US-based HR group draws parallels between Hindutva forces and Nazis

Report says India has become ‘weakest’ at the hands of fascist Hindutva ideology

ISLAMABAD:

A US-based human rights group “Justice for All” has drawn parallels between the Hindutva ideology and the Nazis, citing the ongoing persecution of the minorities in India.

The organisation’s report titled “The Nazification of India” compares 12 different mechanisms of hate and persecution from the Nazi playbook, and how they are being implemented in India today.

India, the largest democracy in the world, has become the weakest at the hands of the fascist Hindutva ideology, said the report released by the Chicago-based human rights organisation.

It said that Hindutva ideology is not only inspired by Nazis and fascists of Europe, but their treatment of the Muslim minority closely follows developments that resulted in pushing Jews to the gas chambers.

Read more: India’s institutionalised prejudice against Islamophobia

The report was released in the recent past at a Congressional briefing “to mark the anniversary of the Gujarat pogroms of 2002 against Muslims which propelled the BJP-RSS regime to control India.”

“India today is ruled not just by a political party the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), but its mother organisation the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS),” the report said.

“What’s happening in India today clearly demonstrates that India is on a dangerous trajectory to becoming a Nazi-inspired, fascist, majoritarian state, where its minorities and particularly its more than 200 million Muslims, face an impending danger of genocide.”

At the briefing, Hena Zuberi of Justice for All explained the reasons behind some terms used in the report, like “The BJP-RSS regime” and “The BJP-RSS machine.”

She said that these terms “reflect the intrinsic links and collaborative relationship between the gas chambers, hate, othering, and boycotts of Jews, ghettoization, and pogroms.”

“The fact that these parallels are seen is not a surprise since the early leaders of the RSS openly declared that the Nazi model was a good one for India to adopt. And recently, Hitler’s popularity has grown widely in the country.”

The report also explored how Narendra Modi not only got away with facilitating a pogrom but was also elected the prime minister of India — twice. It further notes that “while Modi’s fortunes continue to rise in India, the country’s positioning around the world continues to fall.”

Authors of the report cite the Freedom House, which “downgraded” India in 2021 to “partially free,” as well as the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index that placed the world’s largest democracy in the category of “Flawed Democracy.”

Also read: Draconian laws fuel separatist movements in India’s conflict-hit Manipur state

It also mentions Reporters Without Borders, which, in 2022 placed India “among the worst countries in terms of media freedom, ranking it at 150 out of 180 countries.”

Noting that the non-profit Genocide Watch has already warned that the situation in India “reached the stages of polarisation, preparation, and persecution respectively, the 6th, 7th, and 8th stages of the ten stages of Genocide”, the report insists. “The world must heed these warning signs and act as a matter of urgency to prevent history from repeating itself.”

The report urged the global leaders to “condemn the gross human rights violations occurring in India and pressure the government to hold true to India’s secular constitution.”