[Arundhati Roy] Fascism & Resistance in India

Fascism in India? It’s a secular republic, according to its constitution but the country under its prime minister Narender Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party, the BJP, has drifted sharply to the religious right. The BJP ideology is Hindutva, Hindu nationalism. Its mother ship and muscle is the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the RSS. It’s a Hindu nationalist paramilitary organization, inspired by Mussolini and Hitler, and has millions of members. Not much is known about what’s actually going on in India beyond cliches such as the world’s largest democracy, yoga and ashrams, tandoori chicken and spicy samosas. The reality is in stark contrast with the carefully crafted exported image. The BJP/RSS axis has demonized and targeted India’s large Muslim minority. There have been pogroms and lynchings. People are pushing back and resisting. Recorded at the University of Texas.

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