India is a country renowned for its fascinating paradoxes, in which its citizens luxuriate, asserting that it distinguishes their nation. This juxtaposition is perfectly exemplified in modern India. Despite many sceptics from the West doubting India’s endurance post-independence, it now proudly stands as the fifth largest economy globally. It has now surpassed the UK, its one-time coloniser, and instead of being on the receiving end of aid from the West like it was in the 1960s, it is now sought after for its investment potential.
However, contemporary India also has a darker side. Fierce animosity festers between the Hindu majority and the Muslim minority, the third largest globally. There is a narrative portraying Muslims as foreign invaders attempting to obliterate the Hindus. This viewpoint is further exacerbated by an increasing fear among Hindus of being outnumbered by Muslims, generated by the so-called “love jihad” where Muslims are accused of intentionally seducing Hindu women to convert and bear more Muslim offspring. Together with the growing autocratic tendencies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which has left the previously outspoken media restrained, it presents a less-than-rosy picture of India.
This concerning aspect of India is the central theme of the book under discussion. The text, which is largely based on in-depth reportage, begins with a sentence that imbues it with a novelistic feel: “Around a decade ago, individuals close to my heart started to lose their minds.” Mumbai-based journalist and author, Rahul Bhatia, proceeds to narrate how a once humorous relative became aggressively anti-Muslim.
The first section of the book highlights how the Modi administration has intensified this anti-Muslim sentiment. This is clearly demonstrated by the 2019 Citizenship Amendment Act which offers sanctuary to beleaguered minorities from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh, excluding Muslims. In a bid to mask their genuine motives, the minister assured the Indian Parliament that Indian Muslims had no cause for alarm.
The unjust treatment of Darren by a clergyman ceased when he had reached the age of 11. His ordeal stands as one of the profoundest instances of abuse that I’ve come across.
In the limelight: Trademark snapshots of iconic Hollywood figures such as Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor and Grace Kelly, amongst others.
David Peace expresses, “The Munich air disaster was indeed a calamity of great national significance, however, it also exemplifies the resilience displayed by individuals in overcoming such a catastrophe.”
“Who Murdered Una Lynskey?” by Mick Clifford – A close examination of the notorious Garda heavy gang in relation to their role in the investigation of two particularly unsettling homicides from the 1970s.
Indeed, they had ample reasons to fear as became clear when there were strong objections against the Act. As students belonging to the Muslim faith from Jamia Millia University, Delhi amassed, the police segmenting the entrance with metal barriers of a yellow hue responded brutally, using batons and rods in addition to tear gas. In one instance, the police created chaos within the premises of the university and aggressively attacked a postgraduate learner to the extent of him losing an eye. In response to his legal action against them, the police provided a doctor’s statement indicating that his injury was a result of being hit by a stone. Upon meeting Bhatia two years hence, he had lost the ability to cross a street unaided. Additional protesters tragically lost their lives and ensuing victims of violent rioters were wrongfully described as the ones inciting the riots.
Amongst the countless harrowing accounts narrated by Bhatia is that of Imran, a Muslim individual who chanced upon a Hindu mob running rampant in Mustafabad, a town located in east Delhi. A gunshot from within the mob drastically injured his lower body. The police unjustly judged Imran as a culprit and threatened him with incarceration. On seeking medical treatment from a Hindu practitioner, his father was met with the query, “Are you certain you didn’t inflict this wound on your son intentionally?”
Nissar experienced the destruction of his house by a Hindu mob, rendering him without a home, in addition to losing 30 years worth of savings, amounting up to $60,000. Despite his willingness to testify against the violent mob – as recognized by him – the complex intricacies of Indian justice delayed his court appearance over a two-year span, with him never actually stepping into the witness box.
History in all nations can possess a lethal potential as the ongoing debate concerning slavery in Britain evidences. The consequences in India are potentially even graver.
Presented by Bhatia, the workings of the Indian judiciary seem akin to a scene from a Bollywood film. In one instance, amidst a trial, Nissar is witness to a spectacle where the prosecution berates the presiding judge, accusing him of imitating a school superintendent and treating the courtroom like a classroom. The prosecutor issues a warning to the judge — a potential boycott by all public prosecutors. The increasingly flustered judge attempts to placate him, flashing a smile, and asks permission to utter a word. Nissar is finally granted an opportunity to speak, but before he can articulate his full testimony, the court session is suspended. Two years later, when Bhatia penned down his book, the legal battle continued unresolved.
Beneath it all lies a conviction, propagated by Modi’s party, the BJP, that the Hindus have been robbed of their own country. This notion formed the crux of Modi’s strategic 2014 election campaign. Unlike the generation born around the time India secured independence in 1947, whose narrative was focused on liberation from 200-year-long British subjugation (Angrezon ki Ghulami in Urdu), Modi’s Hindu base perceives their subjugation tracing back to the early incursions by the Muslim conqueror, Mahmud of Ghazni, almost 1,200 years ago.
Indeed, the interpretation of history is controversial and potentially dangerous, as demonstrated by the discourse on slavery in Britain. The impact is even more pronounced in the context of India. Rewriting of Indian history by Hindu extremists predates Modi. I encountered one such individual, PN Oak, in 1976 at a restaurant in Delhi. Oak headed the Institute for Rewriting Indian History and propagated the theory that the Taj Mahal was initially a Hindu place of residence before the Muslims claimed and rechristened it.
Additionally, he stated that the Coronation Stone was in fact the phallus of the Hindu deity Shiva and that Shrewsbury originated from an ancient Sanskrit name. He postulated that Hindus once possessed a global empire with England as a tributary state. When questioned on these audacious assertions, he responded, “Are you aware that the transition of dates in Britain occurs at midnight? That strikes as a peculiar time. The explanation lies in the fact that when it’s midnight in Greenwich, it’s 5:30 AM in India. For Hindus, the break of dawn signifies a new day’s commencement, and during India’s epoch of global supremacy, as day broke, a signal would be transmitted across the globe from the Ganges river, prompting a change in the date in Britain, in spite of it being midnight there.”
Upon Narendra Modi’s ascendancy, such extravagant theories are being echoed not just over desserts in a Delhi bistro but also in some of India’s premier institutions. For instance, in January 2015 at the Indian Science Congress in Mumbai, Captain Anand Bodas presented a talk proposing that ancient Hindus created aviation machinery during the Vedic period, including aircraft capable of interplanetary travel and mid-air suspensions.
Bodas illuminated, “There is recognized history and there is unsanctioned history,” further stating, “Formal history only acknowledges the Wright Brothers to be the first flyers in 1903.” Shockingly, this was the first occasion in its 102-year history that the Indian Science Congress had organized a discussion on such a novel topic, attracting Prakash Javadekar, the Environment Minister. He remarked, “The old Indian scientific principles were founded on meticulous observations and reason. Their knowledge deserves acknowledgment.”
Rahul Bhatia, who completed his book prior to the election, couldn’t have predicted the outcome. Nevertheless, it demonstrates how the majority of the populace, despite significant illiteracy, cherishes their autonomy.
Bhatia converses with many Hindus that share the same perspective as Javadekar, including a lawyer who disputed Nissar’s evidence in court. He firmly believed that the concept of electricity was a product of ancient Hindus, as evident by the existence of a Sanskrit term for it. He claimed the ancient civilization had knowledge of aircraft, missiles, and plastic surgery, drawing his arguments from Hindu religious scriptures, the Vedas, and Ramayana, a revered Hindu mythological story written about 2,500 years ago.
Bhatia, renowned for his poetic prose, immaculately documents these claims. However, his narrative seems to stray off course in the final third when discussing the implementation of Aadhaar – a 12-digit biometric identity document – by Modi’s government. Detractors of this initiative viewed it as an unwelcome expansion of government surveillance. Their attempts to have it outlawed by the Supreme Court, however, fell through. Bhatia fails to effectively convince the reader of the argument that Aadhaar is particularly harmful compared to the previously mandated pan card, required for all financial transactions.
Modi’s soaring political career in India is nothing short of extraordinary. The recent general election had the potential to fortify Modi’s authority, shifting India towards becoming a wholly Hindu nation. In a surprising turn of events, however, Modi’s support didn’t quite match the political prowess demonstrated by Keir Starmer, Britain’s Prime Minister, who secured an overwhelming majority. A supermajority for Modi could have allowed him to modify India’s constitution, essentially transforming it into a Hindu Raj. India’s constitution maintains the country’s secular identity, hindering such a transition. Now, he heads a coalition that curtails his capacity to induce such significant changes.
Bhatia, having written his book prior to the elections couldn’t have envisaged this outcome. The results served to highlight the importance of democracy to citizens, regardless of their literacy levels. Precedent to this were the events of 1977 when Indira Gandhi’s draconian rule was abolished through democratic voting. Similarly, Modi’s power has been hemmed in, suggesting that despite its challenges, India’s redemption could be fashioned by the inherent steadfastness of its citizens.
Mihir Bose, the author of ‘Thank You Mr Crombie, Lessons in Guilt and Gratitude to the British’, recommends further reading: ‘Another India: The Making of the World’s Largest Muslim Minority 1947-77’ by Pratinav Anil (Hurst, 2023).
An insightful and amusing exploration of the Muslim community in India, principled with clarity and depth, is wonderfully depicted.
“Why I Am a Hindu”, a book authored by Shashi Tharoor and published by Aleph in 2018, illustrates the influence of Modi’s reign on Indian politics. Congress, during its extended governance, remained silent on religion, viewing such discussions as prejudiced. But presently, it’s deemed essential by an influential Congress politician to engage in these discussions to stay abreast with Modi.
“Modi’s Gujarat”, a 2024 work by Christophe Jaffrelot released by Hurst, meticulously details how Modi’s governance in his Gujarati home state proved to be a testing ground for his leadership across India.
Lastly, “Savarkar and the Making of Hindutwa”, a study penned by Janaki Bakhle and published by Princeton in 2024, scrutinizes the individual who is celebrated as an iconic Hindu hero in Modi’s India. He is lauded as the principal ideological inspiration behind the prevailing right-wing Hindu nationalism, which currently holds sway in India.