Dr Nishant A. Irudayadason
Professor of Philosophy and Ethics, Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth, Pune.

Threats to critics and journalists, monitoring of culture, violence against religious minorities, all these are pointers to the Indian democracy being challenged by art nationalist Hindu nationalism. Along with democracy, the very idea of a diverse and tolerant India is being challenged. Ever since 2014, inter-community violence has been on the rise according to the report of two NGOs: Centre for the Study of society and secularism (CSSS) in India and the International Minority Rights Group (MRG).Organized for decades, but boosted by the coming to power of the BJP, Hindu extremist groups today aggressively promote Hindutva (“Hinduism”), a religious nationalism which claims “the purification of society.” According to them, India can regenerate itself only by becoming a 100 percent Hindu nation. Hence a growing hostility towards minority religions (Islam and Catholicism in particular), perceived as foreign invasions.
The threats of Hindu fundamentalists are not to be taken lightly. Several personalities critical of the Hindutva have in fact been assassinated in the past few years: Doctor Narendra Dabholkar in 2013, then the academic MM Kalburgi, the politician Govind Pansare in 2015, journalist Gauri Lankesh in 2017. These assassinations constitute a chilling warning to all dissenting voices, especially to rationalists and critics. Many social activists and defenders of human rights have been arrested. Among them are the poet Varavara Rao, sympathizer of the Maoist cause and the landless, Sudha Bharadwaj, an academic who defends the tribal populations, and very recently Fr Stan Swamy aged 83, a relentless defender of tribal rights. Often, they are framed with baseless charges of instigating Violence.
Hindu nationalism also tries to combat Western socio-cultural influences. They also speak out against Indian women who wear jeans – deemed indecent – while the government urges the fashion industry to promote traditional clothing and not Western fashion. For his part, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, who defends a retrograde view of women, has set up “anti-Romeo” police squads. They are supposed to monitor harassers of women, but in reality, they target young people who meet in public places. Several people were thus attacked or arrested by these brigades which, according to journalist Namita Bhandare, aim to police the women above all. But this moralizing policy, which dictates what it is forbidden to do or wear, goes badly with young people, who denounce it on social networks or the Youth Ki Awaaz site (“the voice of youth”).
As for Indian journalists, they find it increasingly difficult to do their job. Many have received threats of violence or death. Many activists and bloggers are targets of insults – often sexist when it comes to women – launched by an army of nationalist trolls present on social networks and using the same elements of language. A group close to the government has also been set up to monito social media posts. Threats of defamation lawsuits, as well as growing media censorship, help to restrict freedom of press.
The intellectuals are concerned about the authoritarian drift of the government and the stifling of critical voices in the country. Since 2014, civil society organizations have been targeted by restrictive measures: the government has deprived more than 10,000 associations and institutions of their foreign funding for not having respected the regulations. Among them are the NGOs Greenpeace India and Citizens for Justice and Peace – often critical of governments – as well as three universities in the capital (Jawaharlal Nehru University, University of Delhi, Indira Gandhi National Open University), the Gandhi Peace Foundation and several large schools and research institutes. This legal measure serves to muzzle “critical voices.” Harassment of religious minorities, surveillance of young people, intimidation of student leaders and lawyers, attacks on press, arrests of intellectuals and champions of human rights, cold blooded murders of vocal critics of Hindutva ideology – all these contribute to creating a poisonous atmosphere in the country.