I was told I’d be killed if I didn’t leave: Himalayan state is a testing ground for Modi’s nationalism

Courtesy: The Guardian

Publishing date: 14 April 2024

1. “While Modi has denied allegations that it will rewrite the secular constitution to enshrine India as a Hindu-first country, political observers have pointed to Uttarakhand as a stark window on what a Modi third term could mean for India’s fragile secular democracy. It was in 2021 in Haridwar, Uttarakhand’s holiest city, that a gathering known as a dharma sansad, or religious parliament, was organised by hardline Hindu groups and attended by BJP figures. Here, Hindu priests made explicit threats against Muslims in the state, calling to “kill 2 million” of them, and stating Hindus should be “prepared to die or be prepared to kill”. The call made in one of the speeches for every Hindu to “participate in this cleansing” prompted warnings from an internationally renowned genocide expert that “a possible Muslim genocide” could be impending in India.”
2. “In 2022, laws were passed against religious conversion to counteract so-called “love jihad” – an unfounded conspiracy suggesting that Muslim men were tricking Hindu women into marrying them and forcibly converting them to Islam – which resulted in Muslim men being targeted by police. In a bid to crack down on “land jihad”, another unproven conspiracy that Muslims were stealing state land to build mosques and property, the state began a demolition drive against Muslims’ places of worship.”
3. “Even after the policy was officially halted, over the past two years hundreds of mosques, Muslim shrines and tombs have been flattened. Rightwing Hindu vigilante groups and social media influencers have also been demolishing shrines and smashing Muslim graves across the state. Recently, Uttarakhand became the first state in India to impose a uniform civil code – overriding decades of religions being allowed to follow their own cultural laws on issues such as marriage and inheritance – which scholars fear will be used to target Muslim cultural and religious freedoms. The BJP has pledged to introduce it nationally if re-elected.”