Activists from the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), raise their hands as they shout slogans during a protest march . A British parliamentary report has criticised the Indian government for failing to protect religious minorities from violent Hindu hardliners.
A report by the British All-Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom of Religion or Belief said the rise of nationalist ‘Hindutva’ ideology – which defines ‘Indian’ as exclusively Hindu – has led to an increase in religious oppression in the country.
The report titled ‘Commentary on the Current State of Freedom of Religion or Belief’ said anti-conversion laws in seven of India’s states are also used to threaten Muslims and Christians.
In its India chapter, the report said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has finally condemned mob violence against minorities, but his government has remained largely inactive in proactively tackling spiralling religiously motivated violence”.
Report
The report said a “particularly worrying” situation emerges from media reports that some members of the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have close affiliations with the Hindu hard-line group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
It claims that India is a Hindu land and religious minorities should accept Hindu supremacy if they want to live in the country.