the WSJ, India’s present course has turned it into an international disgrace, far removed from its constitutional promises of equality and pluralism.
The journal paints a grim picture of life for religious minorities, particularly Muslims and Christians, who it says are now living under constant fear amid rising persecution, institutional discrimination, and organized mob violence. It describes the BJP-led government as operating with fascistic tendencies, systematically marginalizing minorities while governing solely in the interest of the Hindu majority. Since Modi took power in 2014, Muslims have been increasingly pushed to the margins of society, facing barriers in housing, jobs, education, and political participation, effectively reducing millions of citizens to second-class status in their own country.
Christians, despite constituting only 2.3 percent of India’s population, have become frequent targets of Hindutva-driven violence. Citing data from the United Christian Forum, the WSJ reports a shocking surge in anti-Christian attacks, with 706 incidents recorded in 2025 alone. The number of attacks has skyrocketed from just 139 in 2014 to 834 in 2024. The report details assaults on churches, forced disruptions of prayer services, vandalism of Christmas symbols, and mob intimidation—acts that have largely gone unpunished amid what the journal describes as the Modi government’s calculated indifference.
The report strongly condemns India’s anti-conversion laws, routine police inaction, and openly biased conduct by state authorities, arguing that these factors together create an environment of impunity for religious extremists. It highlights a series of alarming incidents during Christmas 2025, including mobs issuing threats outside churches in Uttar Pradesh, government orders forcing schools to remain open on Christmas Day, violent attacks on churches in Madhya Pradesh, and the destruction of Christmas decorations in Chhattisgarh—clear signals, the WSJ argues, of state tolerance for religious hatred.
Global alarm over India’s trajectory is growing rapidly. The US Commission on International Religious Freedom has urged Washington to designate India as a “Country of Particular Concern” due to systematic violations of religious freedom. Analysts warn that Modi’s hardline policies are pushing India toward diplomatic isolation, as its human rights record comes under mounting international scrutiny, eroding its credibility as the world’s largest democracy and exposing the widening gap between its rhetoric and reality.