Hindu Appeasement in the Hindu Rashtra

Written by Sulaiman Razvi

India is a Secular, Republic, Democratic country. The 42nd Amendment of the Constitution of India enacted in 1976, the Preamble to the Constitution asserted that India is a secular nation. India was divided in 1947 on religious ground with Pakistan declaring itself as Islamic Republic. But has India maintained its Secularism? The answer is no! Right-wing parties in India have made mockery of the constitution by making India an undeclared Hindu Rashtra (state). India has reduced to a majoritarian state where minorities live at the mercy of Hindus but protected by the constitution. Pakistan should have learned from right wing parties of India on how to pretend to be secular. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar had long ago warned about the fanatical Hindutva which India is now witnessing, Dr Ambedkar wrote, “If Hindu Raj does become a fact, it will, no doubt, be the greatest calamity for this country. No matter what the Hindus say. Hinduism is a menace to liberty, equality and fraternity. On that account it is incompatible with democracy. Hindu Raj must be prevented at any cost.”

Hindus claim that it were Muslims who first demanded a separate country for them (Muslims) but the fact is that it was Vinayak Damodar Savarkar who first proposed the two nation theory which was also supported by other Hindus like Dr. Moonje, Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya, Lala Lajpat Rai, Bhai Parmanand, Swami Shraddhanand and Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay and this was later adopted by Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Vinayak Damodar Savarkar wanted India to become a Hindu country, the Hindu Mahasabha identified India as a Hindu country. Even if Hindu nationalists refuse to admit the fact that Savarkar didn’t propose two nation theory, they can never deny the fact that Savarkar had supported Jinnah on the two nation theory. Mohammed Ali Jinnah and Vinayak Damodar Savarkar had conflicting ideologies but Savarkar expressed strong support for Jinnah as far as the two nation theory was concerned. The Hindu nationalist BJP idolises such a person like Savarkar who talked about dividing India.

Hindus claim that India is secular because Hindus are majority. But I beg to differ, India is secular not because of the majority but because of sane minded secularists like Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. Right wing Hindus are being hypocritical when they claim that India is secular because of Hindu majority considering the fact that right wing Hindus are trying their level best to turn India into a Hindu state (and are achieving it), right wing parties winning every election with a huge mandate disapproves their claim that Hindus are secular. Deendayal Upadhyaya who is revered by the BJP had said, “By declaring Bharat as a secular nation, the soul of Bharat has been attacked. A secular state is full of woes [sic]. Although Ravana’s dharmaless state of Lanka had plenty of gold, it had no Rama Rajya (state) in it.” Nathuram Godse had written a letter to Savarkar on February 28, 1938 stating that, “Sir, your goal is the achievement of the Hindu Rashtra. There are 50,000 disciplined RSS cadres who carry the same aspiration in their hearts...” He had also said, “Manusmriti is that scripture which is most worshippable after Vedas for our Hindu nation…” K.B. Hedgewar founder of RSS delivered a speech saying: ‘I see before my eyes today a miniature Hindu Rashtra’. Savarkar came up with two nation theory in 1923 that is 16 years before the Muslim League adopted it, In May 1947, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee wrote a letter to Lord Mountbatten telling him that Bengal must be partitioned even if India was not. The Hindu Mahasabha leader Lala Lajpat Rai wrote in The Tribune of December 14, 1924: “Under my scheme the Muslims will have four Muslim States: (1) The Pathan Province or the North-West Frontier; (2) Western Punjab (3) Sindh and (4) Eastern Bengal. If there are compact Muslim communities in any other part of India, sufficiently large to form a province, they should be similarly constituted. But it should be distinctly understood that this is not a united India. It means a clear partition of India into a Muslim India and a non-Mulsim India.” Bal Gangadhar Tilak said, “had it not been for the influence of caste, the Hindu nation would have long ceased to exist’…’Caste alone is the basis of a Hindu nation”. Tilak called upon his supporters “to capture the institutions like the Poona Sarvajanik Sabha and the Congress” to facilitate ‘the regeneration of the Hindu nation’. A secularist named Ranade opposed this statement of Tilak to which Tilak responded as “unnational tendency that strike[s] a deathblow at the very fabric which has interwoven us into the Hindu nation”.

Veteran BJP leader L.K. Advani asserted that India should be a Hindu Rashtra as reported by Indian Express in 1993 although he backtracked from his statement later in order to avoid consequences, another BJP leader Govindacharya said that, “A nation should be more than just a railway platform. Only a Hindu Rashtra can bring a sense of belonging.” RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had called India as a Hindu Rashtra in a congregation at the Khanapara Veterinary College field in Assam and at another event he called for making India a Hindu Rashtra. Yogi Adityanath said at a rally in 2009, “I will not stop till I turn UP and India into a Hindu rashtra.” And when asked about Hindu Rashtra Yogi Adityanath said that there is nothing wrong with Hindu Rashtra concept. Tathagata Roy who is former RSS-BJP insider and currently serving as Governor of Meghalaya called for changing of constitution and hinting at making India a Hindu Rashtra, in a tweet he also said that a democratic Hindu Rashtra is possible. BJP MLA Surendra Singh said, “Only those Muslims will stay in India who assimilate into Hindu culture, India will become Hindu Rashtra by 2024.” 150 Hindu outfits held a meeting in Goa to discuss possibilities of Hindu Rashtra. BJP MP from Bangalore South constituency Tejasvi Surya said in a tweet, “I am all the more convinced that we must unapologetically agitate for a Hindu rashtra…” Another BJP MP Anant Kumar Hegde proudly boasted about his “party’s vision & dedication for Hindutva, HinduRasthra…” in a tweet. BJP MLA Raja Singh from Telangana says, “We have a determination/commitment towards Hindu rashtra, for this Hindu rashtra, we need an army. How can this army be formed? All over India, we are forming an army for Hindu rashtra, the protection of dharma and the nation. For this, there’s a ten day camp for which we have come to Bengaluru.” RSS leader Prachar Pramukh Manmohan Vaidya said that Secularism is irrelevant to India and also said that Saffron should have been the only colour of Indian flag. BJP MP Ravi Kishan said that India is a Hindu Rashtra. BJP MP from Telangana Arvind threatened Siddipet police commisioner (who happens to be a practicing Christian) by saying that “this is a Hindu rashtram (Hindu country) remember that”. BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay, who had been arrested in August in connection with an event where inflammatory slogans calling for violence against Muslims were shouted at a rally in Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, was also present in Haridwar. He presented a “bhagwa samvidhaan” or a saffron constitution at the event. Hindu religious leader Anand Swaroop, head of a body named the Shankaracharya Parishad, said the “demand (for Hindu Rashtra) raised by the Hindu Mahasabha in 1915 is relevant even today and every democratically elected government in Delhi, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and other states will have to abide by the final resolution of the Dharma Sansad…If not, they will have to face opposition stronger than the 1857 war of Independence.” No action was taken against these Hindu politicians for making unconstitutional remarks. Imagine a Muslim politician saying he would turn India into an Islamic country. Election Commission of India would’ve imposed a lifetime ban on him from contesting elections, the Muslim politician would’ve been sentenced to lifetime imprisonment. Hindus complain that Muslims and Christians have several countries while Hindus don’t have any country with Hinduism as the state religion, would Hindus support formation of Khalistan since Sikhs also don’t have a country of theirs? What would happen if a Sikh politician calls any region of India as Khalistan? India is a secular country (by constitution) and making demand to turn it into a religious state is against the constitution. So it is incorrect to say that India is secular due to Hindu majority since the right wing Hindus who forms the majority of Hindu community has always dreamt about establishing a Hindu Rashtra (state).

It’s not just politicians even Meghalaya High Court Judge S.R. Sen said that “India should have been a Hindu country.” The Reason I have clubbed topics Hindu Rashtra & Hindu appeasement together is because these two goes hand in hand. I have also added many points from my previous articles, though I don’t like to repeat same points again and again but those points are so important you can’t just give them a miss. India is a secular country but yet only three castes can be President’s bodyguard, they are Jats, Rajputs and Sikhs and this was also defended by the Indian Army saying there’s no caste bias. In Banaras Hindu University, The entry of Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists is allowed, but other non-Hindus are prohibited from entering the Sanskrit department. Sanskrit is the second official language in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand states of India. Government is promoting Hinduism and has uploaded various Hindu scriptures in their websites. Indian stock market (both NSE & BSE) has a fixed timing between 9:00 A.M to 3:30 P.M but stock market opens specifically during Muhurat Trading at around 6:00 P.M irrespective of whether there’s a holiday on this occasion which is deemed auspicious among Hindus. Government gives bonus to central government employees during Diwali, although bonus is given to all employees irrespective of their religion but a government giving bonus on festival of particular religion is not part of Secularism. If you are a politician and if you seek votes in the name of religion then the Election Commission of India would put a ban on you, even mosques, churches cannot urge its adherents to vote for particular candidate, but according to Indian law, one can seek votes in the name of Hindutva as Hinduism is not a religion but a way of life. Ironically this definition isn’t applied when giving citizensip to non-Muslims or when giving tax rebate. Assam Chief Minister from BJP Hemanta Biswa specifically appealed to the Muslim immigrants to adopt family planning. Two Child norm has been implemented in Assam and people with more than 2 children will not be able to avail some government benefits, but this law is not applicable to some Hindu classes such as SC, ST and the Tea tribe. He says he want upliftment Muslims from poverty by implementing the two child policy norm. The defense minister of India Rajnath Singh flew to France to do Shastra Puja on receiving the first Rafale jet. There is discrimination on Visa rules. Muslims from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan overstaying in India will have to pay penalty 200 times higher than non-Muslims from these same countries. The penalty is much less for Hindus from these countries,  “This means if Liton Das (a Bangladeshi cricketer, a Hindu) overstays for a day, then he will have to pay ₹100, whereas if the person’s name is Saif Hasan, he will have to pay over ₹21,000, which is what Mr. Hasan paid,” a senior Bangladeshi official told The Hindu. Uttar Pradesh state passed “Love Jihad” law, according to the BJP government this outlaws unlawful conversion through marriage. The law is based on the myth that Muslim men lures Hindu girls into marrying them and converting them to Islam. Like other laws, this too is going to be misused against Muslims. In less than a month after the Love Jihad law was passed, 30 Muslim men were arrested by police for marrying Hindu women. In Moradabad’s Kanth area, a Muslim man was stopped by Bajrang Dal from marrying a Hindu woman, despite consensual marriage the Muslim man and his brother were arrested by police under the Love Jihad law. In Bareilly’s Hafizganj area, police helped two Muslim women who converted to Hinduism for marrying Hindu men, despite the woman’s family lodging complaint against the Hindu man for converting their daughter, the police instead called the two families and settled the dispute. In Kushinagar, police stopped Muslim marriage and took the bride and groom in custody overnight and tortured the groom Haider Ali and let the couple go only after the bride proved that she is a Muslim by birth and not by conversion. A Muslim teen in Bijnor returning from a birthday party was beaten up by Hindu mob for walking with his Hindu friend and was later arrested by police with charges under sections of the SC/ST Act, and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, police allegedly filed a fake FIR against the Muslim teen which was later exposed by the girl’s father. As per National Herald India’s report, UP Police registered six cases where Hindu women were allegedly lured into ‘forcible’ marriages or deceived, but it ignored similar cases where Muslim women were involved. Police arrested Muslim youth Owais Ahmed under Love Jihad law after pressurizing the Hindu girl’s father to file a case against the Muslim youth in a Bareilly village. Several villagers including the pradhan Dhruv Raj suspect police pressure behind the case as the dispute was settled a year ago.

In UP’s Mushara village of Sant Kabir Nagar district, Muslims are not allowed to celebrate Eid ul Azha (Bakrid), the police of secular India confiscates all animals fit for sacrifice and returns them to Muslims three days after the Eid is finished. Do you really think police and administration are so helpless in front of Hindu fanatics? Mumbai High Court banned slaughter of animals in houses and public places and said that animal sacrifice must be performed only in slaughter houses, and it is given in the view to maintain hygeine. Muslims in Shivala Kala village of Noorpur town in Bijnor district did not witness Bakrid celebrations and neither offered Namaz after local administration denied slaughter of buffaloes and camels stating that it is a “New tradition”. The same reason of “new tradition” was also cited to deny permission to Muslims in Bareilly to mark the Urs of scholar Mufti Akhtar Raza Khan after complaints by Hindutva outfits like Shiv Sena and Hindu Yuva Vahini. There are also several instances where Muslims were barred from worshipping in their mosques, or to reconstruct mosques, or from praying on open plot with prior permission from landlord 1, 2, 3, 4. And then these Hindus object when Muslims pray on road in front of mosques for 10 minutes. An Imam in Gurugram’s Basai was detained by police for holding prayer on open plot with prior permission from owner of the land.

Haridwar priests forced RSS’s Muslim arm to shift meet venue. According to sources, local priests pointed to MRM office-bearers a colonial-era provision in the Haridwar nagar palika bylaws (Haridwar until a few years ago was a municipality) which said that “no religious or social activities by non-Hindus would be permitted within the town’s municipal limits“. Only Hindus are allowed to trade near temples as per a law in Karnataka, Karnataka Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments Rules, 2002, restricted the auction of temporary stalls only to the Hindu community during the annual festivals (jatres) at Hindu temples in the State. The 2002 rules clearly state that shops, buildings, and vacant sites located near temples should not be auctioned to non-Hindus. “There is no compromise in implementing the rules,” the Minister said. There’s a Hindu only village namely Kesalingayapalli located 35 km from Kadapa District in Andhra Pradesh where 250 Hindu families has warned non-Hindus from entering the village. Several temples in India bar entry of non-Hindus which is a violation of secular nature of the Indian constitution. Hindus gives advertisement for renting or selling of the house and clearly mentions that no Muslim would be allowed and that it is only for Hindus. And the authority turns blind eye to this discrimination in secular India. There were reports of Uttar Pradesh’s Mathura police uniform getting the logo with an image of Hindu god Krishna. Even the police force is not free from forced religiousness.

India is a secular state and the right wing opposes anything related to Muslims even if it is a language like Urdu but they are okay with mixing politics with religion. It doesn’t behove a secular country to promote religion especially the majority religion through emblems and statues. The State Emblem of Bihar has Hindu symbol Swastika, the state emblem of Tamil Nadu has Srivilliputur Andal Temple, The State Emblem of Karnataka is Gandaberunda, which is a form of Hindu god Vishnu. Whereas the Muslim majority Indonesia also has emblem of another Hindu god named Garuda. So whether Hindus are minority or majority they always like to enforce their religion and mix politics with religion, it’s like heads I win, tails you lose. The BJP government issued several new currency notes which has pictures of Hindu temples, such as the Konark Temple, Stone Chariot of Hampi. Indonesia a Muslim majority country had picture of Hindu god Ganesh on its currency whereas Hindu leaders would be irked just by roads named after Muslim figures. In the premises of Rajasthan High Court there’s an idol of Manu, who was a Hindu God/Rishi the writer of Manu Smriti. You would find statues of Hindu scholar Swami Vivekananda on main roads and his portraits in government offices, what was his contribution to India? He was just a Hindu religious scholar and his contribution was for his religion only. Uttar Pradesh’s Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced that statues of Hindu goddess Saraswati and Hindu sage Bhardwaj would be installed in Akbar fort. Even Courts and Police Stations are not spared, Hindu temples occupies area in the premises of government offices and walls of offices carry photos of Hindu gods. These things undermine India’s secularism. Ironically when Muslims wants to wear Burkha or sport beard we are told to “keep your religion at home” while Hindus proudly impose their beliefs on others and makes brazen display of their religion in government offices.

In more than fives states of India conversion is regulated through Anti-Conversion law or Freedom of Religion Act, the law is actually aimed at Dalits and Adivasis converting to Islam and Christianity. Those converting to other faiths must get prior permission, an organization cannot carry out conversion in those states whereas Hindu outfits openly conducts Ghar Wapsi programs in those states without facing any action. In Agra a youth named Aadil (formerly Ved Prakash) had embraced Islam after falling in love with a Muslim girl, his parents filed case against him and he was arrested for converting to Islam. In Uttar Pradesh, four Christians were arrested by police for allegedly forced conversion and were later released. The Washington Times reported, “According to Chief Minister Pema Kandhu, the law does the exact opposite of what it was intended to do. Instead of serving as a measure to protect Arunachal Pradesh’s indigenous religious communities from forced or fraudulent conversions, the law has been weaponized to oppress the freedom of religion of other communities. “The law could undermine secularism and is probably targeted towards Christians,” the chief minister said.” In Orissa 12 tribals were arrested for converting to Christianity without an official permit, whereas in another incident ‘Ghar Wapsi‘ was conducted by Hindus to re-convert those who had converted to Christianity in Orissa. VHP in Gujarat re-converted 500 tribal Christians without any permission. There was uproar when a vehicle with flexi banners belonging to Christian missionaries was spotted at Srisailam Hills which is a temple town of Hindus, A priest at the Srisailam temple said there was no permission for members of other religions to propagate their faith on the hills.

I am reproducing some excerpts from Shoaib Danyal’ Scroll.in article, “This religious discrimination isn’t a one-off event. It is, in fact, enshrined in law. Five states across the Indian Union ban conversion in all but name. In Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh the process of conversion is regulated to such a Kafkaesque degree that it is impossible to carry out – which was precisely the motive of the framers of the law. In September, 2014, for example, the Madhya Pradesh police had arrested four Dalits for converting to Islam. The four men had decided to change their religion driven by the caste system – a move perfectly in consonance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and, indeed, common sense. Yet, they broke the law by not taking the permission of the Madhya Pradesh state government… What is a forced conversion? For example, “force” also includes the “threat of divine displeasure”. So, farcically, if a missionary informs a person that only Christians are allowed entry into heaven – a core part of the faith – that could also be construed as “force”. This interpretation of “force” was upheld by the Orissa High Court in Yulitha Hyde v. State of Orissa. It held that the “threat of divine displeasure numbs the mental faculty; more so of an undeveloped mind and the actions of such a person thereafter, are not free and according to conscience”. Even while Christian congregations are attacked by raising the bogey of conversion, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh boasts openly about conversion of Christians to Hinduism. In Jharkhand, the RSS aims to make whole blocks “Christianity free” and recently converted 53 families to Hinduism.”

There’s food discrimination too, Hindus have been imposing their diet on others. Haryana imposed ban on sale of meat in Thanesar and Pehowa municipality areas. The sale of meat and liquor has been banned in Vrindavan and Barsana which were declared pilgrimage sites by the Yogi Adityanath government on Friday. There were also reports of UP government considering ban on sale of meat in Ayodhya and Mathura. The Gujarat government on August 14, declared Palitana a meat-free zone by banning the sale of meat, fish and eggs along with prohibiting animal slaughter within the town’s limits. Supreme Court upheld ban on eggs, meat or fish in Rishikesh. Public trade in meat, fish and eggs are banned in Haridwar. In 2004, the Supreme Court upheld the Uttarakhand government’s move to make holy towns Haridwar, Rishikesh and Muni Ki Reti free from non-vegetarian food. In Gurugram Hindu outfits forcefully shut down meat shops during Navratri, in one incident over 500 meat shops were shut down by Shiv Sainiks and the government remained a mute spectator indicating that it condones the forceful shut down of meat shops, ironically condom sale spikes during Navratri but only meat shops hurt their sentiments. Meat shops are also shut during Kanwar Yatra and other Hindu festivals. In Delhi, BJP-ruled civic body banned display of non-veg food outside eateries for sentimental reasons saying that it hurts the sentiments of vegetarians. The Karnataka government gave contract to ISKCON’s Akshay Patra to provide Mid-Day meals to children, however ISKCON is not providing eggs, garlic and onion to children citing religious belief saying that it will provide only Satvik diet. It’s not just Karnataka but many BJP ruled states deny egg to children despite its nutritious benefits citing religious sentiments. The government has always sided with Hindus on the issue of food. Anti-Cow slaughter law was enacted only to appease Hindus. Sarvsri Sampurnanand from Congress party was the Chief Minister who brought a law to ban cow slaughter in Uttar Pradesh in 1955 much against the wishes of the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. On 7^th of November 1966 thousands of Hindu extremists along with Hindu priests attacked Parliament demanding nationwide ban on cow slaughter. Rasheed Kidwai wrote on News18 “The development did not have any immediate fallout but in 1967, Indira saw rise of regional parties who were backed by RSS-Jan Sangh across the country. For the first time, nine Indian states had non-Congress governments. The cow slaughter issue subsequently forced Indira Gandhi to set up a panel under a retired Supreme Court chief justice AK Sarkar to see if a nationwide ban on cow slaughter was feasible. She daringly made RSS chief MS Golwalkar a member of the panel, along with the Shankaracharya of Puri, V Kurien of the National Dairy Development Board, economist Ashok Mitra and others.” It was an obvious attempt to appease the Hindu majority.

National Security Act (NSA) is often invoked whenever the culprit happens to be Muslim. When Hindu extremists accuse Muslims of slaughtering cows then the Muslim victims are arrested by police on mere allegations without an iota of evidence since cow slaughter is a cognizable offense and many times NSA is invoked on those Muslims. I wonder even if cow is slaughtered, how does it pose threat to nation so much so that National Security Act has to be invoked on those Muslims? In Uttar Pradesh the Hindu extremists levelled false allegation of cow slaughter against Muslims and then killed a Police officer, NSA wasn’t invoked against those Hindu extremists accused of murdering a police officer but innocent Muslims on whom false allegation of cow slaughter were made were charged with NSA. This is a clear case of Hindu appeasement where Hindus are given free hand making Muslims suffer so as to entertain the Hindu masses. Madhya Pradesh government also invoked NSA on Muslims for alleged cow slaughter, however Madhya Pradesh government is also the first to make a law against mob lynching by Hindu terrorists the so called Gau Rakshaks (Cow protectors). Keshav Prasad Maurya the Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh state said that by invoking NSA they wants to instil fear in those who kill cows. In many instances the Muslim victims lynched by Hindu extremists were booked by police for alleged cow slaughter. For instance, a 24 years old cattle trader Naushad Mohammed was on his way to sell his buffaloes and was stopped by Hindu extremists (Gau Rakshaks) who tied him to a pole and assaulted him for two hours, the police instead booked Naushad and chained him in the police station instead of arresting Hindu extremists and taking the victim to the hospital for treatment. Neither buffalo is a mother or aunt of Hindus, this was just an excuse to harass a Muslim man. A report reveals that more Than Half of NSA Arrests Made in UP Were for Cow Slaughter in 2020. As many as 139 people in Uttar Pradesh were slapped with the National Security Act (NSA) this year and 76 of these cases are related cow slaughter, a statement by Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Kumar Awasthi has revealed. NSA is not the only draconian law that is misused against Muslims, there’s another law namely UAPA, a Muslim journalist Siddique Kappan and three other Muslims were booked under UAPA on their way to cover Hathras incident. Karnataka saw 971 riots in 5 years but invoked UAPA in just Bangalore riot. Karnataka minister said that damages would be recovered from protestors like UP incident, but no properties of rioters were seized in Munger riot where Hindu mob burnt vehicles and attacked three police stations. Hindu mob started Bulandshahr violence in which police inspector Subodh Singh was killed allegedly by Hindu extremists, but Shikhar Agarwal key accused in the Bulandshahr violence and murder of Inspector Subodh Kumar Singh was given responsibility for the PM Welfare Scheme campaign and another accused Yogesh Raj who is a Bajrang Dal member was granted bail and got heroes welcome, where Muslims who were accused of cow slaughter by these radical Hindus were slapped with NSA. UP’s law on cow slaughter being misused against the innocent, said Allahabad High Court. “Whenever any meat is recovered, it is normally shown as cow meat [beef] without getting it examined or analysed by the forensic laboratory,” it said. “In most of the cases, meat is not sent for analysis.” Justice Siddharth added that in several cases, the accused continue to languish in jail for an offence “that may not have been committed at all”. Several anti-CAA protestors were also booked under stringer UAPA.

In India the cow not only gives milk but also votes and propaganda. Several states like Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh has introduced Cow Cess for shelter and protection of cows. Crores of rupees have been spent on cows by many states 1, 2. Hunger and poverty plagues entire nation, India is home to world’s 23.4% of hungry people, India has the largest number of malnourished children. Nearly 195 million people scarcely able to afford even one meal a day, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization. The government doesn’t feed them but wants to build cow sheds and feed the cows because cows are sacred among Hindus and the cow will get votes. Cow is mother of Hindus but non-Hindus also has to pay cow cess for shelter and maintenance of cows. When cow is the mother of Hindus so it is the duty of every Hindu to cloth his mother and take his mother in his own house. BJP government in Madhya Pradesh has introduced Cow Cabinet.

While arguing about Muslim Personal Law and to implement Uniform Civil Code, Hindu nationalists often say that a secular nation cannot have a religious law. I want to ask them if a secular nation cannot have a communal law then what is anti-cow slaughter law doing in this secular nation? Will ban on cow slaughter be lifted if Uniform Civil Code is implemented? Punishment for cow slaughter varies from imprisonment of up to 6 months to life sentence according to different states of India. But meat of cow can be enjoyed in Goa, North-East and communist ruled Kerala. The reason cow slaughter is permissible in Goa and North-East is because Muslims are not involved in slaughter of cows and neither those states have sizeable Muslim population. Anti-cow slaughter was cleverly implemented only in those states where Muslims were consumers and suppliers of beef so it was a move to render those Muslims jobless who are involved in meat business. Even slaughter of buffalo is prohibited but export of buffalo isn’t because mostly Hindus are involved in export of buffalo meat and Hindu government doesn’t want Hindus to be effected with the ban. Even BJP leaders and supporters like Sangeet Som and Mohandas Pai have made investments in beef and other meat businesses. India is the largest exporter of buffalo meat. There wouldn’t have been much controversy if slaughter of bulls and buffaloes was allowed but nay it wouldn’t make tens of thousands of Muslims jobless so a complete ban on beef was imposed. In Uttar Pradesh there was a crackdown on illegal slaughterhouses, I agree that slaughterhouse must have proper licence but was there any crackdown on illegal vegetable vendors or other illegal businesses in which mostly Hindus are engaged in? Another instance on successful attempt to hit the economic condition of Muslims is the forceful shut down of leather factories in Uttar Pradesh for Kumbh Mela. Wondering if any industry would be shut by government for Muslim festivals. Over 3 lakh (300K) workers were jobless during the 3 months shut down after which many factories were not able to recover due to financial constraints. The industry was deliberately targeted because it is mostly Muslim owned and most of the labours in the industry were also Muslims. This oppression of Muslims is only to keep the Hindus happy. Leather factories were shut down on the ground that they are polluting the Ganga River, this is a lame excuse, TheWire.in reported that, “Tanneries are considered heavily polluting industries, as they release chemical effluents into water that flows into the Ganga. But a study by the Centre for Science and Environment in 2013 found that tanneries in Uttar Pradesh contribute just 8% of the wastewater, but this is highly toxic and concentrated in the Kanpur belt, while industries like sugar, pulp and paper and distillery plants add up to 70% of the wastewater.” Hindu rituals contributes wastewater to the Ganga River, dead bodies are thrown into the Ganges River by Hindus, Puja material is also dumped in the Ganges River. Skin and faecal microbiota increased 2.3-fold and 2.9-fold respectively during the Kumbh Mela event due to ritual bathing by Hindu pilgrims. Untreated sewage is released into Ganga River but none of these were banned or regulated. Muslim owned businesses are often targeted during riots and nowadays there are open calls by Hindus for economic boycott of Muslims. No secular country would target its 14% religious minority this way. Apart from shutting down leather factories for Kumbh Mela, the automobile industry also had to stop production for a week due to Kanwar Yatra. Kanwariyas were also exempted from ‘no helmet no fuel‘ rule. Additional DGP showered rose petals on Kanwariyas from helicopter.
7,000 crore rupees were spent to clean Ganga river in just two years by the NDA government. There are so many rivers in India which needs to be cleansed and some have even dried out but alas they aren’t fortunate enough to get attention of Hindu parties because they aren’t considered holy like the Ganges river. Just imagine how many dried up lakes could’ve been revived with that money. Ganges River is considered holy in Hinduism and that’s the reason thousands of crore rupees have been spent just to clean it. Several major cities are going to run out of ground water in coming years, and the government is doing nothing about it but is very much worried only about Ganges River. There’s no attempt to revive dried lakes and rivers or to build rainwater harvesting pits to refill ground water, several lakes have been encroached by land grabbers but government is not interested in taking action against them.
You keep hearing about so called “Muslim Appeasement.” But the word ‘Appeasement’ here has a different definition in the dictionary of Hindu fanatics. Any party which doesn’t spew venom against Muslims or has not butchered Muslims is accused of doing Muslim appeasement. Hindutvadis accuse every secular party of appeasement adding that Muslims are used as vote bank by secular parties. Doesn’t right wing Hindu parties rely on majority vote bank? Doesn’t caste play a major role in constituencies which are Hindu majority? Doesn’t BJP use Ram Mandir issue during elections? I am quite sure that Hindutvadis who keep moaning about Muslim appeasement can’t even list few so called appeasements exclusively given to Muslims benefitting the Muslim community either on economic or social level. Muslim appeasement is a myth while there’s actually Hindu appeasement. Ram Puniyani had written in TheCitizen.in article, “Currently this tribe wants to spread the impression that the Hindu majority is suffering; and is being persecuted while the Muslims are being appeased-pampered in this country. Hindu nationalist politics draw strength from the propaganda first against Muslims and then partly against Christians. Currently it wants to defame all those who defend human rights of minorities. That’s the reason as protests of this kind have occurred more often and have drawn more attention. The idea behind this criticism of liberal democratic elements is to muzzle the voices of protests so that this BJP type politics constructed on intolerance for liberal values and violation of minority rights has an easy go in society. Its main plank so far has been that minorities have been appeased and now it is going to the next stage where the majority Hindu community is supposed to be suffering discrimination. This is a very shrewd move and without a shred of truth. While their propaganda did sink into the social understanding, the truth is far from that. In our country, the economic condition of Muslims is well reflected in the Sachar committee report, how over a period of last seven decades their condition has been falling abysmally. In matters of security and being victims of violence, over 80% of violence victims are Muslims, while they constitute 14.1% in the population as per the 2011 Census. In most of the acts of terrorist violence also, it is Muslim youth who had been arrested and most of them had to be released for the lack of any evidence. Their political representation is falling continuously as reflected in the number of Muslim Lok Sabha MPs.” K.S. Dakshina Murthy wrote, “For instance, in 1985 the federal Congress government amended the constitution to protect Muslim men from paying maintenance to their divorced wives in the Shah Bano case. The RSS-BJP trumpeted this as minority appeasement. Soon after, the very same government allowed the opening of the locked down structure of the disputed heritage Babri mosque in the ancient city of Ayodhya to satiate demands from Hindu religious groups. But this was not projected as appeasement of the majority community.”

Muslim appeasement is nothing but a myth. There’s nothing wrong even if Muslim appeasement exist because Muslims are socially and economically backward as per Sachar committee report and there’s nothing wrong if the weaker section gets special attention (which is not happening to Muslims now), doesn’t government waive loans for farmers? Doesn’t government give special treatment to women? Farmers and Women are the weaker section of the society likewise Muslims too are economically and socially weaker and also deserve special treatment for their upliftment. Unfortunately the Muslims instead are being marginalized.

Giving fair treatment doesn’t amount to appeasement. Hindutvadis doesn’t want Muslims to be treated fairly as they want to deprive Muslims of basic rights and amenities in fact they don’t even want Muslims to live in India. Muslims in India are among the poorest, Muslims have low representation in government service, the share is only 4.5% in the Indian Railways with almost all (98.7 per cent) positioned at the lower levels. The presence of Muslims was found to be only 3% in the IAS, 1.8% in the IFS and 4% in the IPS services. It is true that one’s own backwardness cannot be blamed on others but has the government put any effort to uplift the socio-economic condition of Muslims? Youth Ki Awaaz reported that “Inadequate availability of infrastructure facilities such as schools, healthcare, sanitation facilities, potable water and means of daily transportation is one of the many problems that Muslims share with other poor people, especially those who are disadvantaged”.

Hajj subsidy was often cited as an example of “Muslim appeasement”. The airlines charged more from Muslim pilgrims and the subsidy actually helped Indian airline than the pilgrims. The Hajj subsidy was scrapped off. Muslims really didn’t wanted it. The fact that there was no protest when Hajj subsidy was stopped proves that Muslims actually didn’t want it, the move was welcomed by Muslim politicians and elders of the community. Hajj subsidy was mostly used as a weapon by Hindutvadis to taunt Muslims but Hindu fanatics were silent on subsidies given to Hindu pilgrims going for Amarnath Yatra, Muktinath, Mansarovar, Char Dham and thousands of crore rupees spent on Kumbh Mela and other Hindu festivals. Refer the article Subsidy to Hindu Pilgrims for more information. Thousands of crore rupees are collected as donation by various Hindu temples, why isn’t that money used for organizing Kumbh Mela and instead tax payers’ money is used in these events only to appease Hindus? The Hindutvadis instead are spreading rumour that donations collected by temples are seized by the government. Every major temple like Tirupati, Puri Jagannanth, Balaji, Sidhi Vinayak… has their respective boards and trusts.  All the money collected by those temples goes to their respective boards and trusts. The government doesn’t take a penny from it, instead the government provides funds and offerings to temples. Some states also provides salary to priests every month. They are also spreading the rumour that Churches and Mosques are exempted from GST and only Temples are paying tax to government, this was exposed by Altnews and Ministry of Finance had also rubbished the rumour in a series of Tweets 1, 2, 3. BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said that the decision to stop Hajj subsidy is their policy to empower Muslims with dignity and without appeasement. I want to ask him, why not bring dignity to Hindus by scrapping off subsidies given to them? Muslims in India are not first second or third generation community like Hindus living in UK and USA. Islam came to India over a thousand years ago, Muslims belong to India as much as other communities. The “appeasement” card is often played to treat Muslims as second class citizens in India while Hindus wants to be pampered outside India in countries where they are minority. In the UK, Hindus have launched their own manifesto like other minority communities, “The Hindu Council UK has prepared its own “manifesto”, a list of demands submitted to political parties ahead of next month’s elections in the United Kingdom. These include, inter alia, more government funding for temples, ending “forced conversions” and inclusion of Ayurveda in the National Health Scheme.” The Krishna-Avanti school in north-west London made vegetarianism a condition of entry. Britain funded a school for Hindus backed by almost £10 million of taxpayer’s money. Some Hindu temples in UK will get government funds for security like worship places of other faiths. Hindu organisations in UK demanded for a ban on five pound currency notes because it uses animal fat and they banned five pound notes in temples, seems Indian Hindus needs to remind their UK counterparts of “following rules of the land you live in.” Hindu groups in UK lashed out at British government for British government’s plans to ban caste-based discrimination. BJP would be furious and lodge complaints to various authorities if a Muslim religious leader urges Muslims to support particular secular party but in the UK a Hindu organization exhorted Hindus to vote for Conservative Party because the Conservative party panders to demand of Hindus and favours Hindu community.

Hindu community being 80% of the total Indian population also enjoys reservation. Basically it is an exclusive privilege of Hindu community. Though reservation granted to SC and ST is justifiable but even forward classes of Hindus are being given reservation, some through the OBC category. 10% reservation was granted to poor from upper caste Hindus, though it is said that non-Hindus like Christians and Muslims are also included in this but I find it nothing but lollipop to non-Hindus and I am sure that the quota would be filled with upper caste Hindus only. Few states grant reservation to Muslims in the OBC category but there’s no reservation in all states. When Telangana Chief Minister KCR approved 12% reservation for Muslims, the BJP opposed it and called it unconstitutional and communal stating that there cannot be religion based reservation adding that it cannot give 12% reservation breaching the 50% reservation cap. BJP government in Maharashtra approved 16% reservation to Maratha which exceeded the 50% reservation cap and even the High Court approved it after reducing it to 12%. Hindus converting to Abrahamic faiths like Islam and Christianity are deprived of reservation and yet they say there cannot be religion based reservation. Kashmiri Pandits (Brahmins) too enjoys reservation and gets many benefits from the government like compensation, rehabilitation packages, jobs, security… whereas no such reservation or benefits are given to Muslims effected by Gujarat and Muzaffarnagar riots, instead Disturbed Area Act is imposed in Gujarat to drive out Muslims from Hindu localities. Hindutvadis often compare India to Pakistan but they don’t do it on the issue of reservation, India’s neighbour Pakistan has reserved 10 seats for its religious minorities in the National Assembly as per article 51 and has also reserved 23 seats for non-Muslims in four provincial assemblies under article 106. Iraq have reserved eight seats for minority at the national level, five for Assyrians and one each for Mandaeans, Yazidis, and Shabaks. Iran have reserved two seats for Christian Armenian community, and each seat for Assyrian and Chaldean Catholic, Jewish, and Zoroastrian communitiers. Jordan have reserved 10 seats for Christians. Lebanon has allocated seats in proportion to the population of religious groups, 8 seats are reserved for minority Druze and 64 seats for Christians.

The BJP used Instant Triple Talaq issue as a tool to harass Muslims. The ITT issue was exaggerated and blown out of proportion to target the Muslim community. BJP showed great interest in this issue. Modi never missed a chance in his rallies to mention about “Muslim sisters who are victims of triple Talaq”. But seldom he mentioned about lynching of Muslims or about Bilkis Bano who was gang raped by Hindus and her daughter was killed in the 2002 Gujarat riot. Ishrat Jahan a Muslim woman who was given instant triple Talaq by her husband was the BJP’s imposter girl and used as a puppet to peddle their propaganda. She was later dumped by BJP. She is struggling to make the ends meet. She can’t even afford two square meals for her children or pay school fees, the BJP which used her against Muslims didn’t help her. Thus the stand of BJP is clear, BJP isn’t really concerned about Muslim women but used the triple Talaq issue during election campaign to gain votes of Hindus by harassing Muslims. The BJP isn’t much concerned about women’s right which can be proved from Sabarimala issue. They have two stands on Sabarimala issue and triple Talaq issue. Women of menstruating age of 10-50 years are prohibited from entering the Sabarimala temple in Kerala. I don’t want to interfere in their issues like Hindus are meddling into internal matters of Muslims 1, 2. I am merely pointing out their hypocrisy. BJP want’s to defy Supreme Court order by barring entry of women in the temple. BJP leader Amit Shah said that Sabarimala issue is “aastha ke liye sangharsh (struggle to save tradition)”. For them only their aastha matters rest can go to hell. BJP even made it part of their 2019 election manifesto, The party promised “to ensure that the subject of faith, tradition and worship rituals related to Sabarimala are presented in a comprehensive manner before the Hon’ble Supreme Court”. BJP’s stand on both ITT and Sabarimala is to appease Hindus, entertaining Hindus in ITT issue by harassing Muslims and appeasing Hindus by favouring the tradition on Sabarimala issue. If BJP is really concerned about women’s right then they must demand the board to allow women into Sabarimala temple.

BJP government is also fond of changing names of places which sounds Muslim. The Aurangzeb road in Delhi was changed to APJ Abdul Kalam as a tribute to the former President of India. Why not the name of Prithviraj road was changed to APJ Abdul Kalam road? If you want to honour the missile man then why just a road, why not rename Mumbai international airport after him? There were also demands to change name of Akbar road in Delhi. As per eminent historian Richard M. Eaton not more than 80 temples were destroyed during 800 years rule of Muslims, which is contrary to the iconoclast image projected by Hindutvadis to sow seed of hatred against Indian Muslims. Hindus enjoyed patronage under the Mughals, many temples were not only given protection but also granted lands and funds. Yogi Adityanath is the frontrunner when it comes to changing names of places. He changed name of Allahabad to Prayagraj stating that he merely retained the original name of the city. While historical fact states that Akbar had built a new city near Prayagraj called Ilahbas which was written as Allahabad by the Britishers. Same goes for Faizabad which is renamed as Ayodhya by Yogi Adityanath, when these were actually two separate entities. Yogi Adityanath has changed numerous Muslim sounding names like Urdu Bazar to Hindi Bazar, Ali Nagar to Arya Nagar, Miya Bazar to Maya Bazar, Islampur to Ishwarpur, Lahaladpur to Alahadpur, Humayun Nagar to Hanuman Nagar. This is an attempt to not only erase Muslim names but also to appease Hindus.

The Citizenship (Amendment) bill was passed in the Lok Sabha which will grant citizenship to non-Muslims from neighbouring countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Muslim immigrants have been selectively targeted by Hindu nationalists. The Hindutvadis resort to different set of rules for different groups of immigrants. The bill seeks to amend the Citizenship Act of 1955 to grant citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians – leaving out the Muslims – from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan stating that this law would benefit those who fled persecution. The Rohingya Muslims are the worst victim of racial and religious persecution in the world but neighbouring Myanmar was left out in the bill. A clear indication that only non-Muslims would be allowed in India. And why wouldn’t that be? Hindutvadis wants to get rid of existing Muslims in India so why would they allow more Muslims to come to India? Even Rohingyas living in India as refugees is not acceptable for Hindus. The Rohingyas have been consistently threatened with deportation by Hindus. The Jammu trader’s body threatened to identify and kill Rohingyas & Bangladeshis living in Jammu. Over 1,000 Rohingyas fled India for Bangladesh fearing crackdown by Hindu nationalists. BJP leader Amit Shah said that his party would bring National Register of Citizens (NRC) to Bengal emulating Assam’s NRC. Amit Shah said that, “We will also bring in NRC in Bengal and throw out all infiltrators. We will also ensure that the Hindu refugees are not touched. They are very much a part of our country.” The infiltrators he was referring to are probably Muslims and the illegal Hindu immigrants would not be deported and instead they would be granted citizenship through Citizenship (Amendment) Act. The Citizenship (Amendment) bill is strongly opposed by people of north-east and even by political allies of BJP, despite such strong opposition the BJP is adamant on implementing it purely for their appeasement politics.

Another exclusive privilege enjoyed by the Hindus in secular India is the HUF tax rebate. HUF stands for Hindu Undivided Family. Taxes are not only reduced but some are even exempted for the HUF entity. Subhash Lakhotia a tax & investment consultant wrote an article for Moneycontrol.com wherein he states various benefits of HUF and how much one can save money through this law,
“Apart from getting tax deduction up to Rs. 1,00,000 for an individual, it is possible that if an HUF is created by that individual, he will be able to claim higher tax deduction and exemptions under the Income-tax Law because the new tax entity in the form of a Hindu Undivided Family will be eligible to claim separate tax deduction under section 80C of the Income-tax Act, 1961. Likewise, the dividend income and the Long-term Capital Gains on listed securities would also be exempted for such Hindu Undivided Family. The income from Short-term Capital Gain by this Hindu Undivided Family will also be eligible to a lower tax rate of 15 per cent tax only…The gift received by HUF from non-relatives is exempt up to Rs. 50,000 in a year…under the Income-tax Law any gift received by the HUF from its members is not subjected to income-tax as per section 56 of the Income-tax Act, 1961…The HUF as per section 24 of the Income-tax Act is also entitled to claim deduction for interest on self occupied house property of Rs. 1,50,000 in a year. The income of the HUF from dividend or shares or Mutual Funds is fully exempt from income-tax. Likewise, the Long-term Capital Gains on listed securities received by the HUF is also exempted.” Readers can go through the article by Subhash Lakhotia to read the list of taxes exempted and deducted for Hindu Undivided Family. Taxes contributes to nation building, but Hindus (for whom nation comes first) on the basis of religion are exempted from paying some taxes. There’s no uproar by any Hindutva leader on this biased law. One Nation, One Law doesn’t apply here which favours Hindu community.

NDPS act prohibits a person to produce/manufacture/cultivate, possess, sell, purchase, transport, store, and/or consume any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance. And Section 294 of Indian Penal Code prohibits a person to roam naked yet Sadhus smoke weed and roam naked. Are they above law? Why they have been exempted from these rules? Why doesn’t Hindutvadis the torch bearers of UCC make them follow Indian Constitution? Euthanasia is strictly regulated and only passive euthanasia is legalized. But the Supreme Court allowed the Jain community to practice Santhara or Sallekhana which is fasting unto death. Hindus too has such practice called Prayopavesa, though its legality is not clear to me but there have been some incidents of Prayopavesa in Independent India such as Acharya Vinoba Bhave in 1982, Vinayak Damodar Sarvarkar in 1966, Sivaya Subramuniyaswami in 2001.

BJP leaders oppose polygamy and have also filed PIL seeking ban on polygamy for Muslims. Hindus are very concerned about what Muslims eat, how Muslims live, what Muslims wear, how Muslims marry, how Muslims divorce. They are fond of meddling into internal matters of Muslims but were furious when an ex-Muslim woman tried to enter Sabarimala temple. Ironically it is the ‘Hindus’ who have problem with polygamy, they view it as oppressive to women and unworthy to exist in a civilized world. Incidence of Polygamy is not only higher among Hindus than Muslims but polygamy was also practiced by almost all Hindu gods. From a Hindu’s perspective I don’t think god would be oppressive or do injustice to women by having more than one wife at a time after all Bhagwans came on the earth in flesh and bone to teach humans the way of living. Hindus who view polygamy as oppressive must first proclaim that Hindu gods were oppressive by having multiple partners and must also proclaim that Hindu gods were wrong when it came to polygamy. Limited polygamy is allowed for Hindus in Goa, not even Muslims can practice polygamy in Goa. Hindus have devised ways to have more than one partner at a time. As discussed in articles Hindu Personal Law & The Myth of Reform in Hindu Society, Polygamy in Hindu Dharma and Condition of Women in Hindu Society, Hindus are having another partner in their life through live-in relationship even during the lifetime of their wives. This is allowed by the courts of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh… it is known as Maitri Karar in Gujarat where mostly the upper caste rich Hindu men are going for it. Ironically the champions of Muslim women rights who seems to have problem with polygamy are mute and dumb on this issue. What’s the use of prohibiting polygamy for Hindus when they can have another partner through such loopholes? They have problem with bringing a second wife with dignity but they themselves bring another woman to their houses and according her the humiliating status of a Mistress. It proves that laws are one sided in India and there are separate set of rules for Hindus and Muslims. Same goes for Instant Triple Talaq issue, BJP is using it for political mileage but is silent on abandonment of 20 lakh Hindu women. There are many such tactics used by Hindus to have more than one partner at a time. Readers can go through the article Hindu Personal Law & The Myth of Reform in Hindu Society for more information as I don’t like to repeat the same passages. Hindus follow religious law as far as the issue of inheritance is concerned, they follow Mitakshara & Dayabhaga law which has legal backing and not a single Hindu talks about scrapping off this law.

There’s Saffronization of educational institutions going on and the opposition party and secular Hindus are doing nothing about it. On the one hand Hindus wants to implement “secular” Uniform Civil Code and on the other hand they are imposing their beliefs on non-Hindus. The Indian Express reported in 2017 when the BJP was in power in the Rajasthan state, “Schools in the Rajasthan capital have been asked to take students and teachers to a fair where they can learn about “love jihad”, purchase books on Christian conspiracies, take an oath of vegetarianism, sign up for a campaign to declare cow as “national mother”, or simply enrol themselves in one of the many caste organisations. Jaipur’s Additional District Education Officer Deepak Shukla confirmed that government and private schools in Jaipur have been asked to “help” organisers of the fair by getting students to attend it, and said it was upon the directions of Primary and Secondary Education Minister Vasudev Devnani.” Even educational institutions are not spared, Hindus are trying their level best to Saffronize educational institutions, Central government run Kendriya Vidyalaya promotes Hinduism through Hindu prayers, BJP minister Vinod Tawde finds no problem in distributing Gita in colleges, BJP wants to make Gita compulsory in schools, BJP in Mumbai, Haryana, Rajasthan have either proposed or made compulsory teaching of Gita, Mahabharata, Veda and Ramayana in schools and colleges, even JNU is set to promote study of Vedas and Upanishads. They have even called for making Sanskrit compulsory in Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Himachal Pradesh. They are also trying to make Yoga compulsory, Government was promoting Yoga through Internation Yoga Day. The Karnataka BJP government issued a circular to conduct a week-long yoga exercises ‘Surya Namaskar’ session in all schools and pre-university colleges. Karnataka BJP is also planning to teach Gita in schools, ironically the same BJP government banned Muslim girls from wearing Hijab, the court also upheld the ban, the excuse of uniform was cited but even Muslim teachers were barred from wearing Hijab, teachers have no uniform. The reaction of torch bearers of UCC to these won’t be negative rather they will take immense pride in imposing their beliefs on non-Hindus. That’s their hypocrisy, they don’t want others to follow religious laws in civil matters but Hindus would proudly impose their beliefs on non-Hindus. Muslim rulers have been demonized in Indian history books. BJP opposed Tipu Sultan Jayanti while hails Hindu rulers who had pillaged villages in their lifetime.
Hindus are turning India into a majoritarian nation where they have absolute power to do anything, they can decide the fate of religious minorities. RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat told Gau Rakshaks not to worry about Supreme Court & government. BJP in Delhi defied firecracker ban by Supreme Court and planned to distribute firecrackers. BJP leaders in West Bengal asked BJP Karyakartas to “Attack and kill police if you have to.” A Bengal BJP leader Hemanta Biswas gave more preference to religion and said that “Religion comes before language.” The Hindutvadis declare every Indian Muslim to be a traitor, first they need to clarify whether those Indian Muslim soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the nation were traitors or patriots? Indian Muslims are harassed with the question are you Muslim first or Indian first? It’s not the Muslims but it’s the Hindutvadis who needs to be questioned whether you are Hindu first or Indian first? When you allow Hindus from Pakistan and Bangladesh and grant them citizenship, you are being Indian first or Hindu first? You can read Dr. Javed Jamil’s article. Mangal Pandey a Brahmin is considered a freedom fighter. He was a Sepoy in the British Indian army, he served the Britishers and was loyal to them. He rebelled only after learning about cartridges being greased with cow fat. For him cow was more important than nation just because cow is considered holy in his religion, why don’t Hindutvadis question his patriotism? When you question about violence on minorities in India, Hindutvadis will tell Muslims to go to Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. Although India was ranked 4^th worst country for religious violence all thanks to Hindu extremists, United Nation experts blamed BJP for targeting Muslims in India. The bigger question is, can Hindutvadis depict India a safe nation for minorities only by comparing it to war torn countries like Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan? Why can’t they compare it to Jordan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Brunei, Lebanon, Tunisia, Saudi, Malaysia, Indonesia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and dozens of other Muslim countries? Doesn’t this prove the point that India is just slightly better than Iraq, Syria in terms of violence?

Hindutva leaders have given free hand to those Hindus who murder Muslims. Hindutvadi leaders especially BJP leaders attended rallies in support of murderers and rapists of a Muslim girl, one among the BJP leader named Rajiv Jasrotia was rewarded with a ministry, BJP leader Jayant Sinha garlanded culprits in the Jharkhand lynching of Alimuddin Ansari. Ravi Sisodia’s funeral was attended by BJP leader Manish Sharma, Ravi Sisodia was one of the accused in the lynching of Mohammed Akhlaq in Dadri. Hate mongers like Yogi Adityanath, Giriraj Singh, Anant Kumar Hegde and numerous others were rewarded with ministries for spewing venom against Muslims and for their alleged roles in anti-Muslim riots. Giving free hand to Hindus to butcher Muslims is only to appease Hindus and to oppress Muslims. Shiv Sena called for stripping off Muslims of their voting rights, its founder Bal Thackeray had also called for Muslims to be disenfranchised. BJP leader Subramanian Swamy called for creating division among Muslims and revoking their voting rights. There were reports of Gujarat government withdrawing ‘minor cases’ against Thakors, Rajputs. Yogi Adityanath government also recommended withdrawal of 38 criminal cases against over 100 accused in Muzaffarnagar riots. Are features of a Secular Nation? You oppress 14% religious minority, kills them and instead of giving them justice you reward their murderers. A religiously diversified nation is like a garden with various types of flowers unfortunately it has been infested with Hindutva. The people with various backgrounds, cultures, languages and religions are beauty of the nation. You cannot impose your beliefs on others and cannot persecute minority only because of their religion. The constitution of India is one of the best constitutions among all democratic countries and it must be upheld and protected. Since Secularism is an integral part of Indian Constitution which can’t be removed so such more such laws will be introduced favouring the Hindu community which will turn India into a namesake secular country.

For your ease I am mentioning some of the points which can be counted as either Hindu appeasement or as laws for a Hindu Rashtra.

• Hindu leaders openly opposing Secularism of India and calling to establish a Hindu Rashtra.

• Three castes Jats, Rajputs and Sikhs can be President’s bodyguards.
• Sanskrit as the second official language in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand states.
• 200 times higher penalty for Muslims than Hindus from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh overstaying in India on a Visa.

• State Emblem of Karnataka is Gandaberunda a form of Vishnu.

• Idol of Manu in the premises of Rajasthan High Court.

• Proposal to install idols of Saraswati and Bhardwaj in Akbar fort.

• Ban on non-veg food and animal slaughter in Vrindavan, Barsana, Rishikesh, Haridwar, Muni Ki Reti and Thanesar & Pehowa municipality areas. During Kanwar Yatra.

• Subsidies to Amarnath Yatra, Muktinath, Mansarovar, Char Dham.

• Thousands of crore rupees spent on Kumbh Mela and other Hindu festivals like Diwali.

• Citizenship (Amendment) Bill which seeks to give citizenship to non-Muslims and is aimed at granting citizensip to Hindus from neighbouring countries.

• Regulated conversion in Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh & Rajasthan but Hindutva groups can freely conduct Ghar Wapsi programs.

• Anti-Cow slaughter law.

• Cow Cess in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana & Madhya Pradesh.

• Invoking NSA for alleged cow slaughter and misusing UAPA to harass Muslims.

• Temples and photos of Hindu gods in courts and government offices

• Hindu only village Kesalingayapalli in Andhra Pradesh prohibiting entry of non-Hindus.

• Several temples like Guruvayur, Jagannath, Kashi Vishvanath, Padmanabhaswamy… bars entry of non-Hindus.

• Mathura Police Uniform bearing the logo with an image of Krishna.

• Hindu only housing in several parts of India.

• Muslims not allowed to celebrate Eid in Mushara village of UP.

• Colonial era provision in Haridwar prohibiting religious or social actvities by non Hindus.

• Reservation mainly given to Hindu classes.

• Governments benefits for Kashmiri Pandits but no such benefit for Muslims effected by riots.

• Government funded Mid-day meals deny eggs to children in many states especially the BJP ruled ones, ISKCON’s Akshaya Patra which is given contract by Karnataka government do not provide eggs, garlic and onion to children due to religious sentiments.

• Spending thousands of crore rupees on Ganga River because it is considered sacred among Hindus.

• Sabarimala issue, right wing and centrist parties wants to retain the tradition.

• Changing names of Muslim sounding places.

• Rewarding those who murdered Muslims, electing them as MLA and MP.

• Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) tax rebate. Some taxes are exempted for Hindu Undivided Family.

• Naga Sadhus roaming naked and smoke weed despite NDPS act and Section 294 of IPC prohibiting them.

• Hindus being polygamous through live-in relationship. It is also known as Maitri Karar in Gujarat.

• Gita, Ramayana, Veda and Sanskrit being made mandatory in many government educational institutions.
• Withdrawing cases against Hindus involved in riots
• Non-Aryans not allowed in Banaras Hindu University’s Sanskrit department.
• Government promoting Hinduism and Hindu text through websites.
• Government was promoting Yoga through Internation Yoga Day.
• Muhurat trading.
• Diwali Bonus.
• Seeking votes in name of Hindutva is legal but one cannot ask for votes in name of other religions.
• Non-Hindus not allowed to trade near temples in Karnataka as per Karnataka Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments Rules, 2002