Anti-minority crimes

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has long projected itself as the custodian of Indian culture. Yet, its cadre members’ repeated attacks on Christians and Muslims raise troubling questions about the organization’s true intent. If the RSS claims to defend tradition, then it must reckon with the fact that Christianity’s roots in India stretch back nearly two millennia-far older than Sikhism, which emerged in the 15th century. Tradition holds that Saint Thomas, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus, arrived on the Malabar Coast in 52 CE. By the second century, Roman writers and the Acts of Thomas recorded thriving Christian communities of merchants in Kerala. Over centuries, Christianity expanded, particularly during British colonial rule with the arrival of Protestant missions around 1700 CE. Sikhism, by contrast, was born in Punjab during the 15th century, while Buddhism had already flourished in the subcontinent since the fifth century BCE, founded by Siddhartha Gautama-the Buddha-in what is now Nepal. India’s religious landscape has always been plural, layered, and diverse. Against this backdrop, the RSS’s hostility toward so-called “alien religions” appears less about history and more about ideology. While the organization’s official 2025 stance emphasizes cultural inclusion, its actions often betray a majoritarian Hindutva mindset. Much of its narrative rests not on historical truth but on a distortion of facts, aligned more closely with authoritarian impulses than with democratic pluralism.The rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), closely tied to the RSS, was fueled by public dissatisfaction with the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance under Dr. Manmohan Singh. Yet Congress’s failures-particularly under Sonia Gandhi’s leadership-do not justify the erosion of democratic values under the current dispensation. The targeting of Christians and Muslims by the RSS, Bajrang Dal, and Vishwa Hindu Parishad is not merely a fringe phenomenon; it is a systemic issue that undermines India’s constitutional promise of equality and freedom of worship. The Modi government bears the responsibility of maintaining peace and communal harmony. This is not an impossible task. What is more difficult, however, is ensuring that the government is not perceived as going soft on those who spread hatred. Fringe elements gain legitimacy not because their faith is rooted in truth, but because their politics thrives on division. Communalism today is not sporadic but sustained. It manifests in the abuse of free speech, the intimidation of liberal media, and the normalization of anti-minority rhetoric. Media observers note that much of India’s electronic media has adopted a narrative of “imminent danger” from supposed internal and external enemies, often relying on false claims and partisan facts. Law enforcement, too, has been compromised, with arrests disproportionately targeting minority communities. The rise of communalism reminds us that it persists not because ordinary citizens demand it, but because political actors refuse to relinquish its utility. What we witness across India are not isolated incidents but a consistent fueling of fear, insecurity, and division. These are unmistakable signs of an India at risk of becoming something other than the democratic, plural nation envisioned in its Constitution. If the RSS truly seeks to protect Indian culture, it must embrace the pluralism that has defined the subcontinent for millennia. Anything less is not cultural preservation-it is cultural betrayal.