Can AIMIM Replace INC as an Antidote for Hindutva?
While AIMIM still has a long way to go in establishing itself as a national political party representative of Indian Muslims, as well as all Indians, and becoming a bearer of Indian secularist principles, the progressive outreach of AIMIM to other Indian states is indicative of its ambitions to play a larger role in Indian national politics. The more the political fray move towards the right with BJP and INC both canvassing for more votes by appealing to hard and soft Hindutva concerns, the likelihood of an emergence of an all-India pan-Muslim political party, advocating the preservation of secular India, cannot be ruled.
Indian Security Laws & Human Rights
Although the Indian constitution guarantees that the disparate set of tribes, ethnicities, and religions are part of the whole Indian nationalism, Indian sovereignty is challenged since the post-colonial establishment of the nation-state by the restive population. To confront these disparate set of security challenges to its territorial integrity and security of the state, the Indian government enacted various legislations which are presumably per the letter and spirit of the Indian constitution and international human rights accord to which India is a signatory, but in practice are more in the spirit of a draconian legislative armour of the state to fight the separatists’ challenges with a hardened approach.
The Sangh Parivar; An Emerging Threat for the West
The Parivar proclaims an ideology of “Hindutva”, aimed at ensuring Hinduism’s predominance in Indian society, politics, and culture, which it promotes through tactics that include violence and terror. The Sang Parivar got representation in the political domain through the Bharatiya Janata Party. The Bajrang Dal and the Vishnu Hindu Parishad (VHP-World Hindu Council) are the Sangh Parivar’s major organizations. The VHP served as the bridge between RSS and sympathetic religious leaders formed in 1964 to unite different Hindu Groups.
Shaheen Bagh Verdict: The Murder of Public Dissent in India
The Supreme Court decision is certainly setting up a norm for such protests when stating that any future protests will now be liable to the Court’s statement and must not take place indefinitely in areas not designated by the state. For the religious minorities set to suffer under the Citizen’s Amendment Act, this sets a devastating precedent. Not only is their citizenship status in jeopardy but also their right to peacefully gather and protest the laws which threaten their continued presence in the country.
Silencing Dissent: India, Hindutva and the Struggle for Truth
In late September, it has been reported that Amnesty International India (AI) is suspending its work in the country in the face of prevalent governmental in what they called “witch-hunting” to pressure AI into halting its work on highlighting gross human rights violations by the Indian state within India and in the internationally disputed territory of Kashmir.
Ram Mandir and the Kashmir Conundrum
The Bharatiya Janta Party or its abbreviation, BJP by which it is commonly known as, on the 5th of August