‘Structurally, we have already arrived at a Hindu Rashtra’ – Aakar Patel with Ziya Us Salam
At a time when to write itself is often to rebel, the columnist Aakar Patel has made bold to pen Our Hindu Rashtra: What It Is. How We Got Here, a scathing criticism of the Hindutva politics of exclusion, hate and violence. Patel, who was the executive director of Amnesty International India until November 2019, reckons that “structurally we have already arrived [at a Hindu Rashtra]” as it does not need any changes in the Constitution.
He also busts the myth of Muslim appeasement and states that the Babri Masjid judgment was one that deprived Muslims of the mosque “through subterfuge and outright theft”. Of the state’s increasing tendency to slap sedition charges on social activists, writers and journalists, he says: “Today, the Indian state’s right to restrict freedom is more important than the right of citizens to enjoy them.”
Aakar Patel is a well-known critic of the Narendra Modi government and a prominent figure on social media. He took a few questions from Frontline about his new book….
