Once a fringe Indian ideology, Hindu nationalism is now mainstream, thanks to Modi’s decade in power

Once a fringe Indian ideology, Hindu nationalism is now mainstream, thanks to Modi’s decade in power
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Gujarat state's then chief minister Narendra Modi, third left, with former chief minister Keshubhai Patel, second right, and leaders of Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), salute during the concluding ceremony of the eight-day RSS convention in Ahmedabad, India, on Jan. 1, 2006.(AP photo/File)
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Updated 19 April 2024
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Once a fringe Indian ideology, Hindu nationalism is now mainstream, thanks to Modi’s decade in power

Once a fringe Indian ideology, Hindu nationalism is now mainstream, thanks to Modi’s decade in power
  • While Mahatma Gandhi preached Hindu-Muslim unity a few decades earlier, the RSS advocated for transforming India into a Hindu nation
  • RSS, which stands for Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, is paramilitary, right-wing group founded nearly a century ago
  • Modi joined the political wing of the RSS in the late 1960s in their home state, Gujarat, when he was a teenager

AHMEDABAD, India: Hindu nationalism, once a fringe ideology in India, is now mainstream. Nobody has done more to advance this cause than Prime Minister Narendra Modi, one of India’s most beloved and polarizing political leaders.

And no entity has had more influence on his political philosophy and ambitions than a paramilitary, right-wing group founded nearly a century ago and known as the RSS.
“We never imagined that we would get power in such a way,” said Ambalal Koshti, 76, who says he first brought Modi into the political wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in the late 1960s in their home state, Gujarat.
Modi was a teenager. Like other young men — and even boys — who joined, he would learn to march in formation, fight, meditate and protect their Hindu homeland.
A few decades earlier, while Mahatma Gandhi preached Hindu-Muslim unity, the RSS advocated for transforming India — by force, if necessary — into a Hindu nation. (A former RSS worker would fire three bullets into Gandhi’s chest in 1948, killing him months after India gained independence.)
Modi’s spiritual and political upbringing from the RSS is the driving force, experts say, in everything he’s done as prime minister over the past 10 years, a period that has seen India become a global power and the world’s fifth-largest economy.
At the same time, his rule has seen brazen attacks against minorities — particularly Muslims — from hate speech to lynchings. India’s democracy, critics say, is faltering as the press, political opponents and courts face growing threats. And Modi has increasingly blurred the line between religion and state.
At 73, Modi is campaigning for a third term in a general election, which starts Friday. He and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party are expected to win. He’s challenged by a broad but divided alliance of regional parties.
Supporters and critics agree on one thing: Modi has achieved staying power by making Hindu nationalism acceptable — desirable, even — to a nation of 1.4 billion that for decades prided itself on pluralism and secularism. With that comes an immense vote bank: 80 percent of Indians are Hindu.
“He is 100 percent an ideological product of the RSS,“in said Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, who wrote a Modi biography. “He has delivered their goals.”
 




In this Feb. 23, 2014 file photo, Indian Muslims shower flower petals as volunteers of Hindu nationalist group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, (RSS), march on the concluding day of their three-day meeting in Bhopal, India. For the RSS, Indian civilization is inseparable from Hinduism. (AP Photo/Rajeev Gupta, File)

Uniting Hindus
Between deep breaths under the night sky in western India a few weeks ago, a group of boys recited an RSS prayer in Sanskrit: “All Hindus are the children of Mother India ... we have taken a vow to be equals and a promise to save our religion.”
More than 65 years ago, Modi was one of them. Born in 1950 to a lower-caste family, his first exposure to the RSS was through shakhas — local units — that induct boys by combining religious education with self-defense skills and games.
By the 1970s, Modi was a full-time campaigner, canvassing neighborhoods on bicycle to raise RSS support.
“At that time, Hindus were scared to come together,” Koshti said. “We were trying to unite them.”
The RSS — formed in 1925, with the stated intent to strengthen the Hindu community — was hardly mainstream. It was tainted by links to Gandhi’s assassination and accused of stoking hatred against Muslims as periodic riots roiled India.
For the group, Indian civilization is inseparable from Hinduism, while critics say its philosophy is rooted in Hindu supremacy.
Today, the RSS has spawned a network of affiliated groups, from student and farmer unions to nonprofits and vigilante organizations often accused of violence. Their power — and legitimacy — ultimately comes from the BJP, which emerged from the RSS.
“Until Modi, the BJP had never won a majority on their own in India’s Parliament,” said Christophe Jaffrelot, an expert on Modi and the Hindu right. “For the RSS, it is unprecedented.”
Scaling his politics
Modi got his first big political break in 2001, becoming chief minister of home state Gujarat. A few months in, anti-Muslim riots ripped through the region, killing at least 1,000 people.
There were suspicions that Modi quietly supported the riots, but he denied the allegations and India’s top court absolved him over lack of evidence.
Instead of crushing his political career, the riots boosted it.
Modi doubled down on Hindu nationalism, Jaffrelot said, capitalizing on religious tensions for political gain. Gujarat’s reputation suffered from the riots, so he turned to big businesses to build factories, create jobs and spur development.
“This created a political economy — he built close relations with capitalists who in turn backed him,” Jaffrelot said.
Modi became increasingly authoritarian, Jaffrelot described, consolidating power over police and courts and bypassing the media to connect directly with voters.
The “Gujarat Model,” as Modi coined it, portended what he would do as a prime minister.
“He gave Hindu nationalism a populist flavor,” Jaffrelot said. “Modi invented it in Gujarat, and today he has scaled it across the country.”
A few decades earlier,
In June, Modi aims not just to win a third time — he’s set a target of receiving two-thirds of the vote. And he’s touted big plans.
“I’m working every moment to make India a developed nation by 2047,” Modi said at a rally. He also wants to abolish poverty and make the economy the world’s third-largest.
If Modi wins, he’ll be the second Indian leader, after Jawaharlal Nehru, to retain power for a third term.
With approval ratings over 70 percent, Modi’s popularity has eclipsed that of his party. Supporters see him as a strongman leader, unafraid to take on India’s enemies, from Pakistan to the liberal elite. He’s backed by the rich, whose wealth has surged under him. For the poor, a slew of free programs, from food to housing, deflect the pain of high unemployment and inflation. Western leaders and companies line up to court him, turning to India as a counterweight against China.
He’s meticulously built his reputation. In a nod to his Hinduism, he practices yoga in front of TV crews and the UN, extols the virtues of a vegetarian diet, and preaches about reclaiming India’s glory. He refers to himself in the third person.
P.K. Laheri, a former senior bureaucrat in Gujarat, said Modi “does not risk anything” when it comes to winning — he goes into the election thinking the party won’t miss a single seat.
The common thread of Modi’s rise, analysts say, is that his most consequential policies are ambitions of the RSS.
In 2019, his government revoked the special status of disputed Kashmir, the country’s only Muslim-majority region. His government passed a citizenship law excluding Muslim migrants. In January, Modi delivered on a longstanding demand from the RSS — and millions of Hindus — when he opened a temple on the site of a razed mosque.
The BJP has denied enacting discriminatory policies and says its work benefits all Indians.
Last week, the BJP said it would pass a common legal code for all Indians — another RSS desire — to replace religious personal laws. Muslim leaders and others oppose it.
But Modi’s politics are appealing to those well beyond right-wing nationalists — the issues have resonated deeply with regular Hindus. Unlike those before him, Modi paints a picture of a rising India as a Hindu one.
Satish Ahlani, a school principal, said he’ll vote for Modi. Today, Ahlani said, Gujarat is thriving — as is India.
“Wherever our name hadn’t reached, it is now there,” he said. “Being Hindu is our identity; that is why we want a Hindu country. ... For the progress of the country, Muslims will have to be with us. They should accept this and come along.”
 


Jury finds Illinois landlord guilty of murder, hate crime in 2023 attack on Palestinian American boy

Jury finds Illinois landlord guilty of murder, hate crime in 2023 attack on Palestinian American boy
Updated 12 sec ago
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Jury finds Illinois landlord guilty of murder, hate crime in 2023 attack on Palestinian American boy

Jury finds Illinois landlord guilty of murder, hate crime in 2023 attack on Palestinian American boy
  • Ben Crump, the national civil rights attorney representing Shaheen, released a statement calling the verdict a “measure of justice”
  • “Wadee was an innocent six-year-old child whose life was stolen in an act of unimaginable violence fueled by hatred,” the statement added

JOLIET, Illinois: A jury found an Illinois landlord guilty of murder and hate crime charges Friday for the brutal killing of a 6-year-old whose mother rented rooms in the man’s home, an attack that spiked fears over anti-Muslim discrimination in the earliest days of the war in Gaza.
Joseph Czuba, 73, was charged in the fatal stabbing of Wadee Alfayoumi and the wounding of his mother, Hanan Shaheen on Oct. 14, 2023 in Plainfield, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) from Chicago. Authorities alleged the family was targeted because of their Islamic faith and as a response to the war between Israel and Hamas that erupted on Oct. 7, 2023.
Jurors deliberated less than 90 minutes before returning with the verdict.
“I don’t know if I should be pleased or upset, if I should be crying or laughing,” Wadee’s father, Odai Alfayoumi, said at a news conference, speaking in Arabic. “People are telling me to smile. Maybe if I were one of you, I would be smiling, but I’m the father of the child and I’ve lost the child. And I feel like this decision came to a little too late.”
Ben Crump, the national civil rights attorney representing Shaheen, released a statement calling the verdict a “measure of justice.”
“Wadee was an innocent six-year-old child whose life was stolen in an act of unimaginable violence fueled by hatred,” the statement added. “While we are relieved that his killer has been held accountable, we must continue to stand against the rising tide of hate that led to this senseless act. We must honor Wadee’s memory by continuing to fight against hate in all its forms and working toward a future where every child is safe, valued, and free from violence.”
Crump asked that the media continue respecting Shaheen’s privacy as she honors her son’s memory.
Shaheen did not speak at a press conference following the jury decision. Ahmed Rehab, executive director of the civil rights group Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR-Chicago, said it was too difficult for her and added that she “only prays for peace and love.”
The trial featured detailed testimony from police officers, medical workers, Czuba’s ex-wife and Shaheen, who described how Czuba attacked her with a knife before going after her son in a different room. Prosecutors say that the child had been stabbed 26 times. He was found naked with a knife still in his side.
Graphic photos of the murder, a knife holder Czuba allegedly used that day, along with police video footage were central to the Will County prosecutors’ case. At times video screens showing explicit footage were turned away from the public viewing audience where members of Wadee’s family sat during the trial.
“If it wasn’t enough that this defendant killed that little boy, he left the knife in the little boy’s body,” Michael Fitzgerald, a Will County assistant state’s attorney, told jurors during opening statements.
Czuba’s attorney, George Lenard, declined comment Friday. Czuba had pleaded not guilty. He faced murder, attempted murder, aggravated battery and hate crime charges in an eight-count indictment.
Czuba is scheduled for sentencing on May 2, according to the Will County Circuit Clerk’s office.
Defense attorneys insisted pieces of evidence tying Czuba to the crimes were missing. His ex-wife, testifying for the prosecution, could only describe one outburst during their 30 years of marriage and said he carried knives often because he was handy around the house.
“Go beyond the emotions to carefully examine the evidence,” said Kylie Blatti, one of Czuba’s public defenders. “It is easy to get lost in the horror of those images.”
One of the critical parts of the trial was Shaheen’s testimony and the 911 call she made to report the crime that happened just days after the war started. She said they had not previously had any issues in the two years they rented from the Czubas. They shared a kitchen and living room with the Czubas.
Then after the start of the war, Czuba told her that they had to move out because Muslims were not welcome. Later, he confronted Shaheen and attacked her, holding her down, stabbing her and trying to break her teeth.
“He told me ‘You, as a Muslim, must die,” said Shaheen, who testified in English and Arabic though a translator.
Shaheen had more than a dozen stab wounds and it took her weeks to recover. The boy was later pronounced dead.
Police testified that officers found Czuba outside the house sitting on the ground with blood on his body and hands.
Separately, civil lawsuits have been filed over the boy’s death, including by his father, Alfayoumi, who is divorced from Shaheen and was not living with them.
The case generated headlines around the world and struck deeply for the Chicago area’s large and established Palestinian community. The US Department of Justice also launched a federal hate crimes investigation.
“All of us who are parents, who are Arab or Palestinian … who are Muslim, we all saw our children die in Wadee Alfayoumi, because this could have been any one of our boys, any one of our girls,” CAIR-Chicago’s Rehab said. “It just so happened that it was Wadee Alfayoumi. When he was targeted, all of our children were targeted. Every Muslim was targeted when he (Czuba) yelled, ‘All Muslims must die.’”

 


British minister resigns over overseas aid cut

British minister resigns over overseas aid cut
Updated 01 March 2025
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British minister resigns over overseas aid cut

British minister resigns over overseas aid cut
  • In her letter, Dodds said she backed the need for higher defense spending and knew that the aid budget might have to pay for some of that increase

LONDON: The British minister responsible for international development quit on Friday after Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s decision earlier this week to ramp up defense spending by slashing the foreign aid budget.
In a letter to Starmer, which she posted on social media, Anneliese Dodds resigned as international development minister and minister for women, saying there were “no easy paths” to increasing defense spending but that she disagreed with the decision to cut overseas aid.
On Tuesday, Starmer said the government would raise UK defense spending to 2.5 percent of gross domestic product by 2027 from the current 2.3 percent, saying Europe is in a new era of insecurity that requires a “generational response.”
The increase would be funded by reducing the aid budget from 0.5 percent of GDP to 0.3 percent, a decision that Starmer described as “very difficult and painful.”
In her letter, Dodds said she backed the need for higher defense spending and knew that the aid budget might have to pay for some of that increase.
But she said the scale of the cut was so big it will “remove food and health care from desperate people” and “deeply” harm the UK’s reputation.
“You have maintained that you want to continue support for Gaza, Sudan, and Ukraine; for vaccination; for climate; and for rules-based systems,” said Dodds, who attended Cabinet meetings.
“Yet it will be impossible to maintain these priorities given the depth of the cut; the effect will be far greater than presented.”
The increase in defense spending has been sharply criticized by aid agencies, who said it harmed some of the world’s poorest people and reduced Britain’s soft power.
In her letter, Dodds said she held back from resigning earlier this week when the cut to the aid budget was announced as it was “imperative” Starmer had “a united Cabinet” behind him ahead of his trip to Washington. 

 


UN authorizes evacuation of staff families from Burundi

UN authorizes evacuation of staff families from Burundi
Updated 01 March 2025
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UN authorizes evacuation of staff families from Burundi

UN authorizes evacuation of staff families from Burundi
  • DR Congo’s government and rebels traded blame for several explosions at a rally in the eastern city of Bukavu that killed 13 people and wounded scores of others the previous day

NAIROBI: The UN has authorized the evacuation of families of its international staff from Burundi following violence in DR Congo, according to a letter seen by AFP on Friday.
The Rwanda-backed M23 group has, in recent weeks, seized two major cities in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, or DRC, giving the armed group a significant foothold in the mineral-rich region since taking up arms again in late 2021.
The group has continued its advance, and the fighting has moved closer to the Burundian border, with the small Great Lakes nation — which has supported Kinshasa with some 10,000 troops under a previous agreement — increasingly sounding the alarm.
The UN authorized the evacuation of Bujumbura-based families of its staff last week, according to a letter dated Feb. 21 from the UN’s Department of Safety and Security and seen by AFP.
Several flights have been chartered since then, a UN employee with knowledge of the departures said on Thursday.
“Others are expected ... to bring these families and certain non-essential personnel to safety,” the employee added.
“We are acting with the greatest discretion so as not to upset the government,” the source said, stressing these are “instructions that apply everywhere ... when there are security risks.”
On Thursday, Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye — who previously warned against the threat posed by Rwanda — adopted a more conciliatory tone.
“We are still committed to resolving the differences between our two countries by peaceful means,” he told the diplomatic corps in Burundi’s capital of Gitega.
However, his statement came as military and local sources said Burundi had placed troops on its border, some 10 km from Kamanyola town and the M23 advance.
Burundian military sources said troops were being withdrawn earlier this month, although officials denied this.
Burundi is also seeing the most significant influx of refugees in 25 years, with more than 43,000 people crossing the border in the last two weeks, the UN said.
DR Congo’s government and rebels traded blame for several explosions at a rally in the eastern city of Bukavu that killed 13 people and wounded scores of others the previous day.
The finger-pointing over the deadly incident has further inflamed tensions in eastern Congo.
Congo’s army said Rwandan troops, who it accuses of supporting the rebels, fired rockets and grenades into a crowd gathered in Bukavu’s central square for a speech by one of the uprising’s leaders on Thursday.
“The Rwandan army and its (proxies) bombed and fired live ammunition at the civilian population who, although forced to attend this meeting, expressed their disapproval of the Rwandan aggression,” Congo’s Interior Ministry said in a statement.
Corneille Nangaa, leader of a rebel alliance that includes M23, blamed Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi for the violence in Bukavu.
He told a press conference on Thursday that the grenades used were the same type as those used by the Burundian army, which has backed Congo’s military. Reuters could not independently verify this.

 


Pope had coughing fit, inhaled vomit and now requires assisted ventilation, Vatican says

Pope had coughing fit, inhaled vomit and now requires assisted ventilation, Vatican says
Updated 01 March 2025
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Pope had coughing fit, inhaled vomit and now requires assisted ventilation, Vatican says

Pope had coughing fit, inhaled vomit and now requires assisted ventilation, Vatican says
  • The episode, which occurred in the early afternoon, resulted in a “sudden worsening of the respiratory picture”
  • Doctors decided to keep Francis’ prognosis as guarded and indicated they needed 24 to 48 hours to evaluate how and if the episode impacted his overall clinical condition

ROME: Pope Francis suffered an isolated coughing fit on Friday that resulted in him inhaling vomit and requiring non-invasive mechanical ventilation, the Vatican said in relaying an alarming setback in his two-week long battle against double pneumonia.
The 88-year-old pope remained conscious and alert at all times and cooperated with the maneuvers to help him recover. He responded well, with a good level of oxygen exchange and was continuing to wear a mask to receive supplemental oxygen, the Vatican said.
The episode, which occurred in the early afternoon, resulted in a “sudden worsening of the respiratory picture.” Doctors decided to keep Francis’ prognosis as guarded and indicated they needed 24 to 48 hours to evaluate how and if the episode impacted his overall clinical condition.
The development marked a setback in what had been two successive days of increasingly upbeat reports from doctors treating Francis at Rome’s Gemelli hospital since Feb. 14. The pope, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, has lung disease and was admitted after a bout of bronchitis worsened and turned into pneumonia in both lungs.
Dr. John Coleman, a pulmonary critical care doctor at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, said the episode as relayed by the Vatican was alarming and underscored Francis’ fragility and that his condition “can turn very quickly.”
“I think this is extremely concerning, given the fact that the pope has been in the hospital now for over two weeks, and now he’s continuing to have these respiratory events and now had this aspiration event that is requiring even higher levels of support,” he told The Associated Press.
“So given his age and his fragile state and his previous lung resection, this is very concerning,” added Coleman, who is not involved in Francis’ care.
Dr. William Feldman, a pulmonary specialist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, said it was a good sign that the pope remained alert and oriented, but concurred that the episode marked “a worrying turn.”
“Often we will use noninvasive ventilation as a way of trying to stave off an intubation, or the use of invasive mechanical ventilation,” Feldman said.
Types of noninvasive ventilation include a BiPAP machine, which helps people breathe by pushing air into their lungs. Doctors will often try such a machine for a while to see if the patient’s blood gas levels improve so they can eventually go back to using oxygen alone.
The episode, which doctors described as an “isolated crisis of bronchial spasm” began as a coughing fit in which Francis inhaled vomit. The longer respiratory crisis Francis suffered on Feb. 22 was a longer crisis in actually breathing, the Vatican said.
Doctors did not resume referring to Francis being in “critical condition,” which has been absent from their statements for three days now. But they say he isn’t out of danger, given the complexity of his case.
Earlier on Friday, Francis had spent the morning alternating high flows of supplemental oxygen with a mask and praying in the chapel. He had breakfast, read the day’s newspapers and was receiving respiratory physiotherapy, the Vatican said.
The Vatican also published a document signed by Francis on Feb. 26 “From the Gemelli Polyclinic,” a new official tagline that showed Francis was still working from the hospital.
Prayers continued to pour in
Late on Friday, Francis’ closest friend in the Vatican bureaucracy, Argentine Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, led the nightly prayer in St. Peter’s Square to pray for Francis’ health.
With other cardinals bundled against the night chill, Fernández urged the crowd to pray not just for Francis but for others as the pope himself would.
“Certainly it is close to the Holy Father’s heart that our prayer is not only for him, but also for all those who in this particular dramatic and suffering moment of the world, bear the hard burden of war, of sickness, of poverty,” said Fernández, the Vatican’s doctrine chief.
In Mexico City, a few dozen people gathered Thursday night at the cathedral to pray for Francis’ recovery.
“He is like part of the family,” said Araceli Gutiérrez, who treasures the time she saw the pope during his trip to the country of nearly 100 million Catholics in 2016. “That’s why we feel so concerned for him.”
María Teresa Sánchez, who was visiting from Colombia with her sister, said that she has always felt close to Francis — the first Latin American pope.
“That’s like having a relative within the higher-ups, with God,” she said. “He has done so much for religion; he’s such a humble person.”


Macron urges Algeria to help mend diplomatic ties

Macron urges Algeria to help mend diplomatic ties
Updated 01 March 2025
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Macron urges Algeria to help mend diplomatic ties

Macron urges Algeria to help mend diplomatic ties
  • Hard-line French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau has led the verbal attacks on Algeria in the media, fueling tensions between the countries

LISBON: French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday warned Algeria against playing “political games” with frayed diplomatic ties between the two countries, notably over immigration.
Relations between Paris and Algiers have been strained since Macron recognized Moroccan sovereignty of the disputed territory of Western Sahara in July last year.
But they have worsened after Algiers refused to accept the return of undocumented Algerian migrants from France.
Last weekend, one of them, a 37-year-old man, went on a stabbing rampage in the eastern city of Mulhouse, killing one person and wounding several others.
“We won’t make progress if there’s no work, we can’t talk to each other through the press, that’s ridiculous, it never works like that,” Macron told journalists during a visit to the Portuguese city of Porto.
“(Relations) shouldn’t be subject to political games,” he said.
He hoped “millions of French people born to Algerian parents” would not be “caught up in these debates.”
Hard-line French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau has led the verbal attacks on Algeria in the media, fueling tensions between the countries.
“Nothing can take precedence over the security of our compatriots,” Macron said, with emotions still high after last weekend’s attack in Mulhouse.
Agreements mandating the automatic return of nationals, signed between the two countries in 1994, “must be fully respected,” he added.
In recent months, France has arrested and deported several undocumented Algerians on suspicion of inciting violence, only for Algeria to send back one of those expelled.
France warned that it could restrict visas and, as a result, limit development aid.
Macron also voiced fears about the health of detained Franco Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, arrested in November last year and held in Algeria on national security charges.
In mid-December, his publishers, Gallimard, said he had been hospitalized.
Macron said that Sansal was being held in “arbitrary detention” and that resolving the matter would help restore confidence in diplomatic ties.
Sansal, 75, is known for his strong support of free speech and for opposing authoritarianism and Islamism.
Algeria’s government has previously criticized Macron for “blatant and unacceptable interference in an internal Algerian affair.”