The regime of the current ruling party of Republic of India has never been able to isolate itself from the controversies with respect to rights of minorities, especially Muslims in the so-called secular state of India. Hindutva, a term we hear so commonly, closely connected with BJP’s controversial rule, yet the majority of the world populace is unaware of its actual meaning and how it came into being. So, the question arises, what is Hindutva? The term Hindutva means, “Hindu-ness”, which is an ideology aimed to define the Indian culture in terms of Hindu values, which will be the ultimate Identity of India. The ideology traces its roots back to one of the first and most prominent right-wing political organization, Rashtriya Sawayamsevak Sangh otherwise known as the RSS, later on after the establishment of the Bhartaiya Janata Party (BJP) in 1980, Hindutva ideology was revived again as the core operating principle of BJP.
The Hindutva ideology has always been challenged by the first ideology of Republic of India, Secularism. India at the time of Independence, declared itself to be a secular state, offering freedom to all the minority groups, as well as the fundamental rights of citizens, which convinced a large mass of Muslims to stay in India rather than migrate to newly born Islamic state, Pakistan. The rising Hindu extremism at that time was so brutal, that all those who favored secularism met a tragic end. Mahatma Gandhi, the most influential Hindu leader of Indian sub-continent was assassinated through a cruel ploy of RSS, because of his great vision of a secular India. Since then, the ideology became the very foundation of every right-wing political organization in India namely, RSS, Shiv Sena, Hindu Mahasbha, with the latest one being BJP, under the leadership of the most ignorant, cruel, and extremist person in the South-Asian region, Narendra Modi, the 15th Prime Minister of Republic of India.
The BJP leader Narendra Modi, and other key party figures have failed to isolate themselves from the atrocities being committed in a secular India against the Muslims and other minorities groups. One of the first major horrendous act of BJP to this day was actively organizing a rally of about 150,000 volunteers proclaimed as “Kar-Sevaks”, at the site of Babri Masjid in December 1992, who ultimately tore down the mosque which was a significant part of the Mughal cultural heritage in India. In March 2019, Anwar Ali was killed by a lynching Hindu mob when he tried to prevent them from destroying an Islamic religious structure near his residence. Her wife told the media later, how his Husbands only crime was defending his faith, and it got him punished when the mob stuffed a thin towel in his mouth when they killed him. The irony of the matter is 18 people were arrested in this matter, and all 18 were granted bail within few months. The case died with those bails, but the tears of the weeping women never stopped as she is yet to have her fair share of justice. Another similar case can be traced to a mother, Hasina Bano, whose 12-year-old boy fell to the brutal fire of police at the Bengali Muslim villagers protesting against their forced evictions from the land, which the government decided to give to Assamese Hindus. His only crime was asking for his right to property as an Indian citizen, guaranteed to his forefathers at the time of partition to forego the right of migration, Ironically, the young-blood had just received a national biometric identification card, recognizing him as an Indian Citizen, moments before he took his last breath A more recent incident took place in April, 2022, when the bulldozers rolled into the North Delhi neighborhood of Jahangirpuri, and razed livelihoods of many Muslims in the region including their homes, shops, and entrance gate to a mosque. The incident was simply aimed at intimidating the Muslims by destroying their sacred worship places, homes, and shops, which has always been a key operating principle of this ever-running campaign against the Muslims to oppress them mentally and physically under the privileged autonomy granted to Hindutva organizations under BJP.
Although, Muslims have been the main target of Hindutva organizations in India, but unfortunately, they aren’t the only one. After Muslims, Christians and Sikhs have been suffering at the hands of pro-Hindu campaigns, left at the mercy of a fascist regime to ensure their survival and fundamental rights. In 2021, Mohan Bhagwat, the head of RSS, in his speech warned Hindus about the enforced religious conversions and demographic changes in in India’s Northeastern states which consist of large Christian population. His speech was enough to do the job as it invoked large number of violent attacks on Christians and churches across the country, with angry mobs making open calls to behead them. Three days after the speech, Rameshwar Sharma, a BJP member called the Hindutva masses for a, “Chadar Mukt, Father Mukt Bharat”, meaning an India free of veil-wearing Muslims and Christian priests. Similarly, the Sikh Community has also been on the Hit-list of Hindutva right-wing groups. The killings of Sikh’s in fake police encounters have been a pressing matter for the Sikh community. Their rising voice for a separate state, Khalistan have turned the edge of Hindutva swords against the Sikhs. The BJP regime has continuously suppressed the voicers of Khalistan in India with the dirty help of Hindutva organizations. Most recently, on May 29, 2022, the most iconic Punjabi singer of the 21st century, Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu, recognized by his stage name of, “Sidhu Moose Wala” was assassinated by unknown killers who shot him 24 times before he breath his last. The irony of the matter here is that he was listed as a VIP who was provided security due to threats by Punjab government in India. Just a day after his security was removed on orders of Punjab government, he was shot dead on his way to meet a friend in nearby village. An artist who believed in no boundaries, who mentioned his wish to visit Pakistan in a recent concert, a leader among the Sikh community in India who just started his political career with Indian National Congress, a young Sikh who dreamt of Khalistan, a land of pure for all the communities to live freely with unity, is dead the day after government decides to remove his security despite the poor law and order situation in Punjab definitely raises concerns for the future of Sikhs, where a future leader is assassinated due to negligence of ruling party of Punjab.
This is the second tenor of Narendra Modi as PM of India under the flag of BJP, and in these past 8 years, the Indian Minorities have witnessed a living hell. In 2021, the president of Samajwadi Party, Akhilesh Yadav raised pressing concerns over the rule of BJP in India, alleging that the BJP police is, “Kill and Rule”, whereas the British had a policy of Divide and Rule. Therefore, this regime has left the British far behind in terms of atrocities on minorities, and rightly he said. The fact of the matter is that this rule of BJP in India has always been upholding its extremist Hindutva ideology, and under its patronage, the Hindutva organizations such as RSS and Shiv Sena have not been short of achieving success in their anti-Muslims and anti-Minorities Agenda. The world may have forgotten Adolf Hitler, but the world will never forget Narendra Damodardas Modi, the true face of fascism in 21st century.
The writer is Islamabad-based researcher with interest in international relations, regional affairs and geo politics. The author can be contacted at [email protected].