Hindu Fascism
Inspired by European fascism, the Hindutva movement in India has been described as a variant of right-wing extremism, and as "almost fascist in the classical sense", adhering to a concept of homogenised majority and cultural hegemony. Some have also described Hindutva as a separatist ideology.
According to Amit Singh of The European Consortium for Political Research, Hindutva is an ethnic form of nationalism. Since 1925, the right-wing Hindu nationalist paramilitary organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has been its most staunch proponent.
Singh goes on to say that RSS is radically far-right, hierarchical, authoritarian, and founded on the premise of Hindu supremacy. Hindu nationalism seeks uniformity through the imposition of Hindi language, Hindu religion, Hindu mythology, and unquestioned loyalty to the nation. On different levels, it seeks to repress dissenting views, and to expunge religious pluralism and secularism from political discourse.
Since the nationalist BJP Party came to power under Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, several moves by the government appear to attack Indian multiculturalism and commitment to democratic principles and to change the secular nature of India into a purely Hindu state.
The government is pursuing a strictly anti-Muslim agenda that in some cases violate generally accepted human rights norms.
According to The Guardian website, school textbooks are being rewritten to reinforce the BJP’s Hinduist agenda. Topics like the theory of evolution and the periodic table have been replaced with traditional Hindu theories, and academics have been silenced for calling the BJP’s election malpractices.
The government has weaponized education, and India now ranks 161st out of 180 countries with respect to freedom of the press – sandwiched between Venezuela and Russia.
Muslims are not the only victims.
Since Prime Minister Modi came to power, hate crimes against minorities have increased by 300%. Hundreds of incidents of violence against Christians are reported by various organizations every year. India's ministry of internal security and its National Commission for Minorities (NCM) officially list more than a hundred religiously motivated attacks against Christians each year.
This figure is probably low since, according to human rights observers, only 10% of attacks are ever registered and reported.
Buddhists are also victims of Hindufascism even though they have been in India for centuries. Many adherents of Buddhism have experienced religious persecution because of their adherence to the Buddhist practice, including unwarranted arrests, imprisonment, beating, torture, and/or execution.
The term Hindufascism may also be used in reference to the confiscation or destruction of property, temples, monasteries, centers of learning, meditation centers, historical sites, or the incitement of hatred towards Buddhists.
Some may argue that India has never been a true democracy in view of its rigid caste system that has kept tens of millions brutally persecuted and suppressed. Oppression of minorities, including the lower castes, has been a constant in Indian history given the rigidity of Hinduism, and the idea of a multicultural and pluralistic state has never been the Indian reality. One must recall that the father of Indian independence Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated by a Hindu nationalist angered by Gandhi’s goal of including Muslims as equals in the emerging Indian state.
One can also argue that the Nehru/Gandhi dynasty that governed India for decades underscores the fact that real democracy has eluded the country since independence in 1947.
Prime Minister Modi’s India is a logical outcome of the Hindu nationalism that has always motivated most Hindus and it is now simply institutionalizing traditional beliefs into institutions of governance.
I don’t doubt that Hindu fascism will transcend India’s borders, and it does motivate the government’s foreign policy and its goal of making India a global superpower.
Indian interference in foreign elections, such as the Canadian Conservative Party’s last leadership contest, the last Canadian general election, as well as the assassination of a Sikh nationalist leader in Canada, underscores the fact that Hindu fascism is finding ways to flex its geopolitical muscles.
And this is cause for concern.