When Religion Rules !

When the " Raj ", the British rule of India came to an end in 1947 it was obvious that the two main religions would not live in peace together and so the sub-continent was split into two separate countries.  India was ruled by the Congress party with leanings to its Hindu majority and Pakistan became a Muslim nation.

That became a period of serious discord.  Millions of people were uprooted as their religion forced them to move to a state appropriate to their religion and this exodus was beset with dispossession, rape and murder.  It is estimated that more than a million people died in the upheaval and the two nations remained at odds over the tiny province of Kashmir.  This is the only part of India that still has a Muslim majority.

India and Pakistan have gone to war with one another several times.  Their relationship is still hostile and both nations are now equipped with nuclear weapons. The Congress party rule of India had a socialist flavour and was long headed by the Ghandi family.  Eventually, the voters tired of its lack of direction  and the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) came to power with Narendra Modi as prime minister.  This year Modi won a second term.

The BJP exalts Hindu nationalism and while India was a secular state that tolerated many religions during Modi's rule its identity has swung sharply behind the Hindu majority.   The problem is that during partition in 1947, not all of India's Muslims moved to Pakistan.  Some chose to remain as a minority in India and today that represents fourteen percent of the Indian population.

As Modi has consolidated power his government's decisions have heavily favoured Hindu thinking. His government is showing hostility to Muslims remaining in India and it seems evident that Modi would like to continue the exodus to the point that India becomes an exclusively Hindu nation.

Both the tax system and the allocation of pensions require a uniform method of personal identification and for the first time many Indians are required to obtain something similar to our  tax file number.  This raises the question of citizenship.  It seems that the BJP is putting obstacles in the way of Muslims proving that they are Indian citizens, despite a family presence in the nation that goes back many generations.

Modi is popular and his term in office has seen reform of the ageing border tax regime between states favoured by the Congress party. This requirement that all citizens must prove their citizenship eligibility will be a weapon to deny Muslims citizenship and force them out of the country.  At this stage, that weaponry is being directed exclusively at Muslims but the Modi doctrine may eventually prevail to make India a country subjected to Hindu religious law.

It is yet to be seen how this directional change will sit with the rest of the world.