Whilst India continues to remain named the worlds largest democracy, certain investigations have painted a completely different picture.
Freedom of religion in India is a fundamental right guaranteed by Article 25-28 of the Constitution of India. Since India became independent in 1947 it claims to continuously follow the script of secularism.
However, since then, multiple freedom movements in many parts of India have been met with brutal and inhumane violence, as well as unfair propaganda and portrayal in the media.
The US commission of religious freedom drew up a report on India and stated that they should be put of a religious freedom blacklist. The full report can be found here:
Even the recent farmer’s protests were met with violence with many farmers being attacked and injured by police. It got to the point where Senior cameraman Charanjit Singh working at Akaal channel was hit on the face with a tear gas canister.
Despite the violence towards farmers, they were labelled as terrorists by national media such as ABP and NDTV.
On 9th December 2020 EU Disinfo Lab tweeted a report which discussed India’s major influence in Western countries to spread anti-Pakistan and anti-China propaganda.
This is nothing new with India as many claims from politicians and other High profile people tend to be against minorities.
Bhartiya Janata Party member Rajeshwar Singh a Hindu Nationalist said:
“Just wait and watch. 31st December 2021 is the last for Christianity and Islam in this country. We will finish Christianity and Islam in this country by 31st December 2021. This is our aim!”
This was met with zero repercussions for his statement, despite it being a declaration of mass genocide.
The latest attempt came from the prime minister Narendra Modi, who has published a digital pamphlet titled ‘PM Modi and his government’s special relationship with Sikhs’- which has only sparked outrage throughout the community worldwide.
When talking to Dr Jagroop Sihota, from Warick University, he commented on this by saying;
“In this document., Modi has made around 13 different points, essentially attempting to take credit for largescale events that Sikhs have lived trough in the past few years, for example, the opening of the Kartarpur corridor (an opening of the borders between Pakistan and India so that Sikhs could visit their historical gurdwaras in Pakistan). However, what’s interesting is all of the events that he mentioned encountered major difficulties, which were primarily his fault due to negligence or his violent and angry nature. So really, this is just a way of Modi trying to fix his detrimental relationship with the Sikhs, by trying to twist historical events.”
Having Amnesty International removed from India, amongst many other events only raises questions as to how Prime Minister Narendra Modi hopes to keep his country secular when it seems as though his own sentiments don’t really portray those values either.
Khalsa Diary 