5 days of BJP LS poll win, 5 cases of hate crime; Civil society fears India’s democratic values in peril – By Nachiketa Desai

The spectacular victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has shell-shocked a section of the civil society which has been championing the cause of a secular democratic republic envisioned by the founders of the Constitution.

This section of the civil society, howsoever miniscule it may be, fears that with its brute majority in the parliament and a much weakened Opposition, the NDA government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will continue unhindered towards its goal of replacing the secular democratic republic with ‘Hindu Rashtra’. In this ‘Hindu Rashtra’, there will be supremacy of the majority Hindus over all other minorities such as Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Jains and even the Adivasis who have their own distinct way of life and beliefs.

This fear is founded on the overt actions of the BJP and the Sangh Parivar since the demolition of the Babri masjid in Ayodhya and the recent public utterances by PM Modi and BJP national president Amit Shah. In their election speeches, both Modi and Shah have targeted Muslims and Pakistan in the same breath. Shah had even equated Muslims with ‘termites’ who, he said, would be wiped out – “chun chun ke khatam karna hoga.”…

https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/opinion/5-days-of-bjp-ls-poll-win-5-cases-of-hate-crime-civil-society-fears-indias-democratic-values-in-peril

SEE ALSO:

• Hate in the Air? The BJP’s victory has been followed by worrying attacks on Muslims – By Gautam Benegal (May 29, 2019, Dailyo.in)
  https://www.dailyo.in/election/narendra-modi-lok-sabha-2019-bjp-hindutva-hindu-voters-lynchings-gau-rakshaks-muslims-in-india/story/1/30914.html
• How India’s BJP cultivated a Muslim front for its Hindu nationalism – By Aman Madan (May 30, 2019, Washington Post)
  https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/05/30/how-indias-bjp-cultivated-muslim-front-its-hindu-nationalism/
• How Did Hindutva Nationalism Become Popular? – By EPW Engage (May 30, 2019, EPW)
  https://www.epw.in/engage/article/how-did-hindutva-nationalism-become-popular
• Modi as the karmayogi: How the prime minister has modelled himself as a new-age Hindu ascetic – By Chandrima Chakraborty (May 29, 2019, Scroll.in)
  https://scroll.in/article/925041/modi-as-the-karmayogi-how-the-prime-minister-has-modelled-himself-as-a-new-age-hindu-ascetic