Indians reject Modi’s divisive politics

 A regime that was ruthlessly cruel to Christians with laws and violence was cut to pieces by voters in the largest democratic elections in the world in India.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s majority in the 543-member Lok Sabha (lower house) was reduced for the first time in 10 years.  His pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) failed to cross the halfway mark of 272 on its own when 65.79 percent of 900 million voters exercised their franchise to elect a new government.

The new Modi government was sworn in on June 9 after the 73-year-old pro-Hindu party leader cobbled together a coalition government with regional parties.

By acting as a chief priest at the consecration of Ram temple in Ayodhya in northern Uttar Pradesh on Jan. 22, Modi had unveiled his plans for a theocratic Hindu nation in his third term where minorities like Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsees, and Jains will be treated as second-class citizens.

Modi’s proposed theocratic nation went for a toss as Dalits (former untouchables under the Hindu caste system) and indigenous people clipped his wings, aided by Muslims, Christians, and Sikhs.

Christians make up just 2.4 percent of India’s massive population of 1.4 billion and most of them are Hindus. Muslims make up 15 percent and the Dalits and tribal people account for nearly 27 percent.

India has reserved quotas in legislative bodies for Dalits and tribal people under the affirmation action policy. Based on their demographic composition, the constitution has set aside 84 reserved seats for Dalits (Scheduled Castes) and 47 seats for tribal people (Scheduled Tribes) in India’s Lok Sabha.

Modi’s BJP was reduced to 55 seats out of the total 131 reserved seats. In the 2019 election, 77 reserved seats went in favor of Modi’s ultranationalist party.  Dalits and tribal people feared that Modi would scrap the affirmation action policy.

In 2023, India witnessed at least two attacks against Christians on each day, an astronomical rise compared with 2014 when Modi came to power for the first time, according to the New Delhi-based United Christian Forum (UCF) that tracks violence against Christians in India.

The UCF said 687 incidents of violence against Christians were reported from 23 states in 2023. This translates into two incidents per day in a secular and democratic country. There were 147 cases of violence against Christians in 2014.

Out of the 687 incidents, 531 cases took place in four northern states. Uttar Pradesh (287), Chhattisgarh (148), Jharkhand (49) and Haryana (47), the UCF said. In all these four states, BJP has a strong presence.

In most of the cases, vigilante mobs backed by the pro-Hindu government and police, disrupt prayer gatherings, alleging forcible conversions.

Persecution of India’s minorities has already earned enough criticism from the international bodies and the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).

Open Doors' World Watch List 2023 ranked as “the 11th worst country on earth for the persecution of Christians.”

Though  Article 25 of the Indian constitution guarantees the right to choose any religion of one's choice, 11 out of 28 Indian states, most of them ruled by Modi’s party, have enacted a sweeping anti-conversion law, ironically named as freedom of religion acts. The draconian law targets Christian missionary activities.

Since May 2023, the northeastern state of Manipur has been witnessing fighting between tribal Christians and Hindus. The hilly state is ruled by Modi’s party. The sectarian strife has so far claimed more than 220 lives with the majority of victims being Christians. More than 50,000 tribal Christians are staying in relief camps after their houses were set on fire. Over 350 churches and other Christian institutions were also destroyed. However, Modi did not bother to change the leadership nor he visited the strife-torn state despite repeated demands.

No wonder in Manipur’s two parliament seats — Inner Manipur and Outer Manipur – Modi’s party failed to win.

Father Stan Swamy, the 84-year-old Jesuit and a rights activist, died as an undertrial in Mumbai on July 5 in 2021 after being denied bail on medical grounds despite suffering from multiple age-related ailments. Modi put him behind bars under a draconian law.

Modi’s divisive politics stands rejected.