Hamdhan Shakeel
Domestic unrest and political upheaval along with countless human rights violations and a massive siege against the free press along with its increasingly aggressive foreign policy has made India one of the biggest contributing factors for regional instability. However, the greatest singular source of concern for many human rights activists is the persecution of minorities including Muslims and Christians by ultra-right-wing groups and mobs. Under Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has become an exceedingly dangerous place for minorities as the marginalized groups are subjected to persecution while its Government continues to turn a blind eye. How did the homeland of giants like Mahatma Gandhi and Nehru become a fascist state that actively enables the persecution of minorities through ultra-right-wing group RSS and its offspring terror organizations?
What is India?
Prior to 1947 the India that we know of today did not exist as a singular unified nation but rather a group of princely states that were self-governed up until the arrival of the British in the region. While there were no formal unified government or political unity, the notion that the whole of India was a single nation existed since Vedic times despite the different races, religions and languages spoken by the people of the princely states.
Following the British partition of India in 1947 into the Dominion of India and the Dominion of Pakistan, all of the princely states acceded to either India or Pakistan, leading to the formation of the Republic of India led by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
What is the RSS?
In 1922 jailed politician and writer Vinayak Damodar Savarkar wrote one of the most influential and consequential books on the need for Hindu solidarity and social reform. His 1923 book “Hindutva: Who is a Hindu” laid the foundations of the Hindutva ideology and subsequently the political identity of the current ruling party BJP and that of its parent organization RSS. It was during this time that Vinayak Damodar Savarkar first met Nathuram Godse who would go on to join the RSS and later form “Agrani- Hindu Rashtra” and in 1948 assassinate Mahatma Gandhi.
Two years later in 1925, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar’s follower K.B. Hedgewar formed a paramilitary volunteer organization under the name of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) with the aid of his close ally M.S. Golwakar. The RSS would adopt the ideologies outlined in Vinayak Damodar Savarkar’s books on creating a Hindu Rashtra (Hindu nationalism).
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar was an atheist and his definition of Hindu Rashtra was devoid of religious sentiments, he attempted to unify his people through loyalty to the land and the culture. Ironically, K.B. Hedgewar’s RSS eventually came to fill the vacancy with Hinduism, leading the organization to become a “brotherhood of saffron”.
The paramilitary volunteer organization RSS was operated through a series of local branches (Shakha’s) through which they would recruit young Hindu men into the organization where a life of celibacy and life-long dedication to the cause were encouraged. The RSS would hold physical exercising sessions and philosophy and propaganda sessions for their recruits.
By 1947 the RSS had over 600,000 Shaskhas led by local Pracharaks (Dedicated RSS worker) throughout India. By this time the ultra-right-wing Hindu elements had taken a strong control over the organization and its ideology which were reinforced by its leaders.
In 1964 the Sarsanghchalak (head) of RSS M.S. Golwakar formed the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) with the aim of protecting Hindu temples, cow slaughter and conversion of Hindu’s to other religions. The Vishva Hindu Parishad would play a key role in the demolition of the Babri Masjid and in 1984 formed the now dreaded Bajarang Dal which provides shock troops for the VHP and its parent organization RSS.
The 1948 assassination of Mahatma Gandhi led to nationwide outrage against the RSS as the assassin Nathuram Godse was a member of the RSS as was his co-conspirators. According to Nathuram Godse, the assassination as carried out due to Mahatma Gandhi’s tolerance towards Muslims and Pakistan. This led to a nationwide ban against the organization and crackdown against its members leading to the imprisonment of over 20,000 RSS members.
According to close aides of Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, it was during this time that he expressed his view that the RSS was the embodiment of the fascism.
The crackdown against RSS members led to M.S. Golwakar to re-analyze the situation and accept the fact that without political power the ultra-right-wing Hindutva ideology would never be realized and the notion of creating a Hindu nation would remain as such.
In 1951 the RSS would go on to form its political wing Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS). While the party did not manage to make any significant wins alone, it did manage to beat the Congress Party through a coalition with other parties. This also meant that the BJS would not be able to translate its ideologies into policies and implement their Hindutva policies in India due to its coalition partner’s being parties backed by Muslim and other minorities.
This led to a significant division within the party as RSS loyalists argued that the BJS had betrayed its parent organization and its ideology. This ultimately led to the formation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which currently rules India with life-long RSS member Narendra Modi as its Prime-Minister.
Who is Narendra Damodardas Modi?
Born on 17th September 1950 after the partition of India, Narendra Modi joined the local branch of RSS at the age of 8. While he briefly travelled to the Himalayas in his youth, Modi spent his youth at the Hedgewar Bhawan (regional headquarters of RSS). Modi’s dedication to the cause and his talents were quickly recognized and in 1981 he was appointed as the prant pracharak of RSS, where he would be in charge of organizing the whole of RSS and its subsidiary groups in the state of Gujarat.
Modi’s quickly made his mark on both the public and the BJP leadership through his organizational skills and his oratory skills where he could effortlessly relate himself to the ordinary Hindu men and women. In 1986 BJP President Lal Krishna Advani brought in Modi as the Organization Secretary of Gujarat. His success in the position meant that by 1991 he was appointed the BJP National Organizer which allowed Modi to inject himself into the spotlight at every event where he would address the public as a common man who was forced to fight for the rights of the Hindus. During this time Modi was given the nickname of “Emperor of Hindu Hearts”.
This led to Modi garnering significant support in his native state of Gujarat where he quickly thrust himself into politics and was elected as the Chief Minister of Gujarat on 3rd October 2001.
Soon after on 27th February 2002 58 Hindu pilgrims who were coming back from the Babri mosque site attacked a group of Muslims on their train which was stopped at a predominantly Muslim neighborhood leading to a confrontation which left 59 people dead on the burnt train. Soon after then Chief Minister Narendra Modi stated against police statements that the incident was a “Pre-planned violence” against Hindus leading to the Gujarat riots where over 790 Muslims were butchered along with 254 Hindus, displacing over 15,000 Gujarati’s. Congress Parliamentarian Ehsan Jafri along with his two brothers were also butchered up limb to limb and burnt during the riots.
Subsequent investigations and eye-witness accounts led to Narendra Modi being labelled as the “Butcher of Gujarat”. The pogrom led to the Bush administration denying U.S. visa for Narendra Modi and he was unable to travel to the U.S. up until his election into the Prime Minister’s office on 26th may 2014.
Narendra Modi and the imminent genocide of minorities in India.
Under Narendra Modi’s rule, the RSS’s decades long dream of establishing a Hindu Rashtra were soon allowed to come intro fruition as Modi’s government actively aided in turning a blind eye to the rise of fascism and violence towards minorities.
While terror groups under the RSS target minorities and push for the government to limit the rights of minorities to protect their religion and identity. Their main concern is that the Muslims and Christians would take over the nation through overpopulation and conversion. However, statistics show otherwise.
According to the 1991 census of India, out of the 838,593,988 Indians 683,705,678 were Hindus while 105,746,701 were Muslims while only 19,455,380 were Christians. According to the 2011 census out of the 1,210,854,977 Indians 966,262,271 were Hindus while 172,304,663 were Muslims while 27,849,664 were Christians. This would mean that within twenty years the number of Hindus in India increased by 282,556,593 while the Muslims and Christians only increased by 66,557,961 and 8,394,283.
Though this clearly shows that there is no threat posed to Hindus in India form minorities, Modi’s government continue to aid the targeted persecution of Muslims, Christians and other minorities.
Since 2019 at least 9 cases of Muslims being lynched to death by Hindu mobs have been recorded with dozens more unreported. Moreover, the public calls to slaughter Muslims and other minorities have become common place in India as the nation grapples with extreme polarization brought by Narendra Modi in his bid to consolidate more power through extreme loyalty.
At a gathering in Haridwar attended by BJP leader, Hindu leaders called to purchase weapons and called for the mass killing of Muslims. The meeting also saw speakers calling to kill millions of Muslims to achieve “victory” while others called to pray for Nathuram Godse.
While the BJP and Modi has remained silent so far, a second video of the speakers made rounds on the social media where they negotiated with smiling police where one of the Hindu leaders claimed that the Police were on their side.
While the comments are startling by themselves, what is even more disturbing is that these are not isolated incidents, targeted persecution of Indian minorities are taking place throughout the whole nation.
The absolute loyalty of the ruling BJP and its dependency on the polarized ultra-right-wing fascist Hindu mobs led by the RSS has created a deadly coalition for Muslims, Christians and other minorities.
The world needs to urgently address India’s fascism and the imminent genocide of its minorities. As India continues to destabilize the region through its increasingly aggressive and imperialistic foreign policies, both its neighbors and the wider international community must take urgent action against the Indian Government to ensure that a second holocaust does not taint the human history. www.maldiviesnewsnetwork.com
