The Politicalisation Of Religion In India

After the partition in 1947, India decided to tread the path of secularism. Back then, all was as normal as should be in India. As time passed, while pretending to be a secular country, India openly started to violate the rights of minorities. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that came to power in 2014 began to treat minorities as sub-humans and created a tussle among Hindus, Muslim and Sikhs.

Narendra Modi’s second term in the government has been particularly difficult for Indian Muslims. The BJP, a pro-Hindu political party of post-independence India, has enjoyed broad support among members of the higher castes and in northern India. It has attempted to attract support from lower castes, particularly through the appointment of several lower-caste members to prominent party positions. The incumbent president of India is a case in point.

The party’s second term in power has been marked by swift and heavy-handed actions. In August 2019, the BJP-led government stripped Jammu and Kashmir of its autonomy and in October brought the former state under the direct control of the union government. Communications and movement in the territory were severely restricted during the transition.

Over the past five years of Modi’s term as prime minister, Hindu nationalist politicians from the BJP have renamed Indian towns, streets, airports and one of the country’s biggest train stations. Names that reflected Muslim heritage have with replaced with those that capture Hindu nationalism. In doing so, they are revising the map of India and trying to rewrite its history. For example, last year, the government changed the name of Allahabad to Prayagraj — a reference to the Hindu pilgrimage site. The name Allahabad dated to the 16th century, a legacy of a Muslim ruler, the Mughal Emperor Akbar. “Today, the BJP government has rectified the mistake made by Akbar,” a BJP official was quoted as saying when the name was altered.

In a recent news, the Bharatiya Janata Party forcedly tried to change the name of a train connecting Bangluru and Mysuru from ‘Tipu Express’ to ‘Wodeyar Express’. In response to this, All India Muslim-e-Ittehaldul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi slammed them over their remarks and said they will never allow the BJP to erase Tipu Sultan’s legacy.

The government is also trying to rename some prominent heritage sites. For example, Hindu extremists filed a case in the Supreme Court of India, for transforming the Taj Mahal into ‘Ram Mahal’, Lal Qila into ‘Ram Qila’ and Babri Mosque into ‘Ram Mandir’ because it was deity Rama’s birthplace and was a mandir for several years.

In a recent news, the Bharatiya Janata Party forcedly tried to change the name of a train connecting Bangluru and Mysuru from ‘Tipu Express’ to ‘Wodeyar Express’. In response to this, All India Muslim-e-Ittehaldul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi slammed them over their remarks and said they will never allow the BJP to erase Tipu Sultan’s legacy.

Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Bilawal Bhutoo-Zardari also condemned the barbarism over Muslim in India in the United Nations General Assembly, as “the RSS’ hate filled Hindutva ideology has unleashed a reign of fear and violence against India’s 200 million strong Muslim minority, the largest minority in the world.” Further, he says, “unfortunately, in my neighboring state of India, the once secular country, as a home for all his communities is transforming into a Hindu supremacist state at the expense of its Muslim and Christian communities.”

The politicalisation of religion in India should be condemned. The humanitarian organizations along with regional powers should step in to stop the reign of fear and violence against minorities in India.