Progressive International says India lurches toward full-fledged fascism
New Delhi: Cabinet of Progressive International, a global activists collective, has warned about India’s lurches towards “full-fledged fascism” while accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of launching his “re-election campaign with the inauguration of a new multimillion-dollar Hindu temple in Ayodhya upon the ruins of the Babri Masjid”.
According to Kashmir Media Service, the Progressive International in a statement said the Modi government with the inauguration of Ram Temple has made a decisive move to overthrow India’s secular constitution in the name of a new Hindu supremacist nation.
The inauguration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya by Narendra Modi is seen as an anti-minority move.
“30 years prior, on 6 December 1992, Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party-led a violent mob to demolish the Mosque to rubble – claiming that it was the ancient site of a Hindu temple for Lord Ram or the “Ram Mandir”. In the bloody communal riots that followed, over 2,000 people were killed,” the statement read.
It said a thorough investigation led by Justice Manmohan Singh Liberhan found 68 people to be responsible for the demolition of the Mosque – mostly leaders from the BJP, including senior figures and members of Parliament such as AB Vajpayee, who went onto become the Prime Minister in 1996, LK Advani, and Vijaya Raje Scindia. None of them have faced legal repercussions to date.
Since then, it added, the ruling BJP government has embraced “Ram Mandir” as a battle cry for their nation-building project.
The statement said as Prime Minister, Modi has pushed this Hindu-nationalism as India’s dominant political force: banning the hijab in schools, introducing “anti-conversion” laws, abusing municipal forces to demolish Muslim households and shops in cities, and pushing for a “uniform civil code” in law.
“India’s fundamentalist turn is terrifying. We call on progressive forces around the world to stand vigilant ahead of its general elections in April. The people of India have struggled for decades to secure a democracy that is secular, just, and equal. Modi must not be permitted to rob them of it now,” the statement added.
