India’s Nazi regime

As the largest democracy in the world has given a mandate to these racist, fascist and extremist clique

The India-Occupied Kashmir (IOK) is facing one of the worst humanitarian crises ever. It has been more than 40 days since the lockdown. The list of atrocities is infinite. From rape, sodomy to other torture techniques, the Indian regime has left no stone unturned in causing distress to the innocent people of Kashmir. The abrogation of Articles 370 and 35(A) has deprived the Kashmiri population of autonomy, and is an act fueled by religious discrimination. An expansionist agenda, with a vision of a puritanical Hindu state, backs these actions, which are on a par — in its disregard for international law — with the 2013 capture of the Crimean peninsula by Russia.

The ideological inspiration of the current Baharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a party whose ideologue is none other than MS Gowalkar who openly eulogised Hitler’s ideas and therefore his pogroms. In his book, We or Our Nationhood Defined, he openly endorses, rather exemplifies Hitler’s purging of the “Semitic races — the Jews”. He said that by carrying out the pogroms, “national pride at its highest has been manifested here”. For a political party that is based on such ignominiously narrow-minded doctrines, and that support the actions of a tyrant such as Hitler, the aforesaid human rights abuses come naturally. It is both shocking and lamentable to see that the largest democracy in the world has given a mandate to these racist, fascist and extremist clique (one may question the merits of democracy but that is another debate).

The doctrine of Hindutva finds a parallel to Hitler’s obsession with the mistaken idea of Aryan superiority. Ever since the BJP has come to the fore, mob lynching and religious hatred is on the rise. Tahir Mahmood, a European Advisory Scientist, says, “Modi suffers from narcissistic syndrome. It is clear from his actions that he believes in caste system and racial superiority, and this complex is often aggravated into a higher level when it takes the form of oppression. In my research there were clearly indicators, which point towards Modi suffering from a rationale disorder. By analyzing four main functions of mind i.e. how to understand, how to make reasoning, how to conclude something, how to take responsibility, when all these four functions are in disharmony we call that the person is mentally radicalized. His actions so far give support to the findings.”

We don’t have to go far back in history to see the neo-Nazi inclinations of the current Modi regime, as tens of millions of people can end up losing their citizenship in Assam. Thirty million people in Assam had to prove that they were citizens of the region before March 1971. Many have questioned the process that is going to follow and the inherent and obviously expected discrimination that Muslims are going to be subjected to. The BJP has endorsed the project and has promised to carry it out across the country. Muslims could be an easy target in this seemingly anti-immigrant drive.

Mob lynching, from forcing (or rather beating) a person to chant religious Hindu verses to setting a child on fire upon refusal to do the same; blatant racism and shameful misogynistic remarks coming from government officials; the discrimination against and hostility for Muslims in general and Kashmir’s in particular; stand stark in post-Modi India.

With both Pakistan and India possessing 130 to 150 nuclear weapons, the geographic contiguity, the demographic heft and the growing nationalist fervour on both sides shouldn’t be ignored or taken for granted by the international community. There should be more than just soothing words, hollow assurances and formal treaties. There should be a concerted action by the global comity of nations to first, save the innocent people of Kashmir from this recent curfew, and second, to bring both parties to the table and resolve the issue for good.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 14^th, 2019.

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