Hindu Nationalism Podcast

The podcast discusses how Hinduism has gained a powerful role in the government of India, leading to religious nationalism and discrimination against Muslims. It traces the history of religious coexistence in India, the British Raj, the partition of India and Pakistan, and the rise of Hindu nationalist ideologies. It highlights the leadership of Narendra Modi and his focus on Hindu identity and nationalism. It also mentions the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens, which exclude Muslims and make them stateless. The summary also mentions the construction of Hindu temples on former mosque sites and the prohibition of beef consumption. Hi, everyone. Welcome back to the Radio Bullets podcast. My name is Toni Anizzo. I am the New Yorker, living in Rome for the summer. And from here on out, my podcast will discuss religion, ethics, and politics at an international standpoint. For today's episode in particular, we will be talking about the very populous country of India and delving into how the religion of the majority, that is Hinduism, of course, has taken a more powerful role in their government than was ever intended by their constitution. The strong presence of religious nationalism in this country, also known as Hindutva, has made it unsafe for people of other faiths, more specifically, those of the Islamic faith, and led to hateful and violent nature that can be felt in many parts of the country. Now, you're going to need a little back story because in order to fully understand the dire situation India is in today, it is important to understand how they even got there to begin with. So there was a time in history where the British ruled India. Before the British had a rule of India, also known as the period of the British Raj between 1858 and 1947, there were people of all faiths that resided in India. Now, this is Sikhs, Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, Christians, anything and everything. It was a large cultural and religious hub of the world. While the majority was still Hindus, everyone co-existed pretty peacefully. This, of course, includes the Muslims and the Hindus as well. It wasn't perfect. I wouldn't say they had a perfect co-existence, but it was bearable and understandable and acceptable. When the British Raj began, they were slightly overwhelmed with the large population of India, so they decided to separate them in groups. The Hindus were the majority group and the Muslims were the largest minority group. All those other faiths did not have much say in anything or did not seem like really a threat, perhaps to anyone because of their small size. This very old tactic of divide and conquer was the start of the downfall and annihilation of peaceful co-existence. They really hit all the points dividing them by religion, caste, and even going so far as to give them separate electorates, pitting people who once believed in a singular unified nation against each other. Again, I want to just stress that while their differences have always kept them a little distant from one another, it was never something out of the ordinary before the British Raj. It wasn't nothing like you wouldn't see today, let's just say, where two groups of people from different religions and how they interact with one another. Of course, it's hopefully peaceful, but there are just some things you cannot relate on. You can only try to understand as best as you can. But like I said, when the British Raj came, they really focused on the separation because they were intimidated by the size of India and how many people were there and how many religions were there. So in order for them to better grip the whole nation, they had to separate them into smaller populations. So now we're going to fast forward a little bit to about 1947. This is towards the end of the British Raj when they decided it was finally time to leave India. The nation was separated into two separate countries at this point, India and Pakistan, both West and East. Because of the separation of territories and India being a Hindu majority and the new Pakistan being a Muslim majority, this left people just separated into places they never thought they would be. This ultimately did lead to a mass migration of 15 million people who left places their families had been for what was probably hundreds and thousands of years. Historians say there were half a million to two million lives that were claimed in the bloodshed that came from this migration. Though no one was forced to leave, many felt their lives would be better off in their own religious majority countries, which is completely understandable. However, those that did not choose to migrate, the Muslims that felt it was better to stay were more vulnerable than ever because their numbers in India were now very low compared to the Hindu majority. With India's new independence, Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi, who they referred to as their founding fathers, wanted a secular country, meaning there would be no religious involvement in their country, and that put people, for the most part, having the right to be a part of any religion they like. Also, disregard if I butchered those names. Count back to three. However, Gandhi's position in government after their independence was extremely short-lived. In 1948, he was assassinated by a former member of the Rashtriya Swamizadek Sangh, or RSS, which is a male-only society that pushes the religious nationalism of India being an entirely Hindu nation, very opposite of what Nehru and Gandhi wanted for India in the first place. Fast-forwarding then to the early 2000s, specifically 2001, a man named Narendra Modi was sworn in as the state chief minister of Gujarat, India. He served in that position for 13 years, then moved on to national politics. Modi is a part of the Bharata Janata Party, the BJP, which is a political party that has led to increased visibility and influence of Hindu nationalist ideologies. Now, Modi himself is a former member of the RSS, the group I mentioned just a few minutes ago. They're an extremist group in support of Hindu religious nationalism. When he was running for national office, his timing was almost kind of impeccable because the Congress-led coalition government at that time was not highly respected by Indians. Many felt the government was weak, corrupt, and therefore unlikely to win again, leaving a perfect spot for Modi to come in. When people distrust their government, that is the time to strike. They're looking for a strong leader that they can trust and one that will follow through on promises, so that is just what Modi did. Among the promises he made were bringing toilets to rural areas and bank accounts to everyone. Though some may have doubted his ability to do it, he followed through so well, in fact, that there was one week so many bank accounts were opened that it actually made it into the Guinness Book of World Records. People that did not even agree with his Hindu nationalist ideologies still wanted him in office because they now had bank accounts and many other things that their past leaders have never even given them. So many people at the end of the day do vote with their pockets before anything else. His timing, his follow through on his promises, and his overall strong leader energy and vibe that he projected during his campaign landed him a seat as Prime Minister of India. His leadership has allowed him to push the values of the BJP on the country and his core values of the RSS as well. Closer to today. Another fast forward. COVID-19 brought down India's economy and like many other countries, economically, but unlike many countries, the economy was a big part of why he made it into office in the first place. Into his second term as Prime Minister, Modi joined forces with another member of government, Amit Shah, in order to stress the Hindu identity and move away from the economic standpoint in which he initially ran. This is something we see frequently with politicians, where they'll back something or make something the cornerstone of their campaign. And then once they're in office, they'll either shift that to something else. Or when they go for re-election, they'll shift their opinion or perspective or their cornerstone again, in accordance with what the public needs at that time, which is good, because it's staying up to date with the times. But it's also bad because it makes you question the legitimacy of their standpoints on certain issues. So now, where the power lack in economy, he was trying to make up for it in religion. He wanted to take away different castes and have a united front of Hindu voters that supported him and Hindu nationalism. Modi even went so far as to create a Citizenship Amendment Act, also known as the CAA, that was passed in 2019, that states that Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Parsis, and Sikhs who had migrated from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, or Pakistan to India prior to 2014, are no longer considered illegal immigrants and can more readily achieve citizenship. Do you notice anyone missing there? Well, yes. Muslims are missing there. He began conducting a list that compiled the National Register of Citizens, also known as the NRC, in order to separate genuine citizens from illegal immigrants. According to BBC News, this NRC would make 1.9 million people stateless overnight. The majority of them are, of course, Muslim. To take care of these people that would be stateless, Modi has begun building camps that would hold the people that are deemed foreigners by the new CAA. He is making these policies where he is just discluding a whole group of people, and it's astonishing that these are getting passed. But at the time this was passed, the majority of people for their Congress, their Parliament, the majority of the people were a part of the BJP party. They held majority of the party at that time. So it was easy for Modi to pass these policies that are rooted in Hindu nationalism as opposed to ones that are rooted in human policies that would include everyone. Even had gone so far as to list out pretty much every other religion except Islam. Modi is building Hindu temples on the same land in which mosques used to stand, showing people that they're no longer welcome there and that they're trying to push them out. New laws are also prohibiting the consumption of beef as cows are considered very holy in Hinduism. Vigilante groups have been attacking cow transporters, lynching, killing, and harassing them because of their job or consuming beef. They're not getting in trouble for it either. In fact, a documentary by Vice News shows that they actually have support from the police and tell the cameraman to turn off the cameras when they're beating up two cow transporters on camera. In this same documentary, a story of a Hindu man who was just accused of eating beef was murdered by mobs of people, yet there was no evidence or any remnants of beef that could be found after he was killed by other Hindus. There was no justice for him or his family by any court of law or police. In India, there's religion over reason and it is safer to be a cow than a human. Making laws prohibiting the consumption or transportation of beef is ridiculous in a country where the constitution gives people of any faith the space to practice their religion and consume what they want. Just because Hindus don't eat beef or see cows as sacred does not mean the entire country should also have to follow this rule. It is simply another tactic for the BJP to further the divide between Hindus and Muslims in hopes to drive Muslims out of India and get all Hindu-Indians on the same page of hate and violence to bring them all together. The hate that the government is practically supporting is trickling down to something that is supposed to be joyous like music, for example. According to a DW documentary, a style of music that is currently known as Hindutva pop has taken the nation by storm and has millions of listeners. This music promotes hate speech with some lyrics saying things like, Abdul uncle, you are a tenant here. Why should we tolerate you? And make your mosque somewhere else. This is Lord Ram's home. Another law that has been passed by Yogi Adityanath, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, is one that prohibits inter-religious marriages between Muslims and Hindus. To say that out loud, I would think I was referring to a law that occurred such a long time ago. Not one passed just in the last few years. This sounds like something out of a history book and not one out of a recent newspaper. However, there is some hope. After the CAA was passed, protesters of all faiths took to fight it across the country. When the government saw how the people of India responded to it, they pulled back the reins on the NCR and several chief ministers of different states have said they would not support the CAA. Today, the divide is still strong and public officials are becoming more and more comfortable discriminating against Muslims in India. Many people are even going so far as to say that the current state of India is borderline fascism and not really a democracy at all. Vice News had a discussion with Dr. Shashi Tharoor, a Hindu historian and author who served at the United Nations under Secretary General who is now an opposition member of India's parliament. He explains that the difference between the divide of Muslims and Hindus have had in the past and today is that the government was secular in the past and today the government is the BJP, a party that comes from an ideological background. The government is feeding into the divide as opposed to being an unbiased secular entity. The basis as a party is that the party does not support the equality principles written in the constitution because they believe in Hindu nationalism. Dr. Tharoor also goes on to say how some of the history books are being rewritten so that battles that were lost by Hindus to Muslims are now considered victories. The BJP did just recently, before the election just happened, not too long ago held majority of the positions in the national government and majority of the positions in critical state governments and three of the highest ranking officials of the BJP, including the prime minister, were all former members of the RSS. The Wire, an Indian news source, has reported the growing similarities between Modi's India and Hitler's third Reich by the day. If that does not express how bad things have become and the rate at which they are progressing, I genuinely just don't know what will. In this recent election, just a couple weeks ago, many were left surprised. The Indian people voted Modi in again but did not vote in the majority of parliament seats to be held by the BJP party. This is huge because Modi has never been in government where the majority of the parliament seats were not held by people of his own party. This will hopefully promote peace in their nation as they will now have a more legitimate democracy because Modi will no longer have these yes-men be the majority of congress. There will now be a chance to hear from and see opposing sides represented in their government. Both Hinduism and Islam aim to promote peace amongst humanity and right now it is so far from that and one can only hope that the future and new government will really make a big difference and at this point all we can do is wait and see. I hope you guys learned a little something here today and were able to take away the importance of stopping religious nationalism in India and realize the damage it has already done. Anyways, thanks for listening. I hope you all tune in again and I'll talk to you all soon. Bye.