The Economist - USA (2022-05-14)

The Economist May 14th 2022 33

Asia

India

Saffron nation

T

he patternis plain to see. On the occa­
sion of a religious festival, youths affil­
iated  to  the  sangh parivar, or  the  Hindu­
nationalist  “family  of  organisations”,
march  through  a  densely  packed  slum.
When the rowdy young men, sporting saf­
fron­coloured  clothes  or  flags  and  bran­
dishing  swords,  reach  a  mostly  Muslim
neighbourhood,  their  chants  turn  to
taunts  and  insults.  Muslim  boys  start
throwing  stones.  In  the  ensuing  fight
shops get looted, houses burned and lives
lost.Reporters  tally  the  damage.  This  is
typically  lopsided,  inverting  the  propor­
tions  of  India’s  79%  Hindu  majority  and
15%  Muslim  minority.  No  matter.  The
sanghgleefully choruses its mantra: “Hin­
dus are in danger! Unite!” 
Over  the  past  50  years,  Indian  govern­
ments have repeatedly dampened such lo­
cal eruptions by mouthing words of regret,
paying a bit of compensation and tapping
some  retired  worthy  to  write  a  soon­for­
gotten report. No longer. The Bharatiya Ja­
nata  Party  (bjp)  which  rules  both  at  the
centre  in  Delhi,  the  capital,  and  in  about
half of India’s states, is itself a child of the

sangh.  Many  of  its  top  leaders  started  as

foot soldiers in just the sort of gangs that so

predictably spark trouble. 

Small  wonder  that  as  a  bigger­than­

usual  spate  of  nasty  communal  clashes

broke out across a swathe of central India

during this spring’s festival season, bjpof­

ficials made scant effort to calm things. In­

stead they loudly invoked the right of Hin­

dus  to  “practise  their  faith”,  blamed  Mus­

lims for the violence and demanded exem­

plary  punishment.  Following  a  mini­riot

in Delhi on April 16th, provoked once again

by  sword­waving  youths  menacing  a

mosque,  Kapil  Mishra,  a  local  bjpleader,

quickly  spun  the  events  as  a  Muslim  con­

spiracy.  “They  should  be  identified  and

their  homes  should  be  bulldozed,”  he  de­

clared.  A  few  hours  later  bulldozers  duly

rolled  in,  smashing  Muslim  property  for

alleged building­code violations.

The increasing use of summary collec­

tive  punishment  is  disturbing  enough—

the  demolitions  in  Delhi  followed  identi­

cal  post­pogrom  targeting  of  Muslims  in

three  other  bjp­ruled  states.  More  telling

still has been the response from higher up

in the party, and in particular from Naren­

dra Modi, India’s prime minister. The lead­

er’s  reaction  to  months  of  sporadic  com­

munal  violence  and  rising  social  tension,

and to loud calls from activists, politicians

and  even  retired  civil  servants  for  him  to

do something has been absolute silence.

To  many  Indians  and  in  particular  to

the  country’s  200m  Muslims,  the  world’s

biggest  religious  minority,  the  govern­

ment’s  shrug  of  indifference  to  growing

distress  is  deeply  ominous.  It  does  more

than  offer  tacit  approval  to  mob  violence

and  mob  justice.  It  suggests  that  in  the

emerging Hindu rashtra(state) envisioned

by  the  sangh,  some  will  always  be  more

equal  than  others,  with  religious  identity

becoming a measure of citizenship. It also

suggests  that  what  lies  in  India’s  future

may not merely be further sporadic, local­

ised  troubles,  but  something  wider  and

more painful. 

India  has  long  stood  out  proudly  in

Asia,  precisely  because  of  its  success  in

building  a  nation  from  an  extraordinary

diversity of religions and ethnicities. It has

D ELHI

Narendra Modi and his party are remaking India into a Hindu state

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