INDIAN MANDALA After crackdown on Islamists, calls on Delhi to ban Hindu radicals

Fearing clashes, Tamil Nadu banned the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh from holding a rally yesterday. In recent days, the federal government has arrested hundreds of members of the Popular Front of India and banned the group for five years. The continued use of the anti-terrorism law could fuel extremism.

Milan () – The Tamil Nadu government yesterday banned the holding of a public rally by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which had been authorized by the Madras High Court a week ago. The ban comes just days after the central government in Delhi ordered the Popular Front of India (PFI) to be dissolved and banned for five years under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. , UAPA).

Following anonymity, an Indian government official said to the Indian Express that in the last two weeks there have been at least 20 different incidents of violence in Tamil Nadu caused by supporters of the two organizations. The RSS and the PFI are two radical groups, the first Hindu and the second Muslim. “Although the PFI and the RSS are two sides of the same coin, except for their religious identity, there are also a number of parties preparing to protest RSS rallies,” the state official explained. “Therefore, we have also denied permission to protest to other formations. If rival groups clash with each other, serious public order problems will be created.”

In the last days, the government carried out a mega operation against the islamists of the PFIarresting a hundred people linked to the organization and the Indian Social Democratic Party, the political arm of the movement.

The PFI was born in 2007 and in a few years it has become a radical and violent organization: in 2010 a group of fanatics cut off the hand of a Catholic teacher in Kerala with an ax, accused of making derogatory comments in class directed against the prophet Muhammad. In 2015, 13 people were jailed, but prior to September 28 this year, state governments had never taken action against the group, which has been repeatedly accused of terrorism-related activities. In June this year, members beheaded a Hindu man in Rajasthan.

The PFI is implicated in a number of criminal and terrorist cases and shows a total lack of respect for the constitutional authority of the country. Receive funds and ideological support from abroad [léase Pakistán] posing a grave threat to the nation’s internal security,” the federal government said in a statement, also citing the PFI’s links to foreign terrorist groups such as the Islamic State.

In addition to the prohibition of the group for a period of five years, the bank accounts will be frozen and the assets of the movement will be confiscated. The PFI accepted the dissolution, but also accused Delhi and members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party – of creating “a climate of terror”.

Yesterday, some deputies of the Congress Party they also called for a ban on the RSS, an organization often described as a paramilitary group. Founded in 1925 and inspired by fascists, its objective is to spread the ideals of Hindutva, the Hindu ultranationalism that defends the superiority of Hinduism over other religions. In fact, the RSS has already been banned three times in the history of independent India: first in 1948, after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi by a follower of the movement, and then in 1975 and 1992, at times of particular political tension.

Modi himself was a member of the RSS in his youth and many consider the BJP his political extension because he defends the idea that India is threatened by the presence of the Muslim minority (200 million people, more than 14% of the population). In recent days, people protesting the crackdown on the IPP have been accused of chanting pro-Pakistan slogans.

Therefore, in addition to a political context of sectarian violence, an outbreak of one extremism against another extremism is in sight.

It is interesting to note Delhi’s use of the Anti-Terrorism Act (UAPA), the same law that jailed Fr. Stan Swamy, the 84-year-old Jesuit campaigner for recognition of tribal rights who died last year while under arrest. court custody.

Critics of the central government have repeatedly blamed it for using anti-illegal activity legislation to crack down on dissent and gag activists and journalists who denounce the BJP’s actions. Since 2014, the year Modi became prime minister, terrorism cases have been on the rise: 976 in 2014, 897 in 2015, 922 in 2016, 901 in 2017, 1,182 in 2018, 1,226 in 2019 and 1,321 in 2020. Last year, however, that dropped to 814. As of 2019, the law empowers the federal government to take action against individuals even if no evidence is presented against them. The reality is that only 2.2% of the cases registered under the legislation between 2016 and 2019 ended with a conviction in court.

In the complex Indian national picture, one thing seems certain: failing to distinguish between a real threat to internal security and repression of human rights risks further fueling radicalism. Calling off protest rallies may not be enough to calm things down anytime soon.