By Don Aguiar

Mumbai, Jan 27, 2023: In India this Republic Day far-right Hindu narratives have become more mainstream and brazen than the last year. Hindu nationalist narratives dominate the political and mainstream media discourse in India clamping the Constitutional freedom guaranteed to all citizens and in particular to the minorities.

When Narendra Modi became Prime Minister in 2014 with the powerful Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Hindu-centric narratives took centre stage in mainstream media. The BJP came to power by saying that “Hindus are demographically and culturally threatened by Muslims and Christians,” even though nearly four out of five Indians identify as Hindu. Figures aside, Indian Christians, and Muslims, alongside other religious minorities, have contributed for centuries to build the melting pot of cultures that India is today.

As India is home to dozens of cultures and languages, the BJP has used “Hindutva” to cast a wide net for Hindu voters. Hindutva is an ideology that fuses Indian and Hindu identities to create an ethno religious state and actively discard India’s secularist values that are enshrined in the constitution. Hindutva is the belief that India is inherently a Hindu nation, and this narrative poses a risk of ethnic cleansing to Indian Christians, Muslims and other minorities. Centring Hindu supremacy, and its corollary, Christian conversion and Islamophobia, is also politically convenient in concealing the country’s worsening economic or political issues.

The BJP’s grasp on power hinders the development of a credible political opposition and the controlled press, so there is not much room for diverse content and narratives. Critics and journalists who express different views than those of the government are dubbed anti-national, threatened, jailed…..

Hindutva also has the potential to spill over and encompass expansionist ideologies. After Russia attacked Ukraine, the same groups that promote Hindutva immediately shared narratives about a “United India,” which would en globe other South Asian countries — particularly Pakistan — and the disputed territories of Kashmir. This discourse was trending in India and could potentially be reignited by future triggers.

Modi and other politicians who push for Hindutva are seen as alpha male leaders who can make India a world superpower and lead the country to prosperity.

This year 2023, India will be hosting the G20 Summit in New Delhi. The event will probably boost pro-Modi narratives that paint the Prime Minister as a superhero on the global scene and the BJP as India’s savior. There will also be key legislative elections in 10 states, which might see a hardening of narratives that portray Indian Muslims and Christians as outsiders.

Even though Modi will maybe try to clean up his image internationally, a common narrative is that India is a sovereign nation and usually has the ‘no one can tell us what to do’ attitude.

India is a big economic market and is seen as a stable government in South Asia to do business with, particularly with Silicon Valley. This means that despite the hardening of these harmful narratives and an emboldened right-wing population that is flaunting minority rights, clamping the Constitutional freedom guaranteed to all citizens, worsening economic issues, Modi, his government, and his followers might get away with what they are doing.

This is the time of year when we mindlessly turn into evangelists of fads. Maimed in our thinking of Modi’s false promises and cut throat capitalism, we bite the hands that feeds us and vote into power the very politicians that are predatory towards our own strata in society. We worship at temples, synagogues, mosques and churches where ministers and priests, in the name of God, lace sermons with social commentary advocating the stripping of human rights, and reducing us into hapless folks.

Which takes us to this incident from the rest house adjacent to the Kombaru sanctuary in Karnataka.

A leopard was chasing the dog. The dog entered the toilet through a window. The toilet was closed from the outside. The leopard entered behind the dog, and both got stuck in the toilet. When the dog saw the leopard, he panicked and quietly sat in one corner. He didn’t even dare to bark.

Even though the leopard was hungry and was chasing the dog, he didn’t eat the dog. He could have had his dinner by tearing off the dog in one leap.

But the two animals were together in different corners for almost twelve hours. During these twelve hours, the leopard was also quiet. The forest department zeroed in on the leopard and captured him using a remote injection gun (a form of veterinary anaesthesia).

Now the question is, why didn’t the hungry leopard tear off the dog when it was easily possible?

The wildlife researchers responded to this question: According to them, wildlife is very sensitive to its freedom. As soon as they realize their liberty has been taken away, they can feel deep sorrow, so much so that they can forget their hunger. Their natural motivation to feed the stomach begins to fade away.

As a human we too need freedom in various ways……freedom of speech, expression, religion and belief, food, think and act, but if our liberty is taken away we forget the need for freedom…..

If we look at the idea of freedom more broadly, it is connected with happiness. And the secret of happiness is freedom. Freedom and happiness are connected. Freedom to think, act and live in a way that we wish.

From 2014 onwards freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution have been steadfastly been curtailed in India resulting in the global happiness index of India dropping very near the bottom as the liberty of the people in India are taken away, so much so that they forget freedom of speech, expression, religion and belief, food, think and act.……. But just follow and support the prime minister and his party blindly.