The Centre pursued vigorously the Hindutva agenda of the RSS. In Jammu and Kashmir, after dismantling the state and divesting it off its special status, the identity of the region and its demographic and political composition is sought to be changed. Delimitation of assembly seats is being done in a manner to degrade the status of Kashmir valley and its political representation.Amit Shah has set out the sequence – delimitation, then elections and only after that statehood. The plan is to have a truncated statehood destroying the integrity of J&K. In the meanwhile, there has been no let up in the repression and curtailment of civil rights.If the security forces ruled the roost in Kashmir, the same applied to parts of the North-East. The gunning down of 13 civilians in Nagaland by the Army is a grim reminder that the national security State has come to stay.For the Hindutva rulers, the building of a strong security State is necessary to fight external and internal enemies. Internally, the ‘enemy’ is clearly the Muslims. There has been a steady drumbeat of hate speeches, social media campaigns and dog whistles by BJP leaders targeting the minorities. These have resulted in a series of laws passed in BJP ruled states against minorities.Anti-conversion laws have been passed in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and recently in Karnataka. If the UP and MP laws target ‘love jihad’ and young Muslims have been arrested for inter-faith marriages, the Karnataka one is focused on Christians.If the attacks on Muslims and their livelihoods have been relentless, the year saw a sharp increase of attacks on Christians and their places of worship. Such attacks took place on Christmas Day too, along with the FCRA clearance of Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity being rejected.
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