India: The Nation of Religious Diversity or Religious Suppression

India, a nation home to over 2,000+ ethnic groups and widely celebrated for its cultural diversity and commitment to democratic principles. Yet in recent decades, most citizens feel otherwise. With persistent scrutiny over the treatment of minority communities, India has taken a route most well-articulated by AP Shah, a Journalist for The Wire and author of “Today’s India Has All the Markers of a Failing Democracy. But the Situation Is Not Irreversible.” He claims, “In the past decade, democratic institutions and accountability mechanisms have been neutralized or compromised. There has been an insidious harvesting of a culture of hate, leading to active theaters of violence. Polarization is unrestrained, vilifying minorities, with the majority being made to think of the other, especially Muslims, as the enemy. A general sentiment of hatred of minorities can be heard, seen and felt across the country.” Today’s India is one that is not even recognized by citizens of the nation themselves having even been born and brought up there.

Through an in-depth exploration of the suppression of minority voices in India, with a particular and critical focus on two minority groups. First, the plight of the Muslim community during the Emergency era and the contemporary challenges the community now faces under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government. And second, the Sikh community who survived the challenging aftermath of Operation Bluestar and the 1984 anti-Sikh riot, shedding light on the intricate dynamics which have shaped the socio-political landscape of India and in continuation the rise of Sikh separatism in the past decades.