The Republic of India has been marked with secularism and is home to different ethnicities ranging from Hindus as the majority followed by Muslims as the biggest minorities. The other important minorities include Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, and Jains. The population divided according to the 2011 census on a religious basis is as follows:
| Religion | Population | Percentage |
| Hindus | 966,257,353 | 79.8% |
| Muslims | 172,245,158 | 14.2% |
| Christians | 27,819,588 | 2.3% |
| Sikhs | 20,833,116 | 1.72% |
| Buddhist | 8,442,972 | 0.7% |
| Jains | 4,451,753 | 0.37% |
| Others | 10,805,037 | 0.91% |
| Total | 1,210,854,977 | 100% |
These minorities have peacefully co-existed since the creation of the Indian state. Although there has been a noted pattern of violence against the minorities in past in form of movements and riots a surge in these activities has taken place since BJP came into power in 2014. From 2014-2022, this era has been marked by Saffron terror and the rise of intolerance against minorities mostly fueled by BJPs leadership and the RSS agenda of Hindutva. Saffron terrorism is a vital threat faced by all minorities of India, The cause of Hindutva is critical of the two biggest minorities of India, the Muslims, and the Christians. Golwalkar, one of the greatest ideological figures of RSS who headed the organization from 1940-1973 has defined these two minorities as the biggest threat to Hinduism in India.
BJP, a political affiliate of RSS, and Narendra Modi, a former member of RSS have a reputation for suppressing the minorities and one of the biggest examples can be traced back to the Gujarat riots when Modi was the Chief Minister of the state and Ayodhya movement when BJS backed RSS mob abolished the Babri Mosque to build a temple. Since the induction of the BJP into power again at center stage, major minorities are on the verge of chaos as threats prevail regarding their existence and their religious freedom. The controversial moves such as abolishing Article 370 and Article 35-A, which gives special status to India-Occupied Kashmir, and Citizen Amendment Act are marked as recent marginalization of minorities at the highest level. This marginalization can also be traced to grass root levels where the general public is losing their patience towards minorities due to the discourses created at the highest level. The negative and biased reporting of the Indian media has added fuel to the fire when it comes to intolerance towards minorities.
Muslims under brunt:
Since the BJP assumed office the policies of the government discriminate the Muslims from the rest of the population. Recent Assam floods were blamed on Muslims and a trend that followed took to the whole of India, where media channels and social media users leveled the charges against Muslims for destroying the embankment and causing the flood. This rumor made it to the tickers and headers of the news channel where the term ‘Flood Jihad’ was designed to run a propaganda campaign against Muslims. The 4 accused Muslims were arrested but later released on bail by the court but they face stiff threats from the community right now. The floods in Assam are usual in monsoon season but what remains constant other than floods is the negligence of local authorities in the maintenance of the embankments. However, the local administration was blunt enough to blame Muslims for their negligence this time and this has been accepted by the local police authority as well.
These theories like ‘Flood Jihad’ have been fed and floated by the ruling elites among the general public to divert the attention from their mismanagement and put a blame on a minority community taking advantage of the scenario created in the BJP era. The critics have blamed hate speech and misinformation for such events. These events were also observed during the Covid-19 outbreak in India. Muslims were blamed for spreading the pandemic and a religious gathering known as ‘Tableeghi Ijtema’ was targeted by media outlets by portraying it as a pandemic hub.
Based on such allegations hate speech was created against the biggest minority in India which was felt to the core of society when Muslims were denied admission the hospitals for health care. One such event happened at Mandanpura (a Muslim-majority area) where a Muslim citizen was denied admission to the local clinic despite going through the labor phase. She then went to Banaras Hindu University Hospital where she was denied admission too and she had to give birth just outside the hospital. Uttar Pradesh (UP) has been in the highlights due to violence against Muslims since BJP came into power and a radical Hindu monk; Yogi Adityanath assumed the office of Chief Minister. Muslims have also been blamed for forced conversions of Hindu girls. This gave arise to a term known as ‘Love Jihad’ targeting the holy concept of Jihad in Islam. Such incidences have been typically designed and engineered in order to spread hate and misconception about minorities among the masses in order to attain circumstances fruitful for the Hindutva cause.
Sikhs at receiving end:
The feud between Sikhs and Hindus is centuries old, it existed even before the independence but despite such disputes, both groups shared tolerance towards each other. However, these disputes reached a peak when despite assurances by Jawaharlal Nehru to protect Sikhs’ identity and culture, Sikhs were critically targeted by Hindu elites. From the Golden Temple incident to the current Farmers’ protest, Sikhs have been at the receiving end. This is the very reason for Sikhs joining hands with the Khalistan movement despite opposing it in the initial phases after independence. The demand of the Punjab state Sikhs was not met until 1966. This betrayal of Congress directed towards the Sikhs further ripened the seed of radicalization and marginalization on which the BJP capitalized. Sikhs were called ‘Parasites’ by PM of India Narendra Modi when they took to the roads upon protesting on controversial ‘Farmers Bill’. The BJP leadership blamed them as the stooges bearing the agenda of Khalistan. Such statements have called for international criticism of the authoritarian agenda followed by the BJP government. This hate speech has also spread abroad in foreign Diasporas of India. Vishal Jood an Indian student in Australia was deported to India after he was proven as an attacker of Sikhs settled in Australia. He was warmly welcomed in India and remarked as Patriot by the BJP’s leadership. Such events have paved the way for many to follow increasing intolerance.
Christians under suppression:
Christianity had made its significant presence in India over the years. There are various Christian-based educational institutes endorsing Hindu students as well. The state of Goa has a significant amount of Christian voters who are essential to the BJP’s success in the state. However, the RSS, which is also the parent organization of BJP, has a radical view regarding Christianity in India by taking it as a competitor to Hinduism. Bhagwat Mohan, current chief of RSS in October 2021 during a speech at an event of Dusshera laid emphasis on the demographic imbalance in India and presented a solution to this by presenting a policy restricting immigration and reducing the conversion rates. This speech was followed by a series of incidents where the mobs lead by subgroups of RSS took to the churches and demolished the structures along with disrespecting ‘fathers’ and molesting the Christian women. In Karnataka, members of Bajrang Dal disrupted a Christian prayer meeting, accusing the community of conversion. In Delhi, a warehouse converted Church was attacked by the mob and slogans were chanted ‘Shoot the traitors’.
In Uttarakhand, a Church was attacked and a Christian lady Pearl Lance was molested by the crowd. In the reports of Human Rights groups, more than 300 attacks took place in the first 9 months of 2021. 169 Anti-Christian violence incidents happened in 4 North states; 66 in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh, 47 in Congress-ruled Chattisgarh, 30 in tribal-dominated Jharkhand, and 30 in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh. At least nine Indian states have developed anti-conversion laws including Chattisgarh which is becoming a new Anti-Christian laboratory. BJP has blamed Congress for catching up on the Christian vote bank hence making Christians a prime target to rule out the Congress government from Chattisgarh. According to United Christian Forum (UCF), 486 instances of violence and harassment against Christians took place in India in 2021. There has been noted a 74% increase in violence against Christians as compared to 2020. The year 2021 has also been marked as the worst year for Christians in India.
Conclusion:
The fabric of secular India has been under severe threat since the BJP has been installed into power in 2014. Various controversial acts and bills passed by the Indian Parliament have put constraints on minorities and have been perceived as an identity threat to their existence. The Hindutva ideology and Hindu Rashtra that have been fueling the BJPs government are the major threats that have pushed minorities against the wall in the Indian mainstream. Regardless of the numeric strength of the minorities the biggest democracy in the world faces the biggest marginalization and radicalization in history.
[1] Golwalkar, M. S. “Our nationhood defined.” Nagpur, India: Bharat Prakashan (1939).
[2] MuslimMirror. 2022. “Assam: Five Muslims Falsely Arrested for Waging ‘Flood Jihad’, Released after 15 Days.” Muslim Mirror. August 4, 2022. https://muslimmirror.com/eng/assam-five-muslims-falsely-arrested-for-waging-flood-jihad-released-after-15-days/.
[3] “Everyday Communalism | Business Losses, Denied Healthcare— How ‘Covid Jihad’ Propaganda Hurt Muslims.” n.d. Www.youtube.com. Accessed August 7, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Up6io_WK5Ss.
[4] “Jawaharlal Nehru Had Blamed Sikh Arrogance for Hindu-Sikh Tensions.” 2021. OpIndia. October 16, 2021. https://www.opindia.com/2021/10/jawaharlal-nehru-had-blamed-sikh-arrogance-for-hindu-sikh-tensions-akali/.
[5] Human Rights Watch. 2021. “India: Government Policies, Actions Target Minorities.” Human Rights Watch. February 19, 2021. https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/02/19/india-government-policies-actions-target-minorities.
[6] “A Hindu Attacks Sikhs in Australia, Gets Hero’s Welcome in India.” 2021. South China Morning Post. October 22, 2021. https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3153355/why-did-hindu-who-attacked-sikhs-australia-receive-heros-welcome.
[7] Jafri, Neel Madhav, Alishan. n.d. “Why India Is Witnessing Spike in Attacks on Christians, Churches.” Www.aljazeera.com. Accessed February 17, 2022. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/2/india-christians-church-hindu-groups-bjp-conversion.
[8] Zargar, By: Haris, and Analysis. 2022. “Hindu Extremists Target India’s Christians.” New Frame. January 18, 2022. https://www.newframe.com/hindu-extremists-target-indias-christians/.
