The Hindu Rashtra and its implications for Pakistan and South Asia

After the BJP won the elections in mid-2014, they steered India from secularism (which was superficial at best under the Congress party) to a radically distinct Hindutva ideology. India’s constitution defines the country, as a secular state and the Congress party that dominated the Indian political landscape for decades were rather proud of this assertion. Pride aside, in reality, the Muslims of India suffered under the Congress via lack of jobs, communal violence, state-backed targeting of Muslims after 9/11, and so on. However, Indian Muslims today would gleefully welcome back the Congress’s faux secularism over the Hindutva-oriented BJP that has made life for Muslims and other minorities agonizing. Not only has the political backdrop metamorphosed in the wake of BJP’s 2014 success, but so have the social dimensions and ground realities of India. It has been a while since India’s multi-ethnic and religiously diverse population has been this divided – and Modi’s victory in 2019’s elections suggests that this trend will not succumb to change anytime soon. 

Contemporary environment 

As briefly alluded to above, India’s current environment has drastically changed since independence. The BJP’s electoral success in 2014 was a watershed moment for not only the country but also for South Asia as a whole. Modi, the man infamously known as “The Butcher of Gujrat”– due to his alleged role as chief minister in the 2002 riots that led to hundreds of Muslim deaths – had now become the most powerful man in India. The Hindutva agenda has since been purposefully embedded by the BJP into all institutions and walks of Indian life. India today is divided more than ever into two major camps, Hindus and minorities (mainly Muslims). Regardless of the political affiliations of Hindus and Muslims, they both are in contrasting teams due to the Machiavellian gambits of the BJP that aims to exclude Islam from the Hindu Rashtra (Hindu nation). How can they not be on opposing sides when Muslim lynchings by Hindu mobshave proliferated or when Dalits (“untouchables”) are killed for simply eating in front of “upper-caste” Hindu men. Such fringe Hindu groups and individuals are literally getting away with murder since the police and at times the courts, both under BJP influence, protect such criminals. This is why such anti-Muslim, anti-Christian, and anti-Dalit machinations are amplifying by the day. The work of such hate-mongering Hindutva groups has reinforced the already existing schism between Muslims and Hindus. The Muslims were alienated since Modi’s first stint as prime minister but his April 2019 victory will embolden him further many predict. Muslims and other minorities hoped that Modi’s first victory as prime minister was due to his development and economic agenda and that he would fail to secure victory in 2019 – they were severely mistaken. The fact that 270 million Indians voted for BJP in 2019’s general election confirms that Modi’s Hindutva base is substantial and growing – BJP’s number of seats in parliament rose from 282 in 2014 to 303 in 2019. Whilst friction between Muslims and Hindu has been a staple part of the Indian socio-political landscape, this friction has increased and is signified by the rising attacks on Muslims whether in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) or otherwise. 

The state of “secularism” and “democracy” in India is so appalling that the number of Muslim MP’s have declined from a high of 49 in 1980 to a drastic low of 23 in 2014 when BJP won – the worst since 1952. The number of Muslim MPs has risen by 4 to 27 after the BJPs current victory in 2019 (which is not saying much) but none of the elected MPs are from the BJP.  

The Indian media, which too has fallen massively from grace, has become the BJP’s propaganda machine with its unobjective reporting, Hindutva advertising, jingoism, and anti-Pakistan sentiment. Some media outlets’ lasciviousness for money via government adverts have comprised their journalistic responsibilities, while others who defy the party line are targeted by BJP “trolls” on social media or the government themselves. Between January 2016 and April 2017, there were 54 attacks (including seven murders) on journalists, primarily perpetrated by political party leaders/members and police.A far-right Hindu group murdered editor Gauri Lankesh, a critic of right-wing politics and the BJP, outside her house in 2017.

Vis-à-vis Kashmir, the Indian security forces continue to systematically oppress and target Kashmiri civilians (blinding and killing many) while the Indian press in their complicity has either suppressed the violence that befalls the Kashmiris or painted them as terrorists. Since the killing of popular freedom fighter Burhan Wani in 2016, the Kashmiris in IOK protested in droves. In response, India used “excessive force that led to unlawful killings and a very high number of injuries,” according to the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. Security forces have and continue to use tear gas shells, rubber bullets, pellet guns, assault rifles, and even cluster bombs (banned by international treaty), which have led to the deaths of many Kashmiris who are mostly armed with stones if at all. In fact, 2018 was regarded as Kashmir’s bloodiest year in a decade as human rights groups assert that over a 100 civilians were killed. While Modi, without any proof, loves to blame the Kashmiri uprising on Pakistan, the truth is that the current protests are homegrown. Ayjaz Ahmed Wani, a fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, reaffirms the preceding by stating “The militancy is becoming much more homegrown now. The coming year may be more violent.”The United Nations and human rights groups have called Modis BJP to show restraint by India but these calls have fallen on deaf ears.

Lastly, India has recently abrogated Article 370 and 35A, which has lobbed the region into further chaos. Article 370 granted Kashmir a special autonomous status while 35A restricted outsiders from buying land, permanently settling, winning education scholarships or holding local government jobs in IOK. Currently, there is a complete communications blackout and a curfew in the region – international analysts predict that this will fan the flames of the already scorching hot Kashmiri freedom movement. India has preemptively increased number of troops in IOK to subdue the unrest, which will surely follow the abrogation move – this will eventually lead to more deaths and an even more precarious situation. Pakistan in response has downgraded diplomatic relations with India and has stopped all trade. This oblivious move by India has shocked the world and has placed South Asia at the cusp of perdition. 

Political philosophy

Hindutva is a fringe ideology based on Hindu nationalism and its main facets include (but are not limited to) the belief that the entirety of the subcontinent is the homeland of Hindus and “Hindus” are only those people who accept India as their holy and fatherland. The BJP and other far-right groups like theRashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS – considered the parent organization of the BJP) and the Sangh Parivar (SP – a collection of various Hindutva groups)find the roots of the preceding definition of Hindutva in Vinayak Damodar Savarkar’s work. Savarkar although an atheist himself, defined Hindutva with more of a cultural disposition. In his description, all Indian religions (i.e. Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism) come under the umbrella of Hindutva due to him claiming that they all shared a common culture and affinity for Hindustan/India. This definition, ironically leaves out millions of Muslims and Christians, as Savarkar discerned Islam and Christianity as non-indigenous because they were not born in India and have their holy sites in different nations. Savarkar who was antagonistic towards Muslims deliberately excluded Islam from his definition. Political scientist, Christophe Jaffrelot, states that for Savarkar “Muslims were the real enemies, not the British" because their Islamic ideology posed "a threat to the real nation, namely Hindu Rashtra". This is the Islamophobic source where the Hindutva groups of today draw inspiration from. It is thus the goal of the BJP to execute this pipedream and create a Hindu Rashtra, a nation with only Hindus as defined by Hindutva. 

This ideology and its propagation is also the reason why attacks on Muslims and Christians have and will to continue to proliferate. The BJP has surreptitiously and at times blatantly empowered grass-root Hindutva extremist groups to carry out “justice” across India. Since the followers of such Hindutva extremist groups subscribe to proclivities that equate Hinduism with nationalism, they see it as their religious and national obligation to marginalize and neutralize Muslims and Christians. Besides, on-ground attacks, Hindutva is also being propagated and installed as the norm across many Indian institutions and sectors including the media. 

Specifically, the BJP’s ideology seeks to abrogate Article 370 from the constitution (which they recently have done) that grants IOK autonomous status. It is also the aim of the BJP to construct a Hindu temple at the sight of the destroyed Babri Masjid (which was destroyed by Hindutva groups including the BJP). Furthermore, the BJP also aims to implement a Uniform Civil Code that would repeal Muslim Personal Law in India. The ultimate goal is thus to bring about the Hindu Rashtra.

The Hindu Rashtra: Impact on Indian sociopolitical landscape 

I have already briefly deliberated on how India has become exceedingly dichotomized – Hindus against minorities – in its sociopolitical landscape, but some specific examples should drive the point home. BJP’s political victory in 2019 proves that the party has a massive Hindutva base, of which many partake in social action to reach the dream of a Hindu Rashtra. This preceding statement is laden with danger as it illuminates the mindset of many Hindus (not all of course) and how they discern India as a Hindu only nation. This statement is backed by many abhorrent examples from 2014 until today. 

One example is the Ghar Wapsi Hindutva campaign, which aims to reconvert non-Hindus who had previously renounced Hinduism for another religion, mainly Islam. The RSS and SP proudly exclaim that ancestors of all Indian Muslims and Christians were once Hindu and justify the use of threats, bribes, and even violenceto implement their deviant agenda. Groups like Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) have been at the helm of this corrupt reconversion program. Pravin Togadia, the VHP’s leader is on public record for audaciously declaring, “We want the government to either ban religious conversions or allow us to go ahead with our re-conversion programs. Hindus can no longer be silent on conversions which resulted in the dwindling of their population”. 

Since 2014, the cow re-emerged as a central tenant in India’s sociopolitical and religious landscape. In the north of India, pro-Hindutva cow vigilante groups violently suppressed cattle slaughter, which is mostly done by Muslims or Dalits and is their principal revenue source. These belligerent mobs attacked and even lynched Muslim farmers and their families. In 2018, Siraj Khan, a Muslim, was lynched to death by a Hindu mob in central India for “slaughtering” a cow. In 2017, a Muslim teenager was stabbed to death on a crowded train on the mere accusation of carrying beef.This practice has become a recurrent feature of the Hindu Rashtra and in my opinion, this will continue because the BJP government chooses to ignore or illicitly supports such acts perpetrated by its Hindutva soldiers. The BJP themselves politically leveraged the use of the cow during elections. Hopeful BJP candidates pandered to their Hindutva base by promoting the protection of cows to aid their political and religious ambitions. Gujarat raised its punishment for the slaughter of cows to a lifetime sentence before the 2017 state elections; slaughterhouses that were legal were forced to shut down; and in May 2017, the federal government initiated a countrywide restriction on the sale of beef. Today, there are only 9 Indian states out of a total of 29 that do not have any prohibitions on cow slaughter.  

As mentioned, IOK is witnessing a rise in state-sponsored brutalities and terrorism. Hundreds of civilian Kashmiris have been blinded due to the use of pellet guns by security forces, while many have died – 50,000 people have died since 1989. More recently (in mid-December 2018), 7 innocent Kashmiri protesters were killed by security forces making it one of the bloodiest days for civilians in recent memory. India blatantly rejected the United Nations’ report that called out India on its human right abuses (mentioned earlier) as “fallacious, tendentious, and motivated”. According to Human Rights Watch, Kashmiris have been “tortured or summarily executed by state security forces..” and that “India should welcome the UN report, and commit to act on its findings, including providing access to the UN human rights office.” Draconian laws are still active in IOK such as the Armed Forces (Special Protection) Act (AFSPA) although there have been many international calls on its abolition. The AFSPA gives extensive discretionary powers to India’s security forces, which includes shoot to kill, right to raid houses, right to arrests without any warrant, as well as immunity for security forces from prosecution. In reply to 2016’s protests, Modi’s government responded with the longest media blackout in Kashmir lasting 203 days. In fact, a recent study by Stanford University found that IOK was the most internet shutdown-prone region in India – with 47% of India’s internet shutdowns occurring in the region.

Modi in his first stint as prime minister installed and backed several controversial figures in important government positions. In India’s most populated state, Uttar Pradesh, Modi installed an anti-Muslim far-right Hindu, Yogi Adityanath, founder of militant Hindu group – Hindu Yuva Vahini, as chief minister. This person and his organization have been a part of communal violence against Muslims in the past. RSS-BJP leaders have also demonized Pakistan, its institutions, and politicians on a plethora of occasions. For example, a BJP MP from Bihar warned all of Modi’s opponents that he would send them to Pakistan. Others who take a critical stance against Modi and the BJP are labeled as Pakistani agents. 

All of these specificities signify how the Hindutva Rashtra is rising at the expense of minorities especially Muslims. It would not surprise me if communal riots and further violence breaks out in areas of mainland India if this kind of Islamophobic behavior continues. India must take into account how their dichotomy-inducing actions affect not only their own massive Muslim population but also that of other countries in the region such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh. 

Implications for Pakistan and South Asia

As prefaced in the last paragraph, Modi’s continued policies have dire implications for the region, especially Pakistan. He and his Hindutva brethren are not only hostile to the Muslims of their own country but are ardently anti-Pakistan. They constantly berate Pakistan for supporting militancy in Kashmir, which is not true today, as Pakistan has drastically reduced support to militant groups post 9/11. This is the reason many analysts call the current uprisings as “homegrown” – implying the Indian government is at fault. The BJP’s intentions are so reviling that they constantly promote an anti-Pakistan narrative based on fallacies, which the Indian media regurgitates ad nauseam. Since 2014, India has also repetitively violated the Line of Control (LoC) by firing and killing innocent Pakistani civilians. One of the most telling example of India’s jingoistic intentions, however, and what this bodes for Pakistan and the region came after the Pulwama attack in 2019. Without any evidence, India blamed Pakistan for the attack in Pulwama, which killed several of India’s security forces personnel. The person involved in the attack was a local Kashmiri who had never been to Pakistan, but without any kind of proof, the Indian media and the government bombarded the airwaves that Pakistan was involved somehow. Commenting on Pulwama, documentary filmmaker, Sanjay Kak, observes, "Every time an incident like this happens, before the government can respond…the media immediately jumps the gun, asking for war." Al Jazeera described the Indian media’s chest-beating after Pulwama as unjournalistic ranting. In response to Pulwama, India launched an aerial strike on Pakistan and claimed to have destroyed an alleged terrorist compound killing 200-300 terrorists. Pakistan rejected this completely and stated that there was no terrorist compound or terrorists in the area; that only a few trees were uprooted; and that there were no fatalities. This Pakistani narrative was corroborated by international media outlets like The Guardian, Reuters, Washington Post et cetera which too highlighted how only a few trees were uprooted. Subsequently, Pakistan launched a retaliatory aerial attack on India in which it downed an Indian MiG and captured its pilot, Abhinandan. India lied again during this encounter stating that it had destroyed a Pakistani F-16, although the proof was again nowhere to be found. What this entire episode underpins are India’s aggressive anti-Pakistan proclivities. Hindutva supporters are especially distrustful of Pakistan and appreciate Modi’s hard-line stance against the country. This is also highlighted by India’s spy agency’s activities in Pakistan’s Balochistan province (as evidenced by caught Indian spy Khulbashan Yadhav) and in the tribal belt bordering Afghanistan. Khulbashan was operating from Chabahar, Iran and crossed the border into Pakistan many times. This Indian move could have strained relations between Pakistan and Iran and caused further tensions in the region but due to Pakistan and Iran’s prudent response towards each other, it did not. Khulbashan is on record for confessing that he was enlisted to destabilize the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) by recruiting terrorists to carry out attacks against Pakistan. The aim was to make the Chinese distrustful of Pakistan and drive a wedge between both countries. India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) has carried out many attacks in Pakistan and on Chinese workers in the country to derail CPEC.For example, in November 2018, the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) – an internationally recognized terrorist group – attacked the Chinese consulate in Karachi. After investigation, Dr. Amir Shaikh, the Additional Inspector General of Police, informed the public that the attack was conceived in Afghanistan by BLA mastermind, Aslam, and was materialized with the assistance of RAW.

 Furthermore, India has also adopted a policy of befriending Afghanistan at the expense of Pakistan especially after 9/11. The pace of this objective has amplified since Modi took office. The goal is to sandwich Pakistan between a hostile Afghanistan and India. India has spent billions on infrastructure projects across Afghanistan and uses diplomatic and backdoor channels to instigate the Afghan population against Pakistan – a country that hosts 2.4 million undocumented and registered Afghans. More insidiously, Modi uses Afghanistan to support India-backed Baloch separatists for training purposes. American author Webster Tarpley confirms this by affirming that RAW recruits terrorists from Afghanistan and brings them inside Pakistan to carry out terrorism. There is also evidence that suggests the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), an organization that demonizes Pakistan’s Armed Forces, is being funded by RAW and Afghan spy agency, National Directorate of Security (NDS). The object of this movement is to rally the Pashtuns of Pakistan and even Afghanistan against Pakistan. India’s policy of isolating Pakistan might have paid some dividends but the country remains as strategically integral as before with America requiring Pakistani assistance for negotiations against the Taliban; the Chinese relying and supporting Pakistan and the CPEC; the emergence of Russia as a new avenue to explore weapon procurement; and the improving relations of Pakistan and Iran

India’s diplomatic and foreign policy shift to America and Israel in recent times signals their ill intentions towards China as well. America has historically used India to keep China in check. Furthermore, there is lot of evidence that verifies America and India’s collusion in attempting to disrupt the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). There was also a border standoff at Doklam plateau in 2017 between China and India that soured relations between both countries. Moreover, Modi creating a union territory out of Ladakh (a disputed area between China and India), on August 5, 2019 has angered the Chinese. India, the largest democracy in the world, is ironically the most immature actor in South Asian politics today. The dangerous game they are playing will hurt themselves in the long run and will leave little chance for peace or economic development in the region. 

Conclusion

Pakistan has continually invited India, under Imran Khan’s leadership, for dialogue, but the Indians have shrugged this off repeatedly.India needs to understand that their hostile and isolation-based policy has and will only damage South Asia. India’s state-sponsored terrorism is leading to the Kashmiri youth being radicalized, while their funding of terrorism on the Afghan-Pakistan border also sets a perilous example. This implies that if continued unabated, insurgency and terrorism will envelop certain areas of South Asia and deradicalization of such groups will become a serious problem in the future. If Pakistan and India cannot work towards rapprochement, there is no chance for complete peace in South Asia. India must cease using anti-state proxies because this sets a very dangerous precedent – one which Pakistan is paying the price of even today. Furthermore, India has opened a Pandora’s Box by abrogating Kashmir’s two integral Articles – this has instigated the Kashmiris further but has also sparked outrage amongst the Muslims of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh. The armies of both Pakistan and India are on high alert and the region is yet again in chaos thanks to India.