2 weeks Ago
On March 25, 2025, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) issued a report exposing the notorious activities of the Indian spy agency, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), against religious minorities and demanding targeted sanctions against it. India, a country which once took great pride in its secularism and religious plurality, is increasingly becoming a bigot state under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. As per the findings of the report, besides its involvement in extra-territorial killings of pro-separatist Sikh leaders, RAW is also actively involved in covert surveillance and disinformation campaigns against the dissenters.
The report also underlines Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s hateful speech campaigns against religious minorities with Modi being the top purveyor. According to India Hate Lab, a Washington based research group, the hate speech incidents soared to 74% during 2024, peaking during the general elections. Unfortunately, the country’s minority groups, particularly Muslims have always been the primary target of Modi’s Hindutva-influenced policies.
During his 2024 election campaign, Modi, who boasted of “no question of discrimination in democracy like India” during his 2023 visit to White House, called Muslims “infiltrators” who “have more children”. Modi’s hatred against the Muslims is not limited to mere hate speech; his administration is taking concrete measures to disempower Muslims, depriving them of their basic rights. In the year 2023, the Modi government ended a 13-year fellowship programme that allowed students from minorities to pursue MPhil and PhD degrees.
The majority of the Maulana Azad scholarship recipients were Muslims, who were among the most educationally disadvantaged among minorities. PM lauds Punjab CM’s relief package for wheat farmers Modi’s Hindutva-driven agenda is also infiltrating the education institutions, leaving Muslim students particularly vulnerable. One tragic case that exemplifies this growing crisis is the death of Faizan Ahmed, a third-year mechanical engineering student at the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur.
According to the autopsy report, the boy received gunshot wounds, multiple stab injuries, and trauma from a heavy object to the chest which raises serious questions about the safety of minority students in educational institutions. In addition, significant changes in school textbooks have also been made to reflect a more Hindu-centric curriculum. BJP-led state governments have introduced elements of Hindu scripture and philosophy into the school curriculum, like the Bhagavad Gita and teachings from Hindu epics.
There have also been reports about the removal of content in 2024 that previously highlighted Mahatma Gandhi’s disagreements with Hindutva leaders during India’s freedom movement, the Indian government’s 1948 ban of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh – a Hindu nationalist, paramilitary volunteer organisation that is considered the parent organisation of the BJP said to have significant influence on its policies – and references to Gandhi’s assassin’s ties with the organisation. This is clearly a move towards the ideological shaping of young minds in alignment with the Hindutva beliefs. This ideological shift will only cultivate a generation that is increasingly intolerant and divided, reinforcing the notion that only one identity is truly Indian and pushing the minorities completely to the periphery.
PM vows to crush terrorism in key law and order meeting Sarah Ameer –The writer is a freelance columnist. Tags: bjp war.
