The eastern Indian state of West Bengal, where a 75-year-old nun was gang-raped last week, is ruled by a party that is the very opposite of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which controls the federal government. Under the Indian constitution, law and order is a state subject. Yet if nobody treats the assault on the nun as part of violence against women or indicative of a general breakdown in law and order in the Trinamool Congress-run West Bengal, there are sufficient reasons. The most important is the conviction that the convent incident and a spate of attacks on churches in various parts of India that preceded it are all part of a disturbing pattern that has become all too evident in India after Narendra Modi came to power last year. There was a spurt in violent attacks against Muslims and Christians following the electoral victory of the BJP which even caught the attention of the international media. Since then, there have been hate campaigns, violence and open threats against minorities unleashed by Hindu hard-core organizations and some ruling party MPs and even federal ministers. Modi, as chief minister of Gujarat, was held responsible for the anti-Muslim pogrom that took place in his state in 2002. So his entry into national politics as BJP's prime ministerial candidate in last year's general election was viewed with much alarm by Muslims and liberal elements in Indian society. Though Modi did not campaign as a Hindu chauvinist, he did not try to rein in his followers from indulging in their favorite pastime of Muslim-bashing to consolidate the Hindu vote, especially in UP and Bihar, northern states with sizable Muslim populations. After his stunning election victory, we have been seeing two contradictory trends in India. At one end is Modi stressing on development and espousing the slogan “sab ka saat sab ka vikas” (inclusion and development for all). At the other is the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and other extremist Hindu groups affiliated to the BJP carrying on an orchestrated campaign against minorities with the prime minister not doing anything to stop them. Modi did not intervene even when a federal minister called all non-Hindus “illegitimate.” Then there was a campaign against “Love Jihad”, or what Hindu groups allege is a Muslim conspiracy to convert innocent Hindu girls into Islam after marrying them. Muslims are also being accused of trying to change the demographic complexion of India through multiple marriages. Modi himself, as chief minister, reportedly described the relief camps housing tens of thousands of displaced Muslims in Gujarat as "child-breeding centers". At the same time, conservative groups have been campaigning to convert to Hinduism members of "foreign religions" such as Islam and Christianity. "We will not let the conspiracy of church or mosque succeed in Bharat (India)," Hindu activist Rajeshwar Singh said, adding, “in 10 years we will convert all Christians and Muslims." Nearly a fifth of India's 1.27 billion people belong to faiths other than Hinduism. The large majority of them (175 million) are Muslims, making India home to the second largest Muslim population in the world after Indonesia. While nobody takes Singh's display of bravado seriously, it adds to the fears and anxieties of minorities. More worrying is Prime Minister Narendra Modi's silence when some of his followers challenge India's multi-faith constitutional commitment. Meanwhile, efforts are going on to denigrate Mahatma Gandhi for being “too soft on Muslims” and glorify his assassin Nathuram Vinayak Godse, some going as far as to erect temples in his name. History text books are being rewritten to eulogize Hindu kings and to malign Muslim rulers as religious zealots who destroyed Hindu temples to erect mosques in their place. But Modi continues to keep an intriguing silence. He intervened to condemn the attacks on churches in the capital city only after his party suffered a humiliating rout in the elections to Delhi legislature last month. Meanwhile, efforts are going on to denigrate Mahatma Gandhi for being “too soft on Muslims” and glorify his assassin Nathuram Vinayak Godse, some going as far as to erect temples in his name. History text books are being rewritten to eulogize Hindu kings and to malign Muslim rulers as religious zealots who destroyed Hindu temples to erect mosques in their place. But Modi continues to keep an intriguing silence. He intervened to condemn the attacks on churches in the capital city only after his party suffered a humiliating rout in the elections to Delhi legislature last month. To allow this political climate of hate and exclusion to continue will prove detrimental to the interests of all. Development for even a chosen few will prove elusive. If Modi's aim is to make India strong economically and politically, the best way to achieve it is not to allow the country to splinter on religious lines. As the RSS brought Modi into politics as a young man and its foot soldiers helped cement his May election victory, he may find it difficult to disown it, but he can distance himself from its most outlandish statements and outrageous claims.
